The Sixth Gate

The interplanetary gates have existed between the five planets and the Netherworld for as long as living memory.

Dr. Elisabeth Avery is a woman caught between two worlds. Little does she know that others like her, other half-breeds, are being hunted. When a creature drags a princess into the Netherworld, Elisabeth is determined to save her by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, on the planet of Hystera, a Keeper and his assistant investigate a grisly string of suicides and are in need of someone with Elisabeth's skills. The Gate Guardians and Elisabeth are aware that something is coming and know that it has something to do with the Netherworld bleeding through to the planets, but not why.

Will Elisabeth be able to come to terms with who she is in time to face the coming threat?

I received this book for free from Review Copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Sixth Gate is a sprawling fantasy story about, well, that’s a bit of a problem.  The book has some difficulty pinning down what the story its telling is actually about.

When I say the story is sprawling, that isn’t an understatement.  Munson has built a complex world that, if taken by itself would be pretty interesting.  It’s clear the author has either a love of world building or a talent for it or both, the interconnectedness of the universe she’s built is pretty impressive.

And Munson describes the world well in flowing details that really brings each part alive.  I admire her ability to clearly set a scene for the reader.  She does an excellent job giving the reader a good feel of the mood of what’s going on and making it connect interestingly.

This author is clearly very talented, and this book seems to have had a lot of potential, which is why the end result is a little disappointing.

The major issue I had reading The Sixth Gate is the book can’t seem to decide what it’s actually about.  The back of the book presents you with the main character, Elisabeth and hints at a subplot with a secondary character, and yet the book only partially focuses on either of those.  Elisabeth doesn’t even show up until chapter 7, and regularly disappears for whole chapters. Five chapters in I had to stop and go back to look at the book blurb again to make sure it wasn’t about a character named Ki, who is never mentioned there but the book spends an inordinate amount of time.

It’s as if I got this movie called Star Wars and was told it was about this guy Darth Vader and his attempt to squash a rebellion.  I mean, sure, it’s about that, but that description leaves out this guy Luke Skywalker the story itself seems to want to actually tell you about.

That’s kind of how I felt with The Sixth Gate.  That doesn’t even take into account whole chapters that focus on characters you will never see again.  I spent a lot of my time reading this book confused, trying to figure out what was going on and wondering what the actual story the book was telling was.

There are also fair amounts of proofreading errors in the beginning, although those seem to get worked out and happen less frequently as you get further into the book.

Overall it’s an interesting idea and a rich world that’s well described, but I the main story gets lost in fleshing out the world, ending up on the confusing journey that is on the difficult side to stay with.

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