The Mithermage Series

I read the available Mithermage stories way back in 2013. They were

Stonefather

The Lost Gate

The Gate Thief

Here's the plot summary

Danny North is the first Gate Mage to be born on Earth in nearly 2000 years, or at least the first to survive to claim his power. Families of Westil in exile on Earth have had a treaty that required the death of any suspected Gate Mage. The wars between the Families had been terrible, until at last they realized it was their own survival in question. But a Gate Mage, one who could build a Great Gate back to Westil, would give his own Family a terrible advantage over all the others, and reignite the wars. So they all had to die. And if the Families didn't kill them, the Gate Thief would—that mysterious Mage who destroyed every Great Gate, and the Gate Mage, before it could be opened between Earth and Westil.

I enjoyed the stories which were quite different to anything I had read before. The Gate Thief book finished with a lot left to say, and Card had promised a final book in the series to finish things off. I had always meant to revisit the series and finish it off, once the book was released. 

Well, Gatemaster was released in 2015 but the reviews were underwhelming. I knew it was available in the Moreland Library and I had it on my To-Do list, but not as an urgent priority. Well blow me down, I was out for a coffee with my wife a couple of weeks ago (August 2018) in Keilor Rd and I found a hardcopy version of the Gatemaster on sale for the princely sum of $2. Needless to say, I snapped it up and read it over the next week.

I can now see why the reviews were underwhelming. The story just got plain silly (at least from my perspective). THe characters were not all that likeable (except for Loki) and the main reason I kept reading was simply that I don't like to be beaten by a book.

Orson Scott Card is regarded as one of the giants of fantasy and sci-fi. Will I read any more. Not sure.