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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Discussions About Orson Scott Card » The Gate Thief - Spoilers/Don't click unless you've finished the book

   
Author Topic: The Gate Thief - Spoilers/Don't click unless you've finished the book
Kelly1101
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So, what does everyone think?

I'm such an idiot. I had Hermia pegged as the Set-possessed right up until Nicki started grabbing Danny's junk in the school hallway, when I finally figured it out.

And now I'm disappointed that Hermia isn't Set-possessed, she just sucks. I was really hoping she'd turn out to be an awesome character rather than a tool. I suppose that OSC can redeem her somewhat in the next book by saying she had no choice because the Greeks were going to kill Danny's high school friends or something, but blech.

Anononone whatever-- I was really relieved that she'd "died" so now I'm worried. Watch her and Bexoi join forces and do some really terrible things.

At least no babies died in this book. So happy OSC did not kill Bexoi's unborn child. I was about to get pissed off.

How do you pronounce Bexoi's name, anyway? Bek-soy or Bek-swa?

Oh-- so did I read the end too quickly, or did we not find out who was making that little dust devil when Danny was talking to his friends? He was suspecting Pat, but is that true?

I was surprised that OSC had a protagonist have premarital sex, but since it led to his possession by Satan I suppose it makes sense, lmao.

So Enopp is obv a gatemage-- the languages, and being able to "see" what Danny was doing with the gates, etc-- and Eluik is... a manmage? What's up with the sending his outself into his little brother (which nearly made me cry because of reminding how these little boys were trapped and alone for years)? Is it like what Anononny did with Bexoi?


I'm kind of okay with Loki having all of the gates rather than Danny. I mean I like Danny and all, yes he's good and nice and the main character etc-- but I like Loki better.

Although I think obviously Danny is going to somehow get his gates back.

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Kelly1101
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Do we know if OSC is writing the next book yet? Am I allowed to be impatient yet?
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Kata
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He he, I'm already impatient.
Regarding Bexoi, from the audiobook I see it's pronounced Bek-soy.

I am a little dissapointed in Wad/Loki, regarding his statment at the end that he will never give Danny his gates back.

Obviously Danny will get his gates back. For now I see 2 options:
1) After Set leaves him, he finds a new way(unknown to Wad) to regain control over his gates that were given, since they are already inside Danny.

2) After Anononone wins the fight over Bexoi's body and she will use her control over Wad and punish him for the years of captivity (she said that she will punish him when the time is right).


Now I'm curious how will Danny escape from Set's possession.
I recall in the end of the first book, when Danny fights the Gate Thief, he almost figures out how to take control over Wad's body but doesn't do it because that would be immoral (to use manmage magic). Maybe he will figure something out around these lines.

Since Danny and Pat talked about having a secret question, I'm sure that Pat will know that Danny is possesed and maybe use her magic to somehow trap his body.

I am curios what will OSC come up with. I'm sure that he will go over the forums and try to find something that will surprise everyone [Smile]

Now we have to wait another 2-3 years until the final book will be published.

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Kelly1101
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I was thinking that after SetDanny uses up all of the captive gates, and Set understands that Danny has no more power, he'll try to move out and move into someone with more power. It's not Danny in particular he wants, it's power in particular, and if Danny doesn't have any there is no reason for Set to stay.
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millernumber1
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I kind of think that maybe the Set-allies were actually influencing most of the girls around Danny, trying to soften him up for main-Set to get in. Especially since Pat doesn't quite seem in-character in her last scene - I thought it was sort of a coordinated attack.

I hope we get more of Hermia and Veevee and Pat in the last book - I'd like some heroic female characters, even though I found the battle of the queen and the mistress to be very interesting, there wasn't really a lot of positive female interaction in the series so far.

Was amused to see the auia concept show up again in the "three worlds" concept of where souls come from.

I've been trying to come up with a description for this series - and so far have come up with "A cross between Jumper and American Gods, done in OSC's classic style." [Smile]

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C3PO the Dragon Slayer
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quote:
Originally posted by millernumber1:
I kind of think that maybe the Set-allies were actually influencing most of the girls around Danny, trying to soften him up for main-Set to get in. Especially since Pat doesn't quite seem in-character in her last scene - I thought it was sort of a coordinated attack.

I like this explanation. My biggest irk about the book was how all the high school segments felt like a harem anime, with every female character expressing a romantic interest in the protagonist. I knew OSC wouldn't do this for gratuitous arousal, as is done in actual harem animes, so I found these segments a bit tiresome. It would retroactively make these parts feel like they had a point if it turns out Bel/Set/Dragon/Satan and his minions were using multiple girls, not just Lieder's daughter, to try to get to Danny.
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Gavelwrench
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I like that explanation for how the high-school girls were acting too, it seemed weird and out of character and was hoping for some sort of explanation in the book. Kind of disappointed in Hermia siding with her family, AND admitting it and seeming to not really care about it. Really enjoyed the story overall though, took a lot of turns that I wasn't expecting and kept things exciting.

Also, was Xena a new character added in this book? I remember the other trio of girls from Danny's lunchtime antics but I don't remember Xena being mentioned before.

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C3PO the Dragon Slayer
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We don't really see Hermia in between her storming out and the passage through the Great Gate by the Greeks. There's probably more to her motives than what we see. She didn't live in constant terror of her Family like Danny did, so she does have more reason to feel loyalty to them. But she's also a Gatemage, and the series has gone to great lengths to communicate that Gatemages have a natural tendency to not take sides (they may fight evil, as Wad and Ancient!Loki fought Bel, but they, as untouchable, independent pranksters, didn't concern themselves with the squabbles of the Families). Maybe the Greeks have a manmage; if they were subversive and foresighted enough to implant tracers on Hermia, they might have some means to ensure her loyalty even if it means violating the unanimous treaty to kill all manmages on sight (it wouldn't be the only time the Greek Family broke a treaty).

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it, and OSC wanted to have Hermia out of his hair so he didn't have to keep developing her character in the next book. It just strikes me as interesting that we don't see anything from Hermia's perspective at precisely the time that she performs the most subversive betrayal in the book.

EDIT: Spelling

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Kevyn
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Near the end of the book, before Danny takes Pat to his house to talk, Danny's friends are talking about whether the great gate awakened any latent ability in them. Then someone makes a whirl wind. My question is when did Danny send his drauther (spelling?) "muggle" friends through a great gate? And which great gate? I've listened to the audiobook several times I don't remember that happening.
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millernumber1
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Just finished Gatefather, and it's pretty much confirmed that the Sutahites were responsible for pushing the mass seduction of Danny.

All in all, a fun conclusion. But maybe that's because I'm one of those 7 people who really like Xenocide. And actually, Children of the Mind is my favorite of the Speaker trilogy, so clearly that aspect of the worldbuilding intrigues me.

This series is such an interesting blend of things - there's the pure OSC aiua stuff and noble (if mischievous) young male hero, the Norse and Greek mythologies, the classic science fiction/fantasy clash of helicopters and gods, the revamped American Gods aspect, and the Jumper-like superhero/teleporting narrative. I don't know if it's as solid as Enchantment (my favorite non-Ender OSC novel) - Danny and Pat never felt as real to me as Ivan and Katerina - but it's a really fun trilogy.

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