Gates of Thread and Stone

The city of Ninurta heavily relies on an extreme class system where the affluent people live in the beautiful White Court while the poor are forced to live where they can in the Labyrinth. The ruler and his army are the only ones allowed to have magic, but Kai, with the ability to manipulate time, hides in fear of punishment. Kai was abandoned as a child and adopted by Reev. Her adopted brother is her whole world and they make sure to tell each other their whereabouts and make sure the other is safe. One day, Reev disappears with no trace and Kai vows to save her only family. It seems that the Black Rider, the only opposition to their magical ruler, has kidnapped him taken him to the Void, a very dangerous place, surrounded by gargoyles show more and wilderness. Kai and her friend Avan venture there and find that their whole way of life is a lie. Will they ever find Reev?

Gates of Thread and Stone is richly imagined and vividly rendered. I could easily visualize all the parts of Ninurta: the Void, the Labyrinth, the White Court, the Districts, and the Outlands. Kai's hero's journey takes her into each place and it felt like I was there. Ninurta is a typical fantasy world with magic and without technology, but there are small signs that it used to be our world. The people used to worship gods before their ruler showed himself to have magical powers. They have defunct artifacts from the past that are our every day appliances. I wish this aspect was explored more, but it may be in future books.

Kai is a cool character because she is fiercely loyal and fights to the death for her loved ones. However, her personality is a little hard to relate to. It just took me a while to connect with her, especially when she seemed selfish and much too reliant on other people. I also wish her powers were explored a little more, but she spent most of the book hiding them to avoid detection. Avan is also a fine character and he spend much of the book hiding his motives, so he was also hard to get a read on. The most significant thing about him was that he is pretty. Their romance was cute and felt like an organic part of the story. For me, the most fully realized characters were the minor ones. Irra, the Black Rider, in particular had a unique speech pattern and I could see his character easily.

I especially enjoyed the ending even though revelation after revelation is just dropped on the reader. It left the story hugely open for more books and I can't wait to see what happens next. show less

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Liest man sich die Inhaltsangabe zu „Die Fäden der Zeit“ von Lori M. Lee durch, bekommt man den Eindruck – oder zumindest habe ich den Eindruck bekommen -, dass einen ein actionreiches Fantasyabenteuer erwartet, voller Magie, getrieben von Geschwisterliebe und mit dunklen Geheimnissen gespickt. Tja… Ich bin mir sicher, all das steckte auch irgendwo in dieser Geschichte, die ich gelesen habe, nur war es halt wirklich sehr, sehr tief versteckt.

Denn die Geschichte ist vor allem eins: Langsam. Ja, „Die Fäden der Zeit“ ist der Auftakt zu einer Serie, zu – oh Wunder – einer Trilogie und Hauptelement der Handlung ist eine Suche, die sind nun show more einmal von Natur aus nicht unbedingt schnellgängig, aber leider ist Lori M. Lees Roman so langsam, dass er langweilig wird und das sogar relativ schnell. Das liegt auch daran, dass sich die Ereignisse in einer Art Dauerschleife befinden, denn Protagonistin Kai trifft massenweise Charaktere, immer und immer wieder, nur um diese nur Seiten später wieder zu verwerfen.

Leider konnte mich auch der Weltaufbau nicht überzeugen, denn für meinen Geschmack gab es hier eindeutig zu viele Lücken, zu viel das – wie in der Handlung selbst – relativ lieblos zusammen gepflückt zu sein scheint, vieles das erstmal keinen rechten Sinn ergeben will und bis sich schließlich ein Gesamtbild offenbart, ist man doch leider schon so gelangweilt, dass es einem relativ egal ist. Es gibt einfach nichts – keinen Ort, keine Figur -, das als Anker dient, zumindest wenn man die Protagonistin und ihren besten Freund/Schwarm nicht als solchen sehen kann, wie es bei mir der Fall war.

Alles in allem hat „Die Fäden der Zeit“ von Lori M. Lee definitiv Potential, richtig viel sogar, aber so wie man quasi nichts von der eigentlich so beeindruckenden Fähigkeit der Protagonistin zu sehen bekommt, so bleibt auch das restliche Potential der Geschichte weitestgehend ungenutzt. Zum Ende hin zeigt die Autorin allerdings doch noch, was in dieser Geschichte steckt und das macht mich, trotz des ansonsten eher enttäuschenden Leseerlebnis, dann doch auch wieder neugierig auf die Fortsetzung. show less

The narrator reads this book very quickly, almost frantically which fits since the main character seems to be in a panic or on the verge of one half the time. The beginning of the book while the story is being set up I found the story a little hard to follow but after about an hour it started to make more sense and I found I couldn't stop listening.

In order to find her brother, Kai has to put her life and those of her friends in danger. There are pieces of this book that reminded me of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, such as the description of the White Court which was very reminiscent of the description of the Capital where excess rules while everyone else suffers. It also had pieces of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth with show more the descriptions of the Outlands, and people being banished to them.

