Book Report for The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
Book Report for The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
PLOT SUMMARY: Danny North grew up in a family of gods—or at least the poor remnants of the mages who once went by names like Odin, Thor, and Freya. When the gates that led to their home world of Westil were closed by Loki in 632 a.d., the Families lost much of their power. Despite this loss of power, the Families still consider themselves far superior to drowthers, the name they use for humans.
Drekka—mages that possess no magical talent—are considered little better than drowthers, and Danny North fears he is one. But when Danny finally does manifest his ability, it is unfortunately not a cause for celebration. For Danny is a gatemage, which is considered even worse than drekka, and if any of the Families were to learn of him, then he would be immediately killed. So Danny flees the family compound to make his own way in the world, at least until he learns to control his rare gift and hopefully reopen a gate between Mittlegard (Earth) and Westil.
It won’t be easy though. Not only does he face the ordinary dangers of a teenager trying to survive on his own in America, while hiding from mages who would kill him on sight, but there is also the mysterious Gate Thief, who seems determined to keep all gates toWestil closed by stripping gatemages of all their power.
ANALYSIS: The Lost Gate introduces readers to a magic system that is over thirty years in the making and, in the author’s own words, would explain everything:
“Elves and fairies, ancient mythical gods of every Indo-European culture, ghosts and poltergeists, werewolves and trolls and golems, seven-league boots and mountains that move, talking trees and invisible people—all would be contained within it.”
The concept behind the magic system is fairly simple. There is Earth, or Mittlegard as it is called by the mages, and then there is the planet Westil, home of the mages, which includes mages of every kind: beastmages, plantmages, stonemages,
PLOT SUMMARY: Danny North grew up in a family of gods—or at least the poor remnants of the mages who once went by names like Odin, Thor, and Freya. When the gates that led to their home world of Westil were closed by Loki in 632 a.d., the Families lost much of their power. Despite this loss of power, the Families still consider themselves far superior to drowthers, the name they use for humans.
Drekka—mages that possess no magical talent—are considered little better than drowthers, and Danny North fears he is one. But when Danny finally does manifest his ability, it is unfortunately not a cause for celebration. For Danny is a gatemage, which is considered even worse than drekka, and if any of the Families were to learn of him, then he would be immediately killed. So Danny flees the family compound to make his own way in the world, at least until he learns to control his rare gift and hopefully reopen a gate between Mittlegard (Earth) and Westil.
It won’t be easy though. Not only does he face the ordinary dangers of a teenager trying to survive on his own in America, while hiding from mages who would kill him on sight, but there is also the mysterious Gate Thief, who seems determined to keep all gates toWestil closed by stripping gatemages of all their power.
ANALYSIS: The Lost Gate introduces readers to a magic system that is over thirty years in the making and, in the author’s own words, would explain everything:
“Elves and fairies, ancient mythical gods of every Indo-European culture, ghosts and poltergeists, werewolves and trolls and golems, seven-league boots and mountains that move, talking trees and invisible people—all would be contained within it.”
The concept behind the magic system is fairly simple. There is Earth, or Mittlegard as it is called by the mages, and then there is the planet Westil, home of the mages, which includes mages of every kind: beastmages, plantmages, stonemages,