3.5 starsI really like Science-Fantasy. It’s not surprising I guess given that two of my favourite genres are the mainstays of the wider umbrella ‘speculative fiction’: sci-fi and fantasy, so the mash-up of the two would seem to be a no-brainer, right? Normally science-fantasy stories tend to have the ‘flavour’ of fantasy: swords and medieval-ish settings where ‘technology’ as the society understands it is at a fairly low level, but where Clarke’s third law comes into full effect as the explanation for the ‘magical’ elements. There are of course exceptions to this: Dune comes to mind - a work that is often explicitly considered science fiction, but that definitely has the tinge of fantasy about it and which I would consider to fall into the science fantasy umbrella. Much science-fantasy also comes from the pulp era, perhaps most famously in the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the other ‘sword and planet’ stories of writers like Leigh Brackett and C. L. Moore. Finally I would probably tend to lump many ‘dying earth’ stories into this category, from Vance’s seminal The Dying Earth & Cugel stories to Gene Wolfe’s New, Long, and Short Sun series’.Alright, enough with the categorization/explanation and on to the book in question. _The Gate of Ivrel_ is one of C. J. Cherryh’s entries into the genre in which we follow the adventures of Vanye, the bastard son of a minor lord in a seemingly medieval world who is cast out for standing up to his oppressive brothers and inadvertently killing one and maiming the other. As he makes his way across the harsh landscape of his world populated by clans who would like nothing more than to end the life of a miserable outlaw he stumbles across a ‘miracle’ in the person of Morgaine: a figure of power and fear out of legend seemingly magically returned and to whom he becomes joined by bonds of duty and obligation. What the reader knows already is that Morgaine is actually an agent from a high-tech society sent to seek out and destroy the many ‘gates’ that were created by the alien qhal and allow their users to travel instantaneously through space and time. It was soon discovered, however, that these gates were the cause of the extinction of the qhal and could also lead to the extinction of the human race, and possibly all of time and space itself, should they continue to be used. Morgaine is the last member of the original team that was sent out on this desperate mission and is anxious to seek out and destroy the gate on Vanye’s world (which one must assume was at one point a human colony populated through use of the gates which has since forgotten its origins) after the tragedy of her initial attempt in the past (recent to her and ancient to Vanye) that led to the deaths of thousands, including her few remaining comrades. As a result of this tragedy Morgaine’s name has become a byword for evil and destruction amongst the people of this world. Vanye is thus at first a very reluctant retainer of Morgaine and fears her seemingly alien nature as much as the tasks she forces him to perform. He is constantly dealing with the tension between his honour and sworn oath to Morgaine on the one hand and the fear and natural suspicion which his people hold for her and her apparent goals on the other. The taciturn Morgaine does little to aid in easing Vanye’s worries, but somehow along the way her actions and character cause him to gain a grudging respect and admiration for her and Vanye comes to understand the importance of the mission she has set for herself even though key details are unknown to him.I enjoyed the story and thought Cherryh did a good job of melding the science fiction and fantasy elements into a pretty seamless whole. One thing that came across as a bit odd was Morgaine’s constant use of “thee” when referring to Vanye or others in conversation. I know Cherryh was doing this to provide a verbal clue to the fact that Morgaine came out of a small gate that had caused her to jump forward in time hundreds of years to the ‘present’ of the novel and thus she spoke in a more archaic form of the language, but the fact that “thee” was used exclusively despite the context (she never used “thou”) struck me as awkward and possibly grammatically incorrect part of the time (though I’m not an expert on archaic English usage by any means). That niggle aside I thought the story was successful in presenting a fantasy-style quest set against seemingly insurmountable odds in order to reach the goal: in this case the destruction of the main qhal gate on this world. Morgaine is dogged in her pursuit of her goal, but also seemingly doubtful about the possibility that it can be met which, when tied with Vanye’s constant doubts and fears, leavens the story with a foreboding sense of near despair. Morgaine remains a cypher due to the fact that the story is told from Vanye’s point of view and, as already mentioned, Morgaine is an extremely tight-lipped liege. She is indeed only willing to take on Vanye because she has no other option short of trying to achieve the impossible on her own. So, all in all, I think this was a good story where pretty much every obstacle Cherryh could possibly throw at Vanye and Morgaine was utilized, though I’ll admit to not being totally blown away. I’m sufficiently interested, though, to keep seeing how the adventures of these two progress across time and space.
