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Dragon Gate

by Gary Jonas

Series: Jonathan Shade (3)

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1241,606,798 (3.81)None
A RITUALISTIC MURDER Stephen Noble, a board member of Dragon Gate Industries (DGI), is decapitated. DGI, a front company for wizards, decides to provide executive protection services for Noble's son, Graham, and daughter, Rayna. But Graham doesn't trust wizards and refuses their offer, so DGI hires Jonathan Shade and his team to keep the Noble family safe. GUILTY CLIENTS The Nobles are from the other side of the Dragon Gate, and in that dimension, they committed crimes against the Marshall Clan. And now the Clan has come through the Gate to exact their revenge. While Graham and Rayna were too young to have been a part of the death and mayhem in the other land, honor dictates that they must pay for the crimes of their family. INHUMAN ATTACKERS How can Jonathan protect clients who are willing to kneel and accept death at any moment? How can he and his team handle thirteen deadly warriors willing to die to accomplish their goal? And how can Jonathan defeat the deadly creatures the Marshall Clan has brought with them to our world? Creatures that will destroy anything in their path as they hunt their prey.… (more)
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My original Dragon Gate audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Gary Jonas doesn’t disappoint with his third Jonathan Shade Novel! After book two and the devastating turn of events was righted, we see a much changed Jonathan. Gone is his whimsical almost careless sarcasm. Instead we are given a man who is haunted by the past and future. He no longer relies on his luck but rather plans everything out and refuses to endanger his friends.

Mike Bender of DGI brings Jonathan Shade a job. Protect the family of the recently decaptitated Stephen Noble, a wealthy board member of DGI. Jonathan, Kelly, Brant and Esther agree to provide protection for Graham and Rayna – grown children of Stephen Noble.

Graham and Rayna come from a dimension where honor is everything and is drilled into them from birth. The Marshall family, also of their dimension arrives and begins to exact punishment for wrongs done before and during the Noble family crossing into the Dragon portal at DGI.

Not only are there dragons and healers, but there are hideous creatures that rip and shred their prey in mere seconds. The Nobles have deadly family secrets; secrets that may get Kelly, Brant and Jonathan killed.

Jonas keeps getting darker with each book; this one has people nobly accepting death – one person commits the crime and the entire line is wiped out; whether all parties are guilty or not.

Jonas surprises his listeners with more twists and turns. Resigned to a haunted Jonathan, we are instead given a growing Jonathan. Kelly and Brant are growing as well. I enjoyed the Kelly diary writing style to show her viewpoint. It made the connection to her audience more complete. She is no longer only the blood thirsty assassin/warrior; she is a more complete character. Surprisingly Brant became much more as well.

Joe Hempel again does not disappoint. I am constantly surprised at how well he integrates himself with the characters making them more real than not. His ability to inject just the right amount of energy and emotion is stunning. He makes narration sound much easier than it is. Hempel gets Jonas; together as narrator and author this series is top notch.

I cannot wait for book 4! I am sure it will be as fast paced, action filled and exciting as these three.

There were no issues with production; everything was smooth.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator. ( )
  audiobibliophile | May 16, 2016 |
*I requested to review a copy of this audiobook for an honest review from the author or narrator.

On his knees, prepared to be executed, Stephen Noble calls Mike Endar leaving the short message that only Mike will know the meaning of. To protect Stephen's two children. Mike knows who to go to, and with owing Mike one, Jonathan and his team are on the job. To protect Rayna and Graham Noble. Rayna doesn't want to live by the rules of the old world's ways, she wants to live on and not die. But she needs to convince her brother of that thinking in this new world they live in, things are different on this side of the gate. Jonathan and Kelly know there is information they don't have, but they fight a family of thirteen to protect Rayna and Graham as best they can.

Joe has returned for the third book in this series to voice Jonathan and crew for us. Joe has become Jonathan Shade's voice for me so I'm thrilled when we stay with the same narrator. Joe does different vocal timbres for each character to help differentiate them in the story. Implications of male and female along with inflection of the characters mind set. The story narration is clear and seamless in it's creation.

This story has a little different format. It's not all from Jonathan's POV. We get the view of the story from a few additional people. We have Jonathan and Kelly working as a team to protect Rayna and Graham, each having their own lives to live and things to do so we split up with the two protectees. By doing this we get views from all four characters so we learn what information of the Noble family and ways of their world are revealed along with what happens to each.

Getting the view through Kelly's eyes and in her mind gives us a softer look on her. It seems Kelly has grown as well. Kelly still loves to kill, that's what she was created for, but she's starting to see that life needs to be preserved as well.

Kelly also sees that her dear friend Jonathan is not the same person he was a few months ago. She can see a hardness in Jonathan now that also prevents his good nature jokes and smiles from appearing as often as they use to. This is what I was waiting to see in this book. I wanted to see how Jonathan would be different and how he'd handle it with his friends. Jonathan is struggling with how to handle things with his friends as Kelly and Brand are both questioning him about being different, both personality wise and fighting wise. Jonathan doesn't want to admit his failure to them. A failure he corrected and in the process became a different person. Jonathan has to find a way of working through his fear of losing people and let himself connect again. He seems to come around at the end. Which is nice, because I do enjoy his sense of humor too.

Jonathan seems to fall for the woman he does jobs for. I figured that would be coming in this story as well. It's a slow growth then suddenly Jonathan turns the corner to start being his old self. In doing so, Jonathan might have found himself a keeper girlfriend, but his track record hasn't been so good as his past girlfriends are dead. Will this one live?

