Before talking about the Infinity Gate, the conclusion to the Darkglass Mountain trilogy by Sara Douglass, just a quick word about her previous works that led to this trilogy.
First of all I liked very much the first trilogy, “Battleaxe”, “Enchanter” and “Starman”. The story, embedded in the magic of prophecy, surprised me a few times and kept me going for the entire trilogy without being bored. Sure, the characters are very black and white, it’s a good fairy tale ending-type of story, but still I liked the originality of the magic system, and the good feeling I had with the way the land Tencendor was created, and the variety of its magical beings.
On the other hand, I hated the second trilogy “Sinner”, “Pilgrim”, and “Crusader”, plain and simple to me it sucked. Just to make a quick summary, everything that was built in the first trilogy, and that you came to care about, is completely and utterly destroyed, and everyone is killed. I mean, it’s not bad enough that Tencendor and its people are destroyed, the land mass is even wiped out of the map! It was so depressing it was not even funny. I usually don’t mind characters or world being killed or destroyed in books, like, I remember being shocked by the Land’s destruction in Covenant’s second trilogy but it was written in such a way it was made as part of the plot. However in this case there is something about the writing that makes it just pointless destruction. And it feels like reading the first trilogy was a waste of time, even though it’s a better story. And at least in Covenant’s book there was a chance of rebuilding, not so in this case when the island is under the sea!
Anyway, Douglass then put in place the elements of her third trilogy by first writing two stand alone stories (“Beyond the hanging wall”, and “Threshold”) where she introduces characters and back-story that are used in this new trilogy. Overall, these two books are nothing exceptional, but still good reads.
Now, to be fair I liked the first two books of this new trilogy, “Serpent bride” and “Twisted citadel”. Not as good as the first trilogy, but certainly better than the second one. Among the bad things are characters that suddenly come out of nowhere from the previous trilogies, even though they should all be dead, like Icariis that were conveniently elsewhere when Douglass destroyed everything, and also, amazingly, the icarii enchanter Stardrifter, that was last seen killed and dismembered at the end of the previous trilogy. I was not convinced by the explanations on his survival….And last, but not the least, the famous Battleaxe himself, Axis Sunsoar, that she brings from the dead… What the heck really… did she regret what she did with Tencendor and tried to bring these people back? It sure looked that way to me.
This last book of the trilogy, “Infinity gate” was a good read, but also a little of a letdown. There was a chance for epic battles considering the massive armies walking around, but nothing large scale happens rather some individual actions are taking places. A few copouts too, out of nowhere a 1-year old baby is the most powerful enchanter ever born and provides the solution to the final problem. Some good things too, I thought the redemption of the Skraelings was neat, the ending was also left open ended, which may be annoying for some, but I always like that since it leaves room for the imagination. With the glimpse we got of the young Stardancer’s power combined with the One and Ravenna’s baby stuck in the Nightmare world, you can expect that Douglass had in mind a confrontation between these characters in a future book. Considering her unfortunate terminal illness whether or not we ever see this book is pure speculation right now. I certainly wish her the best.
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