The Shadow at the Gate: The Tormay Trilogy (Volume 2) is a transition book that sees Jute, the twelve year old boy who has become the personification of Wind, slowly learning his new role and Levoreth, who has been Earth, fighting for her life.
The Shadow at the Gate isn’t quite as much fun or quite as quirky and charming as the first book in the series, The Hawk and His Boy. But it is a very good read and a novel I highly recommend. It’s a little confusing with Jute running north away from Hearne, then running back to Hearne, getting captured, then slipping his way free. The path Jute took feels like the path of the wind on a breezy spring day.
My favorite character is Levoreth and I missed some of the quiet joy we saw in her scenes in book 1, The Hawk and His Boy. The Shadow at the Gate is darker with the villains coming out into the open. Jute gets more detailed, becoming a true person.
The magic is understated, not the focus of the story. Wind, Earth, Sea and Fire are the still points of the world, guardians against the dark. The elements, called Anboreum, are powerful but cannot win by pure power and force alone. They must enlist help from the world and people.
Jute explores the world outside his city Hearne and one of the joys of this series is the richly imagined setting. We see ducal courts that range from a nice, friendly big house with lots to eat, all the way to palaces full of snooty servants. Book three continues our journey across the face of Tormay.
I immediately purchased the third book, The Wicked Day,as soon as I finished The Shadow at the Gate.
4 Stars
Please be aware that Christopher Bunn has issued all three Tormay books in a consolidated volume, A Storm In Tormay: The Complete Tormay Trilogy.
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