Fire Sea

After enjoying the first two parts of this 'cycle' I found Fire Sea to be dull, uninspiring and lacking the appeal of the others. The cast changes, although the action still follows Haplo as he journeys through the Death Gate once more. The setting this time is in a subterranean world and the oppressive backdrop gives little opportunities for Weis and Hickman to showcase their talents. It just doesn't feel like a fantasy book, but has the aura of a supernatural short story. I'm sure it's a required part of the ongoing story, and won't inhibit the desire to read the next chapter, but it seems padded, with little emotional impact.

I enjoyed this more than Elven Star, there was something being explored with the concept of death and release that felt real. The 'main characters' introduced in the first book have whittled themselves so far down that I hope the world expands a bit in the next book.

In death they found hope.

Abarrach, world of stone, with a molten core as its sun. Giant columns called colossus carry warmth and light up into the rest of the world, but something has gone wrong. Entire kingdoms are freezing. As the colossus fail, Edmund leads his people in a search for hope.

The story pulls Haplo in much more quickly this time, slowing down just long enough to entangle Alfred as well. At first the story focuses on their inherent conflict, but that becomes overshadowed by their common role as outsider in this grim world.

The main conflict becomes one of perspective, as both Alfred and Haplo struggle with how the people of Abarrach choose to survive, and their glib regard for life. Haplo in particular is taken aback by show more his own reaction, and for the first time in the series he becomes a character conflicted. Much of the story is spent waiting, while rival characters plot their moves in a series of alternating scenes that leave little mystery or suspense. Near the end the story explores some interesting, if familiar questions, before bringing this chapter to a tragic end, planting seeds for what will become part of the overarching conflict of the series.

+Strong Characters
+Strong Ideas
+Strong Setting
*Grim
-Slow
-Predictable Plot

3/5 show less

Dit boek heeft echt een duisterder sfeer dan de eerste twee boeken. Er zit wat meer diepgang in het verhaal en je krijgt heel wat te horen over het verleden van de Sartanen op deze wereld. Dat maakt het voor mij tot een ietsje beter plot dan de vorige twee boeken. Verder is het met dezelfde vaart geschreven, maar met een wat serieuzere toon. Dat hoort ook absoluut bij deze sombere en claustrofobische wereld. Maar ik mis Zifnab en de draak. Op naar deel 4.

Book 3 of the Death Gate Cycle is an action packed, and sometimes intense, romp through Abarrach, the Realm of Stone. The world building is deliciously original, with a rather interesting take on zombies.

The continuing adventures of Haplo and his seemingly indestructible dog. This time they're visiting the world of Stone, which unlike the world of fire, has lots of fire in it - some great magma seas.

Life is hard here with acrid air, and harsh temperatures, the mensch have all died out, but instead there's lots of Sartans. Which comes as a bit of a shock. A quick bit of investigation proves that these seem much diminished from the opponents Haplo knows, even compared to the hapless Alfred who's turned up again. They do have one thing going for them though, they've learnt necromancy, which would be of vast assistance to his Lord's plans to conquer the four worlds. If only Haplo could trick the secret from them. Alfred doesn't seem so keen show more on this idea, knowing that the concept had been forbidden for good reasons. Maybe this is why the Sartan on other worlds had died out - their soul's recycled into the feckless dead of Abbarath.

Albert knows full well there's something suspicious about Haplo's dog, after it gets chucked in a pit of magma and then manages to turn alive and well a short time later. Strangely Haplo himself doesn't question this, although he as being poisoned at the time, in a battle to wrest information from him as he seeks to understand the necromancy. He is considerably weaker here than we've previously been led to believe, and starting to doubt both his purpose and his Lord. Another not at all subtle reference to higher Powers might mean there's more going on than it first seems, which would cast all of the Sartan's "benevolent" actions in a very different light.

Wasn't so convinced by this one really, contained nothing of the Labyrinth and the mysticism doesn't really fit. We do learn a bit more about Haplo and Alfred though. show less

new Sartans, necromancy, undead, half-dead, half-undead, lazars, a "higher order!. while it started and ended with the same intensity and pacing as the first two, parts in the middle were not good. a post-apocalyptic 20-century earth is somehow included, and the layers of disbelief verge on randomness and confusion. still, 300 pages had me on my toes and dying to unravel more of the mysteries of the Death Gate.