Review: The Gateway of Light and Darkness
The Gateway of Light and Darkness by Heather Marie
My rating: [rating=2]
Blurb:
The battle of good vs. evil wages on for Aiden Ortiz in this final installment of the Gateway Series: The Gateway of Light and Darkness. With the Dark Priest defeated, and the Brethren of Shadows refusing to forfeit calling upon the Darkness, the Brethren are determined more than ever to discover a way to banish the Men of Light for good. And as the Dark Priest’s curse invading Aiden’s veins continues to take on a life of its own, he finds himself in a standoff between his own kind, and the Brethren that want to recruit him for all the wrong reasons. Accompanied by fellow Gateway, Julie Martin, and his best friends Trevor and Evan, seventeen-year-old Aiden prepares himself for the battle of his life.
Protecting those he loves, and learning to put aside his differences for his father in order to learn the ways of the Light, Aiden begins to realize that the thing endangering their lives might not be the threat of the Brethren alone, but the thing taking shape inside of him —readying to unleash itself upon them all.
Review:
[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]
I still like the mythology/back story woven into this series, but… but… Seriously, this trend of ain’t-telling-you-nothing-itis has to stop. I don’t know what it’d take. I don’t know why this is still considered a good idea. It’s not. It’s not building plot, it’s forcing it down into holes that aren’t even the same shape.
So basically, Aiden makes the wrong choices (some crossing into Too Stupid To Live territory) mostly because all the characters around him who have information don’t share it with him. And when he stumbles and falls, they get all “I’m disappointed in you”, “I told you so”, “I knew it”, “I’m sorry I falied you”. When they know very well that he *wants* to get rid of his curse. Their “help” in that regard, though, falls so far from the mark that it’s not funny. I don’t buy the belief that someone has to battle against darkness alone, and if they fail, well, then it means they were doomed from the start, weren’t they? No. Maybe people wouldn’t fall if they had just the right help. There are times when it’s too much for one person to tackle. In this book, it’s one of those times. (I also don’t buy “we did it for your own good”, because had this failed, whoops, they’d likely have killed him, too bad, son.)
I guess it was almost painful, seeing how this character had to go through it half-blindedly when it mattered most. The training his father gave him, the support he was supposed to have, were only part of what he needed. What he actually needed, he didn’t really get. Thus his mistakes and wrong choices. It didn’t help that Aiden didn’t open up much about Koren, what he felt for her, thinking he could still “hear” her, etc… but what else to expect? His tentative attempts at getting answers always ended up in closed doors. Many people would give up and clam up for less than that.
It didn’t help that the story was a little slow going, and peppered with events where more than one person shone through their wrong choices. Things picked up after the 70-75% mark, though, and the ending was more enjoyable. I would’ve liked this story more, I think, if its pacing had been more balanced in that regard, and if we had gotten to see more some of the secondary characters (Aiden’s parents, for instance, or Seth). What felt slow could’ve been more exciting if they had been given some more limelight.
Not terrible per se, but not more than “just OK” either for me.