By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

A common threat creates an uneasy truce.

Peace has come to Arianus, but for Haplo the fight continues. His only hope lies in convincing Lord Xar of the truth, and stopping him. For Lord Xar has found a new ambition, the Seventh Gate. Now Haplo must contend with Xar’s messenger. Unwilling to kill, Haplo must convince a fellow Patryn to join him in open rebellion.

At first the story relies on a series of vignettes to establish where each character is, gradually bringing them together, uniting the diverse threads into two parallel plots. Most of the story focuses on self-contained subplots, relying on frequent changes of perspective to conceal the sluggish pace of the main plot.

Internal conflicts dominate, bringing characters together in pairs for brief scenes, revealing a small amount of information about each character, then breaking them apart, sending each character off to collide with another character, starting a fresh scene. Tensions slowly build towards climactic group discussions, which make strong use of each character’s distinct voice before scattering the group once more. Touching moments bring one storyline to a predictable conclusion, while the other ends on a cliffhanger, paving the way for the final installment.

+Strong Characters
+Strong Dialogue
*Strong but Fragmented Plot
*Frequently Changing Perspectives
-Slow

3.5/5

Next Time…
Seventh Gate-DGC 07
2016/08/25