The "what are you reading" thread was one of my favorites at the old spot, and I don't think I see one here, so I started one.
The Mither Mages trilogy. I had read "The Lost Gate" in the old thread, but finished the second two last week.
The Lost Gate, Orson Scott Card. The first of the Mither Mages trilogy. A young man grows up in what appears to be mostly the "real" world except his family (and others scattered across the world) live in a small, private enclave of people with magical abilities, each enclave appears to be descended from "old gods;" in his case, Norse mythology, but other enclaves are descended from Greek, Carthaginian, etc. Finally, our hero's powers manifest after some concern that the young man would have no magic, but unfortunately his family is none too happy with the nature of his powers and he is forced to go out into the "normal" world and adventures ensue. A good start, this is another trilogy that I'll probably finish at some point.
The Gate Thief, the second book. Takes the first one up to a new level, ramping up the political intrigue in our world and others, making some interesting tie-ins to our history (myths as mentioned above, "historical" accounts like the Iliad, the Christian bible, etc.). A pretty good second effort; the first was pretty original and built a new world, this one expands it significantly.
Gatefather, the finale. I wouldn't go so far as to say the trilogy fell apart here, but this is the weakest entry of the three. Sort of anticlimactic, and even though most of the protagonists were in high school, the previous entries did not have that YA tone that I so detest, but this one did. Like with that entry in the Old Man's War that I hated, I found myself skimming through several pages at a time of unrelated teenage conversation that went nowhere. Didn't ruin the series by any means, as I'm a huge Card fan anyway.
The Mither Mages trilogy. I had read "The Lost Gate" in the old thread, but finished the second two last week.
The Lost Gate, Orson Scott Card. The first of the Mither Mages trilogy. A young man grows up in what appears to be mostly the "real" world except his family (and others scattered across the world) live in a small, private enclave of people with magical abilities, each enclave appears to be descended from "old gods;" in his case, Norse mythology, but other enclaves are descended from Greek, Carthaginian, etc. Finally, our hero's powers manifest after some concern that the young man would have no magic, but unfortunately his family is none too happy with the nature of his powers and he is forced to go out into the "normal" world and adventures ensue. A good start, this is another trilogy that I'll probably finish at some point.
The Gate Thief, the second book. Takes the first one up to a new level, ramping up the political intrigue in our world and others, making some interesting tie-ins to our history (myths as mentioned above, "historical" accounts like the Iliad, the Christian bible, etc.). A pretty good second effort; the first was pretty original and built a new world, this one expands it significantly.
Gatefather, the finale. I wouldn't go so far as to say the trilogy fell apart here, but this is the weakest entry of the three. Sort of anticlimactic, and even though most of the protagonists were in high school, the previous entries did not have that YA tone that I so detest, but this one did. Like with that entry in the Old Man's War that I hated, I found myself skimming through several pages at a time of unrelated teenage conversation that went nowhere. Didn't ruin the series by any means, as I'm a huge Card fan anyway.