Gary is not afraid to beat up his characters, on many fronts. Jonathan, Kelly, and Brand all go through drastic changes in this book. Physically and mentally they come to realize things, but are they ready to face what the outcomes will be?

The story here had me curious as to what the Noble family is. There is a connection between them and the Dragon Gate in the tunnels under DGI, as you probably could guess from the title if you've read the previous two books. They are something... different. But what?

I'm caught by this series. I'm curious to see where and what new magical beings or events we come across in the future. ( )
  MelHay | May 8, 2016 |
Note: While this is Book 3 in the series, it works mostly well on it’s own. Of course, the first two books were really good, so I highly recommend giving them a read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series and that set the bar pretty high for this book. Jonathan and his crew (Kelly Chan, her boyfriend Brand, and the ghost Esther) are hired by Dragon Gate Industries to protect the Nobles from the revenge-seeking Marshall clan. It’s not the normal case Jonathan takes on, but he owes the guys at DGI a favor. However both the Nobles and the Marshalls come from a culture that demands the Nobles willingly give up their lives to maintain family honor.

There were several things I liked about this book but then there were also some things that didn’t work for me. The set up is interesting and not something I have come across too often in urban fantasy. The Nobles are unwilling to defend themselves and some will willingly kneel for the sword. This makes it very difficult (and a bit infuriating) for Jonathan & his team to protect the Nobles. However, the reasons driving the Marshall clan to wipe out the Nobles, including the next generation that wasn’t part of the crime that lies between the two families, never fully gelled for me. For instance, the Marshalls take heavy damage and several deaths (which can only be expected when you go up against Kelly Chan). I don’t think it was worth the cost to the Marshalls but we never get inside their heads, so we never know why they keep coming.

On the plus side, we get plenty of Kelly time, which is awesome. My love affair with this character continues. Through the form of journal entries (yep, Kelly’s got a diary!), we get her opinion on everything from the use of high heels as weapons to worrying over Jonathan’s recent personality change. And that leads me to Jonathan and how he is suppose to be rather removed from his friends, harder, and not his normal joking self. Jonathan’s friends comment often on his new harsher self, but when we ride around in his head he doesn’t sound any different from the first two books. He’s worried about his friends, takes pride in his work, etc. After what he suffered at the end of Book 2, I was really expecting more of a change in him and that change wasn’t fully crystallized in this book.

But then we have more awesomesauce. Esther’s character continues to grow. Through the typewriter keys that she haunts, she has a wider circle of friends and all the places they visit as well. Brand, a second generation sekutar (a magically manufactured warrior of sorts), also continues to evolve. His relationship with Kelly has forced him to develop his sense of empathy. I was convinced he wouldn’t live past Book 1, but I am glad the author kept him around to play the humorous, usually oblivious jock.

Jonathan & crew are left protecting Rayna and her brother Graham, who aren’t too enthusiastic about the body guards. The Nobles have special abilities that get revealed little by little. I really liked how reticent they were to show off their paranormal or magical abilities. For the bulk of the book, Rayna and Graham need to be protected, having no evident fighting skills. However, at the very end of the book, the author suddenly tosses in some warrior skills for the Nobles and I felt this was too convenient and didn’t match up with the character and what little we learned about the culture of the land the Nobles and Marshalls are from.

So while this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I plan to continue the series. Books 1 & 2 were so entertaining that I trust the author to get this series back up to that same level.

I received a copy at no cost from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Joe Hempel continues to be an excellent narrator for this series. I love his voice for Esther, especially when she says, ‘It’s all berries.’ Once again, he nails the voice for Kelly Chan with her light Asian accent. ( )
  DabOfDarkness | Mar 31, 2016 |
Dragon Gate by Gary Jonas in the third book in the Jonathan Shade series but can be read without reading the other two books but do yourself a favor and read them, you will be glad you did! This picks up where the other book leaves off, and things start off with mysteries, wizards, aliens for another dimension, dragons, assassins, and a possible new romance for Jonathan. Things go bad for the two magical engineered warriors, one being his partner, and it takes all he has to save her. So many twists and turns and surprises this author is good for. The book is never as it seems, that is what I like about these books. The author is always one step ahead, the creativity and wit, humor, sensitivity, and love, all mixed in to one book is smoothly meshed perfectly. The action is non-stop, no rest for the characters or reader. Always a perfect plot, well developed characters, and well placed surprises and twists to grab the reader to say, "Oh my God! I didn't see that coming at all!!!" Love these books. I love the way they make me laugh one minute and tense up the next. Fun reads. The flapper ghost on his team is my favorite! ( )
  MontzaleeW | Mar 1, 2016 |
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A RITUALISTIC MURDER Stephen Noble, a board member of Dragon Gate Industries (DGI), is decapitated. DGI, a front company for wizards, decides to provide executive protection services for Noble's son, Graham, and daughter, Rayna. But Graham doesn't trust wizards and refuses their offer, so DGI hires Jonathan Shade and his team to keep the Noble family safe. GUILTY CLIENTS The Nobles are from the other side of the Dragon Gate, and in that dimension, they committed crimes against the Marshall Clan. And now the Clan has come through the Gate to exact their revenge. While Graham and Rayna were too young to have been a part of the death and mayhem in the other land, honor dictates that they must pay for the crimes of their family. INHUMAN ATTACKERS How can Jonathan protect clients who are willing to kneel and accept death at any moment? How can he and his team handle thirteen deadly warriors willing to die to accomplish their goal? And how can Jonathan defeat the deadly creatures the Marshall Clan has brought with them to our world? Creatures that will destroy anything in their path as they hunt their prey.

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