Evil Star

Matt Freeman is attending a private school, with the financial assistance of the Nexus. He refuses their plea for help in Peru, but changes his mind when his crazy Aunt hijacks a gas tanker and blows up the school. Using his gift, Matt is able to avert the slaughter of innocents, and then agrees to go to Peru. Once there, he and his friend Richard are ambushed on the ride in from the airport. Matt finds a pauper named Pedro, who gets him to his hotel, where the secret police try to arrest Matt. Pedro uses his slingshot to free Matt and they hide in the slums. Pedro is, of course, the second of the five children who are supposed to stop the Old Ones. With the help of Incan descendants, the second gate is closed, but not quite in time. show more The highlight of the book for me was Matt and Pedro's ability to speak to each other in dreams, even though they do not share a common language in their awakened state. show less

An interesting second book in this series. Matt is trying to find a place in the world after the defeat of the Old Ones at Raven's Gate. But it appears that there are other gates, one of which is going to open soon. Matt has to again shoulder the responsibility and find another member of the five, alone he is weak.

It's an interesting series and the characters are well drawn. I'm not sure that they wouldn't be more believable as slightly older but still they work.

Yes it has it's stretching credulity moments but it's an enjoyable read all the same, I'm looking forward to book 3 and the promise of further books in the series.

Evil Star follows Matt as he comes to terms with his newfound powers, all the while trying to live a normal life. But when a second gate is discovered in Peru, the Nexus sends Matt and Richard there to investigate. Trouble soon arises when Richard is kidnapped, and Matt becomes a fugitive. To make matters worse, one of the members of the Nexus is a traitor, hell bent on making sure Matt fails his mission.

As far as sequels go, Evil Star is more than what it should’ve been. The overall tone of the novel is noticeably darker and more sombre than the first, and the characters are more mature and developed. The plot isn’t really original, but there is enough action to entertain, though the plot twist at the end was quite predictable. The show more only disappointment was that there isn’t much horror, making the story feel more Tomb Raider than Silent Hill.

I am glad that Horowitz has improved as a storyteller. The development of the plot was nicely executed, and while it does have its moments of dullness, readers will still be tempted to read on. Reading about the mythology of Vilcabamba was fascinating, and the cliffhanger ending practically screams for the reader to get the sequel.

Overall, Evil Star is a solid action thriller, and a nice addition to the Gatekeepers series. show less

The Gatekeepers series involves a teenaged English boy discovering that he is one of five children who are destined to prevent the Old Ones from returning and claiming the Earth. In the first book in the series, he successfully prevented a coven of witches from opening a gateway to the dimension in which the Old Ones are imprisoned. This time, Matt travels to Peru and locates both a second gate and another one of the Gatekeepers.

I have been impressed with Anthony Horowitz's work in this series. While the Alex Rider series got more unbelievable and worsened in quality as the series progressed, right up to the shark-jumping book Arc Angel, this series seems to be increasing in quality and originality with each book in the series. While show more it may not be Dickens, Austen, or Tolkien, it's pretty good for YA fantasy. show less

Original post at The Little Bookworm

Evil Star is the second in the Gatekeeper series after Raven's Gate. I switch from book to audio for this series for no particular reason. Simon Prebble is the narrator and he does a good job. He tries to vary the voices for the characters and does an okay job with that. He's British and I tend to listen to audio with British narrators for unknown reasons.

Anyway, it was a good book, a good second in a series. It certainly wasn't a filler, adding a lot of excitement and action. It pretty much gets started right away with Matt's visit to London and from then on was non-stop action. Horowitz is moving things right along and now I'm curious to what happens next. I'm wondering about the rest of the Five show more and their abilities. I liked the description of Peru and the background stuff. That was very interesting and gave me good visuals. So onto Nightrise, the next book in the series. show less

The great sequel to "Raven's Gate", and the second book of the gatekeepers.

Beautifully written. I'll forever love the way you are allowed to explore Matt and Pedro's adventures and challenges to try save the world (and themselves) once again.

This is book two in the Gatekeepers series. I enjoyed the story, mostly because I like the way Horowitz writes, but when I think back on the plot, all that mostly happened was we met the second child and the second gate opened and a large number of creatures emerged. Book two seemed to mostly be setting the reader up for the rest of the series, but I still enjoyed it. Glad I waited until it was in paperback however.