Gods Old and Dark: Book Three of the World Gates [Mass Market Paperback]

This book, concluding the cycle begun in Memory of Fire, holds the reader's attention until the last word. The writing is amazing; not a wasted word. The scope and drama are breathtaking; the detail is so well thought out and beautifully revealed that I am simply in awe of Ms. Lisle's talent! From page 1 of Memory of Fire, through the wonder-filled The Wreck of Heaven, and to the very last word of Gods Old and Dark, Ms. Lisle has captivated me. I'm left haunted by a story that resonates deeply into today's world, politics, and society. An amazing fantasy to rank with the best. Thank you, Ms. Lisle, for your work--never simple, always beautiful, compulsively readable, a real masterpiece. Truly amazing. I'll be in a daze for days!

Gods Old and Dark is the third (and concluding) novel in the World Gates series, following The Wreck of Heaven. In the previous volume, Baanraak starts forcing Holly to die and be reborn so as to shape her personality into the Night Watch pattern. He catches her once without the Vodi necklace and she was almost lost forever. Meanwhile, Lauren finds a secret message in the notebooks and learns that her parents had intended Molly to be her protector while she herself brought magic back to the Earth and to the dead worlds up the line.

In this novel, Molly is busy exterminating Night Watch teams and Lauren is creating conduits for the magic to flow back up the world lines. Aril, the Master of the Night Watch, notices the magic returning to the Earth and messily terminates all his fieldmasters for overlooking this development. He then promotes their assistants to replace them and provides specific instructions for the situation. He also dispatches assassins to track down Lauren and sends his assistant, Rekkathav, to observe the operation.

After Lauren is attacked by the Night Watch during a downworld foray and again within her own home, the Cat Creek Sentinels suddenly notice that Lauren is violating Council policy. A couple of hard-liners want to terminate her activities in a permanent manner, but the rest vote to wait and see. It does help that Lauren has an old god on her side who is capable of great havoc using the new influx of magic.

In this story, Lauren and the Cat Creek Sentinels learn the secret of immortality and the pain thereof. One Sentinel gets her first taste of combat and very nearly goes berserk. The FBI office in Charlotte performs a good service for the Cat Creek Sentinels. And Baanraak is ambushed by Molly and suffers a split personality.

This volume provides a conclusion of sorts, but the story continues past the end of the book. Maybe the author will return to this universe some day, for it has the potential for many other stories. In the meanwhile, we will have a new fantasy to read in 2005: Talyn.

Highly recommended for Lisle fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high magic, interesting societies and complex relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Gods Old and Dark, the last novel in fantasy author Holly Lisle's acclaimed World Gates trilogy, wasn't just a book about a colossal battle for the survival of Earth. It was a colossal struggle to finish, as well, as Lisle frantically tried to end the series before page 325.

The novel begins with the Sentinels of Cat Creek, a secret organization to save the world, discovering that Lauren Dane, her sister Molly, and some of their friends are using magic without their permission and drawing the attention of the evil Night Watch. They slowly get sucked into the war between Molly and the dark gods, with Thor (yes, that Thor) as an ally and a chance to become gods themselves. Sounds exciting, right? It's too bad that completing the series with the flair it started with seemed to be the farthest thing from Lisle's mind. From page one, Thor is a deus ex machina, sent to get the Sentinels out of a bind that Lisle hadn't thought through completely. While he does get a (very) little bit of character development, he also consistently saves the day for Lauren and her magic-wielding army, rendering the struggles faced by the characters of the first two novels pointless.

Lisle hurtles from battle to battle and scene to scene with a speed that gives the novel a rushed feel instead of a suspenseful tone, as though she wanted to move on to other, more important projects. Characters are made immortal, taking away suspense; if the reader doesn't fear for the death of a character, it takes half of the fun out of a book. The end, too, is unsatisfying. Loose ends are left behind with the FBI, two of the Sentinels, and the Night Watch, as though Lisle forgot that she wouldn't be returning to the series. The end feels like a sloppy attempt to end a series intended to go on for several more books.

The one major satisfaction in the novel is the redemption of Baanraak, one of the evil Night Watch. While even that is sloppy - Lisle uses a plot device rather than an honest character development - Baanraak and those involved in his part of the plot are the only compelling characters in the story. His eccentric romance with Molly is one of the few pleasures of Gods Old and Dark.

While Lisle's latest novel gives some closure to the World Gates trilogy, it does not live up to the stirring and multifaceted tale begun with The Memory of Fire, nor is it on par with Lisle's other work. The Chicago Sun-Times described Holly Lisle as "an author unlikely to write a sloppy or stupid book." It is this reviewer's hope that this remains Lisle's only attempt to prove them wrong.