Into The Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle) [Turtleback]

Margaret Weis (Author), Tracy Hickman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2004 | Series: Death Gate Cycle (Book 6)

Alfred and Haplo enter a terrifying prison maze that has long been shrouded in mystery and are followed by two assassins sent to take Haplo's life. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alternating between incoherence and impenetrability, the sixth volume in the Death Gate series takes place in Abarrach, a land filled with magic, necromancers and the walking dead. Xar, the Lord of Abarrach, seeks control of the Seventh Gate, located beyond Death itself, which has the power to sunder the world. But Haplo, an adventurer with some magic of his own, may be a threat to Xar's plans. To eliminate him, the Lord sends an assassin (who quickly defects to the other side) and Haplo's former lover, Marit, who is now bound magically to Xar. Haplo and his companion Alfred must enter the ancient punishment caverns of the Labyrinth to defeat Xar's schemes. Burdened by clumsy expository writing and thin, uninteresting characters, the story is further weighted down by frequent footnotes intended to aid those who are not familiar with the series; instead, they make an already confusing plot more difficult to follow. Even Death Gate fans may find this poorly constructed novel disappointing.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Haplo and his companions enter the treacherous Labyrinth in search of the Final Gate and a chance to defeat the armies of chaos that threaten the sundered worlds.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback: 451 pages
• Publisher: Demco Media (August 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606311432
• ISBN-13: 978-0606311434
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,057,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 6th Book in a Very Good Series, May 23, 2004

By 

David A. Lessnau (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle) (Mass Market Paperback)

In all probability, people who read the first of the Death Gate Cycle books and like it, are going to want to read all of the books in the series (regardless of any flucutation in the individual books' ratings). Ditto for the reverse: if people don't like the first book, then they're probably not going to want to read any of the other books in the series. Thus, instead of individual book ratings, I've rated the whole series and given a short blurb on any specifics for each book.

Overall, this is a very good series. The authors were amazingly creative in coming up with this concept and the books are well-written, extremely interesting, and internally consistent (mostly -- see below for some exceptions). I highly recommend this series of books for everyone. My comments for the indidual books follow:

Vol. 1 -- Dragon Wing: This book covers the exploration of Arianus: the realm of Air. It introduces us to the two main characters (Haplo and Alfred) and many of the recurring characters throughout the series. It's a well-paced, well-written book that's an excellent reresentation of what to expect in most of the rest of the series. Essentially, if you like this book, you'll like the other six books. If you don't like this book, then there's no sense in reading any of the others.

Vol. 2 -- Elven Star: This book covers the exploration of Pryan: the realm of Fire. Alfred is entirely missing from this book, and Haplo isn't really the centerpiece. Instead, the book is mostly written from the perspective of the mensch and of the newly introduced (and recurring) Zifnab. The one possible weakness in the book is that Weis/Hickman wrote it such that the structure of Pryan itself is more of a mystery than Arianus was in the first book.

Vol. 3 -- Fire Sea: This book covers the exploration of Abarrach: the realm of Stone. Once again, both Haplo and Alfred are present. The characters and areas presented in this book are key elements for the entire series. An interesting book, but not a very happy one at all.

Vol. 4 -- Serpent Mage: This book covers the exploration of Chelestra: the realm of Water. Both Alfred and Haplo are on this world. But, for the most part, they follow separate plot lines. There's a lot of action taking place throughout the book and Weis/Hickman introduce some actual Sartan (besides Alfred). They also bring in an ancient evil to balance the ancient good introduced in the previous book. The most irritating thing about this book is that it ends in a cliff-hanger. The previous books tied up their worlds' activities fairly nicely. Not so in this book. It ends at a very inconvenient spot.

Vol. 5 -- Hand of Chaos: This book returns Haplo to Arianus and the people he met there earlier. Whereas the first four books of the series cover the exploration of the four realms, this book starts the synthesis of the various threads from those books into a movement towards closure. It's a good book, but, unfortunately, it doesn't do anything with Alfred. The previous book left Alfred heading towards a bad end. This book doesn't do anything with that. So, while reading the book, you constantly have this little voice in the back of your mind going "what's happening with Alfred?" Irritating.

