I just read The Lost Gate and am now reading The Gate Thief. I see the third book is due out soon. A question that has crossed my mind is whether a gatemage can only make gates in Space but not in Time, and if so, why? Spacetime should be manipulated equally easily in all dimensions, no? Any thoughts, OSC?
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Why not? Just because I can open a portal in any place doesn't mean I can open one in the past or future. Why should those things be joined?
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I have no idea if the books are supposed to be Sci-Fi or fantasy, but if they're supposed to be sci-fi-ish, then Space-time is one Thing and if you directly manipulate one you can probably manipulate the other.
BUT it's a book (I'm guessing more of a fantasy novel), so they're probably limited by whatever OSC thinks makes a good plot.
SURPRISE SPOILERS FOR XENOCIDE:
I DID just re-read Xenocide, and felt a similar issue there: if Jane can pop things outside the universe where Space is meaningless, time should also be meaningless and she should be able to pop things back in at any time she wants - although I could imagine this having all kinds of terrible consequences for her and the unvierse.
Xenocide IS a Sci-Fi novel trying to be fairly serious about its philosophical/metaphysical underpinnings. If they ever continued in that universe I'd be interested in exploring that (even if just to say why it wouldn't work)
(That said, the last few times OSC explored the Enderverse I ended up more annoyed than happy, so... leave it for my headcanon, I guess)