Sword & Sorceress Adventure: Morgaine rivals Elric with her dragon bladeThis reviews Gate of Ivrel, which I read as part of the The Morgaine Saga which was DAW’s 2000 omnibus of C.J. Cherryh Sword & Sorcery trilogy (1. Gate of Ivrel 1976; 2. Well of Shiuan 1978; 3. Fires of Azeroth 1979). There is a fourth book Exile's Gate written in 1988. Actually, this is my first C.J. Cherryh novel and I was impressed (Gate of Ivrel was her first published work, and it is quite good).Morgaine is reminiscent of Michael Moorcock’s Elric, since she is a doomed hero, traveling through interstellar space with a dragon-cursed sword that sucks souls (Morgaine’s blade Changeling is almost kin to Elric’s Stormbringer). There are Sci-Fiction elements to this that are kept obscure enough that it reads as pure fantasy (everything scientific appears as magic).Morgaine’s charge is to destroy alien Gates, which allow for travel between time and universes; for those who want to stay put, the “witchfires” of the Gates fuel sorcery and extended lives. We quickly learn that she was imprisoned hundreds of years before the start of the story as she lost an epic battle with the evil magician Thiye. He apparently still lives (via said sorcery): ...Carcasses were found near [the Gate of Ivrel], things impossible, abortions of Thiye’s art, some almost formless and baneful to the touch, and others of forms so fantastical that none would imagine what aspect the living beast had had.Strangely Thiye does not emerge for most of this novel. Instead there are compelling "new" threats from a host of others (some in relation to Vanye), and the book is full of magical clashes in which Changeling obliterates souls! It may be "her" saga, but book one introduces her through her male companion Vanye, an outcast bastard prince. The story arc for Book 1 belongs to him. Vanye becomes her servant after he releases her from a magical prison, and so the two enter an uneasy pairing. They make a good team, but trust comes slowly as Vanye enables Morgaine to confront those supporting the Gate:"Morgaine was supremely beautiful …when he saw her in that hall, her pale head like a blaze of sun in that darkness, her slim form elegant in tgihio and bearing the dragon blade with the grace of one who could truly use it, an odd vision came to him: he saw like a fever-dream a nest of corruption with one gliding serpent among the scuttling lesser creatures—more evil than they, more deadly, and infinitely beautiful, reared up among hem and hypnotizing with basilisk eyes, death dreaming death and smiling.”Great stuff. I expect the rest of the trilogy to flesh-out Morgaine’s character (otherwise it should be renamed Vanye’s saga). The ending was fine, but I was left questioning the direction a bit (I’ll hide that in a spoiler twistee).(view spoiler)[ Perhaps in Book 2 this will be explained, but I was left wondering why Morgaine did not fulfill her duty more clearly. There was an expectation that Morgaine would stop at nothing short of destroying the Gate of Ivrel. Instead, she chases a bad guy through it. She does not close/destroy it herself. In fact, it seems that she trusts a program to close it sometime after her departure. In short, as she irreversibly departs…she leaves the Gate in an open, functioning state. Why not draw her blade and seal the Gate personally? Why trust the programming of some antagonist that you do not trust? This allows Vanye to join her, but I think that could have been achieved in a more a consistent way, and left me questioning the foundations of the story. (hide spoiler)]
Do You like book Gate Of Ivrel (1988)?
Gate was Cherryh's first published work, and at this point she apparently had not yet settled on the "tight, limited third person" style that has since become her standard, and as a result this novel is narratively much looser and sloppier than her later works. It begins with a long, incoherent, expository prologue that basically explains all the mysteries away—the story would have been much more interesting if these secrets had been reserved to be gradually revealed during the course of the story.Still, it's Cherryh, so it's hardly terrible. Michael Whelan's Conan-esque cover illustration led me to expect something pulpy and ridiculous, but this is no sword-and-sorcery paperback. The various betrayals, factions, oaths and counter-oaths bog things down a little, but I actually cared about Vanye, the point-of-view character, and his accidental liege-lord, the steely, otherworldly Morgaine, whose dogged, desperate determination lends gravitas to the book.I've already cracked open the second volume. We'll see if I make it through all four.