Vol. 6 -- Into the Labyrinth: This book ranges across just about all of the worlds of the Death Gate. It brings all of the various threads from the other books to a head. Most importantly, it finally does something with Alfred. The unfortunate thing about this book is that it contains a lot of technical errors (or, more specifically, contradictions). For instance, in Dragon Wing, we're told that a person needs to be familiar with an area to use a transportation spell to get to that area. Yet, very close to the beginning of the book, one of the characters uses such a spell without ever having been to her target location. There are also several instances where the characters COULD have used such a spell, but don't. Likewise, there are problems with replication spells. In Fire Sea, Haplo and Alfred use such a spell to replicate enough food for a large group of people. Yet, in this book, no one seems to consider using a replication spell to produce more of some food. But, later on, those same people are using that same spell to replicate weapons. Plus, at one point, Xar uses a spell to just materialize both food and drink for a party. But, if such a thing is possible, why do the Patryns hunt and, apparently, farm in the Labyrinth? Also, the size of the Labyrinth seems wrong. From the previous books, it's taken hundreds (if not thousands) of years for various Patryns to traverse the hundreds of Gates in the Labryrinth. Yet, in this book, from the very beginning of the Labyrinth they can see the results of things happening at the Final Gate. There's also the problem of how people at the center of the Labyrinth would know anything about the Final Gate.

Vol. 7 -- Seventh Gate: This is the conclusion of the Death Gate series. Unforunately, I didn't much care for it. Basically, it comes across as being pretty sappy. All of a sudden, Haplo and Alfred are best buds and want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Most of the various threads are tied up adequately (if not very satifyingly). But, the sudden push towards liberal "peace, love, and harmony" is trite. Of the seven books in this series, this one is the least good. Once again, I didn't much care for the tone of this book. But, since it adequatly ties up most everything that needed tying up, I'm not going to downgrade the whole series because of that.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Earns High Spot, December 28, 2003

By 

sam cronin (Parker, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ignore all of the bad comments and listen to the good ones. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to find love in the darkest of times, here is the book for you. This book reveals that the series isn't about Haplo trying to help Lord Xar take over the world or about Alfred being sad about his past or the effects that being dead has on a person. It is about Haplo growing into a person and how all of the people he has met along the way have effected his life as well as how he has effected theirs. By the time one reads the series up to this book it can be concluded that it belongs in the same status as LOTR. They too have spent much time on developing their own world.
So if you consider reading this series or are even just considering to carry on with it, I strongly suggest that you do.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars In The Labyrinth... Mysteries Are Created And Many Are Resolved, April 12, 2010

By 

AliGhaemi (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle) (Paperback)

Into The Labyrinth is the sixth book of the Death Gate series. It follows book five The Hand of Chaos (Death Gate Cycle, Book 5), and precedes the conclusion to the epic series The Seventh Gate (The Death Gate Cycle). The book whose main story line is revealed in its obvious title is a fun read, has many of the elements that fans love about the series and the genre, produces fascinating characters and has a few twists to boot. Having said that, it does lose a couple of notches for reasons of logic and consistency. Where to begin?
Patryns are demigods and have powers and magic to match, but have trouble crossing a plank or guiding/assisting others to even in the direst of times.
The same powerful beings that have had to evade the worst menaces of the labyrinth and have partly found their way out are blinded by the most obvious of trickery. Even Lord Xar, the self-styled Patryn leader, cannot see the obvious dangers lurking beneath the scale of the dragon snakes. This, even after one dragon snake commandeer's the Patryns' ship and people. None of the Patryn left onboard notice the fake runes or detects the impostor.
Patryns cannot break through Sartan runes even in the absence of an active defense by the Sartan. Xar needs humans or an amulet carried by an unaware dwarf to gain access to a rune-inscribed ship. The Patryn cannot even duplicate weapons or food.
Vasu, the semi-demigod, sees the red glow of the final gate while residing at the mouth of the labyrinth.
And so on.

Thankfully, Zifnab and his dragon provide much entertainment (and benevolence) as they battle for the lesser races and the fate of the worlds. In the same context, each of the lesser races demonstrates higher logic and reasoning than the higher races. Admittedly, this is a deliberate design of Weis and Hickman. As well, the tytans' mystery is partly resolved.
Adding to the lost opportunity, however, is the battle between Samah and Xar that never was. The book could have, and should have, taken up the opportunity to cast the meeting of the two most powerful representatives of their races as a grand battle of sorcery and might. Alas, the still unexplained magic-nullifying water pours cold water on that notion.

Into The Labyrinth is still a fine book. It is good in its own right and indispensable as part of the series. Haplo's (a Patryn) dog is beautiful and fascinating. Alfred (a Sartan) is revealed as Coren and much more, Marit (another Patryn) regains her love and her senses and a furious battle takes place, albeit in an unlikely setting. It is just that the book could have done so much more and made so much more sense.