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Hell's Gate (Multiverse, Book 1)
by David Weber, Linda Evans
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Baen (2006-10-31)
ISBN: 1416509399
EAN: 9781416509394
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 816 pages
Edition: 1St Edition
SKU: C226-1028
Condition: Like New
Comments: UNREAD but may have a crease or mark or minor imperfections. In stock - Sent fast from British booksellers.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The Union of Arcana has expanded through the portals linking parallel universes for over a century and a half. In that time, its soldiers and sorcerers have laid claim to one uninhabited planet after another?all of them Earth, and in the process, the Union has become the most powerful, most wealthy civilization in all of human history. But all of that is about to come to a screeching halt, for the Union?s scouts have just discovered a new portal, and on its far side lies a shattering revelation. Arcana is not alone, after all. There is another human society, Sharona, which has also been exploring the Multiverse, and the first contact between them did not go well. Arcana is horrified by the alien weapons of its sudden opponents, weapons its sorcerers cannot explain or duplicate. Weapons based upon something called . . . science. But Sharona is equally horrified by Arcana?s ?magical? weapons. Neither side expected the confrontation. Both sides think the other fired first, and no one on either side understands the ?technology? of the other. But as the initial disastrous contact snowballs into all-out warfare, both sides can agree on one thing. The portal which brought them together is Hell?s Gate itself!
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Customer Reviews
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Hell's Gate
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-07-06
Not great, not bad..sort of in between. But it's missing pages 923 to 954 so as you read through there all of a sudden you realize you've missed something.
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Sometimes...
Rating  (2)
Date: 2010-06-19
Sometimes when you buy a 1000+ page book, you get Shogun or The Stand. Sometimes you get... this. An interesting story, but waaay too wordy. Read a chapter, flip through a chapter of boring exposition, read another chapter, repeat... for twelve HUNDRED pages. These authors were not well served by their editor(s). The excision of about 400 pages of filler would have earned this book three stars (or even four) from me.
Consider also that almost four years after release of book 1, Books 3 and 4 of the series don't have release dates yet. So unless you're vewy, vewy patient...
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Failed potential
Rating (2)
Date: 2010-05-27
I'm on page 900 and seriously considering quitting the book. Really too bad, as there are characters that I like, but way too much lecturing from author...like taking a history class on some made-up society that you could care less about. There are many plot contrivances that are just annoyingly absurd, like idea that an advanced culture with advanced weapons just can't conceive of the idea of flight. Wish I woulda read reviews before buying this dud >.<
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Weber & Evans Create Two Believable Cultures
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-02-11
Hell's Gate by David Weber and Linda Evans
Book one of the Multiverse series is a most engrossing 1200 pages. Evan's and Weber portray two unique civilizations on a road to conflict. Arcana bases their technology on magic. Sharona has psychic talents but bases their technology on science. The multi-universal aspect is that both civilizations have discovered portal to alternate earths that have no populations until they confront each other.
David Weber and Linda Evans do a superb job in describing two dissimilar cultures and those cultures' idiosyncrasies. As they alternate back and forth from culture to culture you find your sympathies vacillating as well. The beauty of their work is that you truly find things that are both laudable and stimulating for each culture. They are being drawn into conflict by serendipitous contacts and malicious behavior in spite of their root similarities. I can not wait to read the next volume, "Hell Hath No Fury".
I highly recommend it and all of David Weber's Work.
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Don't bother with this series.
Rating  (1)
Date: 2010-02-07
I love reading David Weber books, but the writing for this series is atrocious. There are simply too many characters that do nothing, that you don't care about, and that take up chapters at a time. I slogged through the first book and found myself skipping... not skimming, skipping... entire chapters devoted to these characters. I finished the second book and they still do nothing.
Simply put, I found it bad enough to write a review on Amazon about it instead of the normal apathy response.
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