Customer Reviews

Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Some of Tanya Huff's stock characters inhabit "Gate of Darkness Circle of Light": the crabby, driven heroine; the manly-yet-innocent hunk (in this case, an Angel); a surly cat that deals very efficiently with the Dark (much more so than the humans or the Angel); and a musician who struggles with his sexual identity through most of the book.

That said, there are also some very unique characters in this urban fantasy about a band of intrepid heroines and heroes who attempt to save Toronto (and the rest of the world) from the forces of Darkness on Midsummer's Eve. One of them is a Bag Lady who is genuinely smelly and not at all cute. Another is a brain-damaged muffin maker.

The musician is singled out by Huff to endure a particularly gristly coming-of-age journey. He is captured by ogres, and when he manages to escape from them, he has to run a gauntlet of ever more hideous fairy-tale creatures before he makes it back to Toronto to help save the Earth.

"Get of Darkness Circle of Light" is a pleasure to read, well-plotted, with an interesting twist at the end. The most unlikely people band together in an attempt to defeat Evil, and Huff brings them all together in a way that satisfies and makes sense.

Gate of Darkness Circle of Light is a singleton urban fantasy novel. The focus of this novel is Rebecca, a brain damaged woman with the mental ability of a child, but with the Second Sight. At the age of twelve, she was the only survivor of an automobile accident, suffering a depressed skull fracture which effectively stopped her intellectual development. However, she continued to develop sexually and thus was a desirable target for sexual predators. She has been a ward of the Toronto Metro Social Services since the accident.

In this novel, on a Saturday night, Rebecca discovers the barely alive body of the little man that lives in the tree in front of her apartment house. He has been stabbed with a small dagger. She takes him inside to her bed, but doesn't know what else to do. She leaves Tom, a local cat, to guard the little man and runs to fetch Roland Chapman, a street musician and bard trainee. When they return, the apartment has been disarrayed during a bloody battle between Tom and unknown assailants. The little man finally gives her his name just before he dies. His body vanishes and leaves behind a lot of blood and the dagger.

Rebecca leaves a phone message for Daru Sastri, her caseworker, and then they take the dagger to Mrs. Ruth, a bag lady. She tells them that the dagger is the knife of a Black Adept. Apparently the Darkness is making its move on the world of mankind and they need to enlist the aid of an Adept of the Light to even the odds, Rebecca and Roland convince Ivan, a local ghost, to pass on the request and later the White Adept appears at Rebecca's apartment. Evantarin looks like an adolescent heavy metal rocker, dressed in black and white, and of course is beautiful in a masculine way.

As Rebecca, Roland and Evan are discussing the situation, Daru arrives hastily from a family party and is brought up to date. They determine that the Black Adept has come to open a portal into the realm of Darkness on Midsummer Night; meanwhile, he is killing off the creatures of light and gray as well as indulging himself in sex and blood. Hopefully, they will be able to prevent him from opening the gate and thus forestall the devastation of the Earth in total combat between Darkness and Light.

Police Constable Patton and her partner, PC Brooks, become aware that something out of the ordinary is happening when their car hits a unicorn. Thereafter, they are involved in several mysterious deaths and keep running into Roland and Evan during their investigations. However, both are vulnerable to the manipulations of the Dark Adept and are continually diverted from the real action.

This story is reminiscent of the Bedlam's Bard series by Lackey et al, although preceding that series. In fact, two of Lackey's songs are used herein. However, it based more on the Zoroastrian mythos, in which a balance between good and evil is the desired state, allowing free will for humanity. The exact nature of both good and evil is not specified, but left as a mystery.

The story is apparently the author's third fantasy novel. It has a very unpredictable plotline and an unusual set of well defined characters, although the Dark Adept is stereotypical (evil so lacks originality). The character of Rebecca is extraordinary and the persona of the White Adept Evan is believable without being stuffy. Tom is a male cat, period; he is a totally independent soul with the heart of a warrior.

In case you didn't notice, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I have also enjoyed the author's Valor science fiction series. I have other novels by this author on my shelf which I should get to very soon.

Highly recommended for Huff fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of urban fantasy with a different twist.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Rebecca, who is mildly [handicapped], is on of the nicest young women you will ever meet. Despite her handicap, she has a rich life with a job and many friends. And, she can see the wee folk. So it is with great horror that she finds that the little man who lived in the tree next to her apartment has been killed with a ritual knife. Unsure of what to do, she goes to Roland, a street musician and bard-in-training for help. Together, they go to Mrs. Ruth, the bag lady, who understands these things. The little man, they discover, has been slain by an adept of Darkness, recently crossed over from the shadow world.

Mrs. Ruth realizes that their only hope of defending this world from the adept is to send a message to the Light asking for help in restoring the balance. When Evantarin, Adept of the Light, arrives in tight jeans, earrings, tee shirt and a happy face button (yes, I said a happy face button), the adventure begins. There are more characters, such as Daru, Rebecca’s social worker and Tom, a very special cat. A ghost, the usual minions of evil, and two bewildered police officers. If the world cannot be brought into balance it will fall under the Dark, triggering the kind of battle between Light and Dark which leaves neither side very satisfied and our plane pretty much destroyed.

“Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light,” written in 1989, is fairly early Tanya Huff. Not only is it very good in it’s own right, it also foreshadows much of her later work, especially the Summoner series. Huff takes a fairly common fantasy plot device and turns it into a novel and engaging tale. Rebecca and Roland are unlikely heroes, but soon our heart goes out to them as they team up with a very unusual crew to save the world. Huff’s characters keep up an ironic yet gentle banter that quickly wins the reader over. We are drawn in and can do little but go with the flow of the story, laughing with the characters, and sharing their pain as well. These are not perfect people, taken individually. But as a whole, they are a delightful metaphor for something very fine.

Sadly, although this(IMHO)is one of, if not the best, of Ms. Huff's books, it didn't sell well enough to interest publishers in a sequel. I urge anyone who enjoys fantasy to read the first page, then see if you can put it down! The storyline follows a rag-tag band of modern heroes(a sort-of bard, a "simple" girl, a tough cynical social worker and an Adept of the Light) as they struggle to stop the imminent invasion of Darkness that plans to break through the barriers protecting our world on Midsummer's Night. With the clock ticking, they race to defeat the evil adept who strikes at each with their deepest fears come to life...the ending makes you cry(at least, it made ME cry)but also gives you lift for your spirits and hope for the human race yet!

This was the third book of Tanya Huff's that I have read and it was thoroughly enjoyable. A good tale of light versus dark with characters you can empathise with. It moves along at a fast pace with all the action happening in one week. It had echoes of Simon Greene's Shadowsfall for me in that it could have been a horror story but wasn't, or it could have been a trite little tale, but there was always just a little bit more under the surface.

Well crafted and designed to pull you in to her world. I would recommend this book to anyone, even those who wouldn't normally read fantasy.

If one wishes to read a polished, refined, well thought thing of literary beauty, this is not it.
Literature was clearly far from Ms Huff's intentions: the writing is no more than proficient and the storyline flows unhindered along, which should be the rule and not worth mentioning but unfortunately is not.

The story itself is hardly original but once again this is no wonder in this genre and perfectly fine with me as long as it makes sense: here it does, even if all this stuff about the Goddess, her triple aspect, about the need for balance etc. etc. sounds very New Agean and therefore dated. This book is in fact no longer on sale and available only second-hand; I recommend you pick it up without hesitation if you see it in a shop and wish a fun read. Ignore the lousy cover.

The novel is set in a modern day Toronto where a group of people who can SEE beyond the obvious fight the usual battle of good VS evil, the latter being completely black and the first... well, not entirely white
Characterization is definitely an asset her: all the good characters are alive, real in their great and petty moments and they are likeable if just a little trite.

Be it as it may, with no peaks of unbearable tension, the plot runs to its nearly satisfying end, avoiding any excess in saccarine and leaving discretely a couple of threads that could but need not ask for a sequel.

Though the novel is never ever graphic, sex is mentioned in a New Agean sort of way, meaning the utmost freedom is allowed as long as consent is there. It involves a slightly retarded girl -one of said main characters- too and describes one other character's coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.
This might disturb some readers, I hope very few and very prudish ones.

This was a very amusing read that took many unpredictable turns that I won't even mention. Wouldn't want to spoil them. And yes, there is also a bit of comfortable predictableness where the reader sees things happening long before they hit the character. Somehow, Huff can make the most "oh I've known that story since kindy-garden" thing into oh my g how ghastly. Great sense of detail. And she isn't afraid to play fast and loose with world religions. And she is capable of creating a character that realistically (fantasy-style) changes and grows.

What I was thinking about, among many other things she made me think about, when I put the book down, is how an author's whole life and way of being seep into their books. For example, some authors always have a wry way of looking at the world, perhaps their humor comes from showing "of course it's this way" juxtaposed to "this is how I hoped it could be, but of course no." Some authors always write with cynicism -- Ray Bradbury for one. His short stories are filled with a bitter view of humanity. Even Farenheit 451 is bitter -- but don't get me wrong; I love Farenheit 451 and it's phoenixesque qualities. Twain always writes with a deep cynicism that grows from great idealism. Huff writes from a generousity of spirit, a welcomingness and hopefullness. This book will make you feel more positive about the world, and have you seeing the "greys" scurrying around and hanging out in the trees. This is the first Huff book I have read, so I hope I haven't judged her wrong. I think this hopefullness is just part of her, and I love seeing a spirit like that weaving through the turns and dips of fiction.

This, for me, was one of the books that I read and it changed my life. From the inside jokes on the cover to the scene where the Beatles save the world, this is a great book and does not deserve to be out of print!! It is another one of those books that tries to make you think -- about why certain things are considered wrong, and what the potential of "slackers" or "mentally disabled" people really is. If you run across this in a bookstore, buy it!!

I instantly picked this up after finishing "Summon the Keeper" by the same author. I was mildly disappointed. Perhaps it was the lower humor content, but I'm also usually into serious stories. This was a very good book with an intelligent plot, but it felt too unsubtle. The characters were likeable, and the angel was a fascinating creature. I was most definitely interested in what would happen to them, but the resolution seemed to come out of nowhere. It's really hard for me to pinpoint the specific reason that I wasn't enthralled by "Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light," but it was a chord with a note missing somewhere.

GATE OF DARKNESS, CIRCLE OF LIGHT is one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time! This is the first book I read by Tanya Huff, and it sold me on this fabulous author for life. The characters leap right off the page and you'll never forget them. In reference to the comments in the March 29, 1999, review, I believe it should be noted that GATE OF DARKNESS, CIRCLE OF LIGHT was published in 1989, and the first of Ms. Lackey's BEDLAMS BARD books, KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS, was not published until 1990. Any similarities present should certainly not affect readers' comfort in reading GATE.