Shadow Gate (Crossroads, Book 2) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "MARIT WAS PRETTY sure she had been murdered..." (more)
Key Phrases: clan hall, greater houses, needle spire, Argent Hall, Lord Radas, Chief Tuvi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this many-layered second installment in the Crossroads fantasy series (after 2007's Spirit Gate), Marit, an eagle-riding reeve, awakens as a spirit three years after her death and slowly realizes she's become one of the nine Guardians, protectors of justice who wield god-given powers. Soon Marit discovers that some of her fellow Guardians lead forces plaguing the land, while others hide or resist. Meanwhile, among the living, war rewrites the social order, and those of different religions and homelands make common cause. Elliott follows Qin soldier Anji and his troubled, lonely wife, Mai; Marit's former lover, reeve marshal Joss; and Kirya, a tribal warrior who sells herself into slavery to protect her brother. Each must balance cultural imperatives with a broader view of justice, and survival with mercy. The cosmology and politics may confuse newcomers, but the human dilemmas grip the reader right through to the abrupt final cliffhanger. (Apr.)
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Review

“This promises to be a truly epic fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly on Spirit Gate

“Spirit Gate has kept me up late at night for too many nights in a row, it made me burn dinner once, and it nearly caused a fender-bender when I was thinking about the characters while driving. It’s a big, complex, absorbing book that interfered with my living my daily life while I was reading it, and I blame the author quite bitterly for that.” —Laura Resnick, award-winning author of In Fire Forged on Spirit Gate

“I love this book. Once again Kate Elliott has written a splendid, grand epic that sweeps the reader into this magical world and doesn’t let go even after the very last word on the very last page. I can’t wait for the sequel to see what happens next.” —Dennis L. McKiernan, author of Once Upon a Spring Morn on Spirit Gate

“A treasure for readers who enjoy the journey as much as, or more than, the destination.” —Sci Fi Weekly on Spirit Gate

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765310562
• ISBN-13: 978-0765310569
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #548,241 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Crossroads Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Read, April 15, 2008

By	Michael McKee "mystic cowboy" (Port Townsend, WA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I spent Sunday devouring this book. The lawn didn't get mowed. Phone calls didn't get answered. But I didn't care. I was totally engrossed in Shadow Gate. I loved Spirit Gate, the first book in this series and the sequel maintains the high, no, very high standards of the first.

Kate Elliott has always been a top fantasy writer and seems to only get better with time.

If you like thrill a minute action stories look elsewhere. The story is complex and nuanced and focused as much on relationships and world building as anything. The world that Elliott has created is rich with widely different cultures. The bad guy, who is mostly in the background is truly evil. If you enjoy complex characters, excellent plotting and enough action and intrigue to keep you reading at the expense of your regular life, give Shadow Gate a try.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Characters, December 8, 2008

By	Elisabeth Minich (NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've really enjoyed this series so far, the author has done a great job with world building and complex characters. All of them have their flaws, making them realistic. It's just the way the people are, arrogant, womanizers, idealistic, quick to judge, etc. What I appreciate about this is that this colors the interactions and is more about how they get things done than whether or not so and so learns from their mistakes and has a wonderful epiphany. Granted it makes one or two of the characters a tad unlikeable but their place in the plot is still interesting!

I wanted to give this book 5 stars since I love the world Elliott has created. But book 2 is too obviously the build up for book 3, nothing much seriously happens. Lots of information about the guardians, which was neat. She has SO many characters and, though most of them are interwoven together, so much plotting and talking goes on, that the plot loses momentum. But by the last 100-150 pages I just wanted something to "Happen" or the book to end!

Maybe when I read the next book it'll pull together, but I think maybe the author should have spent less time jumping around trying to cover every subplot and minor character, this could have been 2 books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great continuation, June 7, 2009

By	D. G. Hulan "DavidNOE" (Naperville, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadow Gate: Book Two of Crossroads (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the sequel to Spirit Gate, and if anything is even better, though it opens out more so that we have quite a few more POV characters. Marit, who was killed at the end of the first section of the first book, returns at the beginning of this one as a Guardian--who can't really be killed as long as they retain their cloaks. How she came by the cloak isn't at all clear to me, but in any case it brings her back to life 19 years after she died. And she learns that five of the Guardians have entered the Shadow Gate--i.e., have turned evil, and are leading the armies that are devastating the Hundred. Since there are only nine Guardians, those five can decree the deaths of those who oppose their plans (although one of them, Hari--uncle of Mai and brother of Shai--would probably be willing to oppose them if the four non-shadowed Guardians could unite against them). Two others are known--the blonde girl known as Cornflower in the first book, but whose name we now know is Kiriya, and the envoy of Ilu who accompanied the Qin caravan into the Hundred. The ninth hasn't appeared yet, and no one seems to know even what kind of cloak he has. Meanwhile, Mai's pregnancy proceeds, and Anji accepts the command of all the Olo'osson military, beginning to train their militiamen in Qin tactics and generally drill them into more effective fighters. We spend a good deal of time in the POV of Avisha, a pretty young Hundred girl whose father was killed by the rebel army and who finds herself stuck with her 9-year-old brother and toddler sister when their stepmother is chosen by one of the eagles to be a reeve. She comes out all right, though, by coincidentally stumbling into the Qin compound in Olossi and meeting Mai, who befriends her. Several segments are also from the POV of Nallo, her stepmother, who's good-hearted but has a bad temper. At the end of the book the city of Toskala has fallen to the rebels and all the senior reeves there have been killed. Things look bad, but I trust that the third book, Traitor's Gate, will wrap things up satisfactorily. It's due out in August, so I should be reviewing it soon.