Book Review: Traveler’s Gate Trilogy

Introduction:

The Traveler’s Gate is a trilogy of books by Will wight, released in 2014. The series is known for its action, as well as a unique world with unique powers.

In this article, I will be reviewing the entire trilogy, rather than go through the whole book one by one.

Plot:

When Simon was eight years old, two Travelers attacked his family on the road. His father was killed, and his mother driven insane. Simon was only saved by the intervention of a strange man with a huge sword. He said that if Simon ever needed training, he would help, but Simon needed to take care of his mother first.

Eight years later, Simon is stuck in a tiny village with his insane mother when troops from Overlord Malachi come demanding a “sacrifice,” nine prisoners, who will be taken to the capital for unknown purposes. Simon tries to save everyone, but instead it is his friend Alin who manifests powers and kills the enemy Traveler—while their friend Leah, secretly the daughter of the King, takes the sacrifices away.

Both Simon and Alin wish to save Leah and the rest of the sacrifices, but they are on two very different paths. Alin is the hero prophesized to put an end to the sacrifices once and for all, while Simon is just a boy. They come at the problem from two different directions, gaining power to save everyone.

And of course, there is the question of what the sacrifices are truly for… and what they are holding back.

Who exactly are the travelers?

These are the people who are part of a territory, which grants them special powers, like summoning creatures, using storms, or even healing. They are called travelers, because it is possible to travel through their territory, as oppose to the real world, (Basically using these territories as a shortcut,) but not all the territories are suited for these purposes, as they have strange rules regarding time and space.

The way through which the travelers enter or summon things from their territories is called gate, each territory has different ways of opening these gates. Some gates open fast, some slowly.

My reading experiences:

This trilogy is presented through the point of view of three characters.

Leah, the princess of the Damasca, the kingdom where the story takes place. She was sent to the village of Simon and Alin as a test, because all the royals of the Damasca kingdom must live for some time among the common people with their hidden identity. She was also tasked with finding out the bloodline of Elysia.

in the first book, I felt she was the most boring character to read. I feel she doesn’t come to on her own until she becomes the official successor to the king in the late second book.

Alin is the prophesized hero of the Elysian bloodline, for which Leah was tasked to look for. He has the tendency to talk as if he is some dramatic hero of a story, which gets worse as he is confirmed to be one. Although it is fun to read the interaction with Simon, he doesn’t become interesting until the third book, where he actually starts to realize that his swelled head is a problem, and people around him are using him through it.

He also serves as a villain for a while in the third book.

Simon is the protagonist of the trilogy. Unlike Alin, he wasn’t prophesized to do anything great, and everyone tells him to just sit back, and let Alin do everything.

However, Simon refuses to live by this status quo, and goes to the forest where his father was murdered, and his mother turned insane, so he can get some power. He starts out pretty normally, but progresses through the books, and by the end of the trilogy, he becomes one of the strongest allies of Leah.

Oh, he also hates the banter in the fight. Reading his thoughts as his opponents try to banter with him in the fight is very hilarious, as well as his snarking at Alin.

Conclusion:

Usually, fantasy books start out with lots of action, but somewhere in the middle, they turn more political, and action is put aside. It is not like with this trilogy. Whether there is a war between two armies, or just one person going against multiple people trying to kill him, it has it all.

This is not to say that politics is ignored. It is present, we get glimpses of it, but it never takes the central stage. Personal motives of the characters are more important.

The fight scenes deserve a word of their own here, since most western books don’t present fight scenes like Will does in this book.

If you like to read action packed books with huge sword wielding people, then this is recommended. If you want something which is slow paced, then look elsewhere.

The author Will Wight also has a blog, where I learned that he actually enjoys the same medium of entertainment as me, like web novels, video games, and anime. You can visit his blog,

Here.

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