—Sean
Gate of Ivrel by C. J. Cherryh was recommended to me by a friend who knows I actively seek out stories with strong heroines who wield a sword. This novel definitely qualifies! Gateof Ivrel First, the good. The story drew me in right away. I was intrigued by the sci-fi aspect of the gates, and the idea of a dedicated team of people who sacrifice their lives to see the portals destroyed. I liked the idea of a medieval style world embroiled in the chaos and war that these gates caused. I enjoyed how, just like in Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and many other similar epics, we have a variety of cultures each with their own motivations and interests. We have the few-structures-nature-living group. We have the high-honor-castle-living group. We have other groups with unique personalities. That's always enjoyable in a story. The heroine, Morgaine, is certainly strong and wise. She's able to protect herself. She also has flaws, which is good to keep a story real. I admit I wish she wasn't the romance-novel-cliche of being so drop dead beautiful that every man who sees her has to have her. The hero, Vanye, also is a bit cliche with his perfect fighting and perfect muscles. The book does well with plot, catching you up in all the layers of what is going on and wondering what is going to happen next. I stayed up all night in order to finish it and see how it ended. Now, that all being said, there were some issues. First, the book sets itself up to be a long, multi-book epic. It's clear in how it's worded and how it ends. This is fine in theory, but instead of rolling out the characters and history in a way readers can absorb, it's dumped in a massive pile that one would need to map out a family tree and relationship map to be able to keep track of in the prologue. That leaves the reader with the task of spending a while memorizing all the names in case some are important soon, or just ignoring the whole lot as "non-important filler" and moving on with the story. I hate to read-and-ignore content. To me, if an author presents something, it's because it's important. So working those details smoothly and gradually into the story is key for me. Next, there are some fascinating cultures in here, but we get only bare descriptions of them. We get a skim of what they're like, without the beautiful underlying foundations that we see for example in Lord of the Rings. The same with characters. We get the "mad king". And then there's the "malicious king". For all that we have a great heroine, she's it for women. Somehow the rest of the world only has females who are prostitutes. Or obnoxious little girls. Lots of little mistakes were made that editors should have caught. The use of "thee" and related language is wrong which is continually jarring. From Shakespeare, it should be: "Seest thou this letter? Take it up, I pray thee." An example from the Bible: "Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay; And wilt thou bring me into dust again?" The progression also makes it hard to visualize what is going on at times. We're barely told that the hero, Vanye, has had a manhood ceremony in the past - but that's about it. Does that mean he's 13? 15? The only real clue we ever seem to get is the cover, and that is so outrageously off on the heroine's outfit (putting her only in a bikini as a trained warrior) that it's hard to imagine it's very accurate. Finally, for a book all about a sword-fighting woman and her sword-fighting man, there's very little detail about the sword-fighting in here! It seems more a convenient skill to get them out of scrapes than a real aspect of their characters that's covered in the book. We hear more about how he cuts his hair. Still, I did like the interweaving of their codes of honor, and their challenges of loyalty. I love stories that cover those things. I enjoy strong female characters, and we certainly have one here. However, usually there is a male character worthy to be at her side. Here, he seems more like a fifteen year old boy. Yes, he was raised in a certain culture, and I wholeheartedly understand that. But even there, the way he acts seem to lack a level of wisdom / maturity in some scenes. Men in medieval times had to grow up quickly - and especially men in the position Vanye was in. He seems a bit too naive to be believable. Still, clearly the story did suck me in, and I cared about the characters. I wish an editor had done a more thorough pass at the book to clean up some of its issue and encourage the author to provide more layers in some areas. It's as if they didn't trust the readers to be able to handle the larger level of detail, but absolutely we can. One only has to look at the great success of other similar novels to see that.
—Lisa Shea
The entire book is emotionally and interpersonally complex, containing layers of motivations and relationships that drive events. Morgaine herself, though her thoughts are never revealed for certain, seems the most straightforward: her quest is to close the Gates.But that goal is almost a background item as the story is told. Vanye, Morgaine's bound henchman, is the reader's guide through the web of rivalries and hostilities between clans as well as Vanye's own disputes and allegiances. Everyone has a reason for his or her actions, and these reasons are grounded all the way down in the backstory. The petty lords of the Middle Lands fear and resent Morgaine because her first attempt to close the Gate failed, and the real history of that has been distorted and lost. Those who do not fear have avarice for the Gate power and technology. But even this avarice, in Erij's case, is backed by inadequacy and need to prove himself.Vanye is caught between the bonds of his new lord--"liyo"--and the personal debts he accumulates and his own honor, none of which does he see clearly. So on top of everything else, he has his own problems to work through.
—Derek