But while there are some similarities this definitely has its own tone and its own magic. Kai can manipulate time, she sees time as threads that she can pull and weave to slow things down or stop, she hasn't learned the full potential of her power or where it came from but she knows its very dangerous if people find out. When her brother goes missing she is determined to find him and with the help of her friend Avan she emarks on a dangerous journey, but what she finds is not only her brother but also the truth about where she comes from, who she is and finally why her brother was taken in the first place.

Dystopian novels meet magic and weave together a very interesting story. Apparently this is only the first in a series. I will be picking up the second to see where this is headed. show less

I enjoyed reading Gates of Thread and Stone very much. A few weeks ago, I entered a contest to win it and the sequel (The Infinite) on audiobook from the author. Sadly, I did not win, but I decided that I needed to read GoTaS right away, so I put my other books on hold and ordered it from my library. I’m really glad I did!
I found Kai to be a very realistic and believable character. Her feelings and fears were very real and I felt as though I could connect with her through them. When going to search for Reev, her friend, Avan, offers to go with her on the journey. Kai does not want to be selfish and take Avan away from his home to accompany her, nor does she wish to put him in danger. Yet she knows that she cannot do it alone, even show more though she wishes she could. She is afraid of refusing his help, but she is also afraid of accepting it in case that is not what is best for him.
The romance between Kai and Avan isn’t the instant “falling in love at first sight” that most books seem to have. They have been friends for a very long time, and the quest to find Reev brings them much closer. Kai is unsure of her feelings for Avan and is a bit confused about the whole thing.
The relationship between Kai and G-10 was quite confusing. I definitely don’t like them together romantically.
**SPOILER** When Irra announced that he was Famine, I thought that maybe he was one of the four Riders of the apocalypse, especially when Death and Conquest were also mentioned. However, they are Infinites, an immortal group of which there are 70 members. This cleared up the confusion of whether they were the Riders, but I am unsure of why there are 70 and how the author will choose to explain or use this information. 70 seems to be quite a lot of immortals that each have their own specific power. **End spoiler**
That being said, I am very interested to see how the lore continues to play out. I am also looking forward to the development of Kai and Avan’s relationship after the events at the end of the book.
**SPOILER** Kai’s true identity was very predictable, though Avan’s role was a total surprise to me. **End Spoiler**
Again, I enjoyed reading Gates of Thread and Stone very much. It is a story about real loyalty, family and humanity, and has wonderful potential with world building and lore.
Language:
The author made up a word for the world of the book (“drek”), which was used a bunch of times; about 3 uses of “a**”
Sexual content:
The town where Kai lives has many prostitutes, many of which seem very keen on getting to know her brother. However, Kai spends the majority of the book out of her town, so this is only in the beginning of the book.
Kai and Avan sleep very close together when there is no room in the cave they are hiding in
On multiple occasions, Kai thinks about kissing Avan
Kai briefly admires Avan’s butt when he’s in his training uniform
G-10 jokes about hoping Kai was trying to make a sexual request
Kai wishes she and Avan could sleep in the same bed (nothing sexual about it is implied, though)
Kai thinks about bathing with Avan
A boy kisses/tries to kiss Avan
Avan says he “doesn’t care about gender”, implying he is bisexual
Kai and Avan kiss passionately a couple times show less

I had wanted to love this so much more. The cover is just gorgeous and I added a star just for it.

But the book just felt scattered - it slowed down way too much in the middle, the explanations were confusing and didn't feel worth the confusing pages to get there.

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3.5 Stars

First off, the cover is gorgeous and the main reason I chose to read Gates of Thread and Stone. Kai is some girl living in the bad part of a city with a secret, she can hold and adjust the threads of time. While she and her brother just want to get on with their lives, it's clear that will become impossible (otherwise, no one would write a book about it).

This book actually worked quite well for me. I've been reading a number of Dystopians lately, and many disappointed me in several ways, but I enjoyed this one. There is a lot going on, especially in the beginning, but I liked Kai's story and that made it okay. I was not such a big fan of the romance that was weaved show more through the story, but since it was still an enjoyable read, it didn't bother me too much. I'm curious to see where the story is going from here.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! show less

This review is going to be tough because I finished the book right before going on a 3 week vacation, and now I don't remember it enough to give it a thorough review. I remember that I liked it but didn't love it. I remember that the main character used the word drek as a cuss word, so there were not many of our cuss words. I remember that the romance was sweet but took a back seat to the main character finding her brother (although there were times when the main character was in the middle of intense things and her thoughts would wander to her companion's good looks..... really?).

I also remember that there were a lot of times where I was a little clueless as to what was really going on. I think the world building was pretty good, but show more there were some things that I had a really hard time picturing. I thought the main character's "power" was kind of cool, but was a litte confused as to why she didn't use it more to help herself.

Do I think middle schooler's will like it? If they stick with it I think they will, but it is slow in some places and some things are hard to understand and visualize. However, there are a lot of superior books available in this genre. show less