The Gate of Gods

September 26, 2005
At the start of the final volume in Wells's imaginative and complex Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy (after 2004's The Ships of Air
), her resourceful and witty heroine, Tremaine Valiarde, and a ragtag band of followers have the magic of the Viller spheres to help resist the almost invincible invading Gardier. Unfortunately, too many pieces of the puzzle remain missing for them to effectively defend what's left of the country of Ile-Rien, let alone liberate the rest of it. When the sphere-entrapped sorcerer Arisilde sends them a spell that eventually leads to "a train station for world-gates," Tremaine and her cohorts may have finally found a way to drive the Gardier out of Ile-Rien. New readers are advised to start with the first in the series, The Wizard Hunters
(2003), as an acquaintance with numerous characters and previous action is essential. Agent, Matt Bialer.

November 15, 2005
The country of Ile-Rien has fallen to the sorcerous armies of the Gardier and only one chance remains to defeat an unstoppable foe. Tremaine Valiarde, a wielder of magic in her own right, must use her wild magic to open a portal to the Gardier secret base and rescue the soldiers of Ile-Rien held prisoner there. When she opens the portal, however, Tremaine and her companions find an unknown city behind the Gate of Gods. The author of Wheel of the Infinite and City of Bones brings to a dramatic conclusion her Ile-Rien trilogy (The Wizard Hunters; The Ships of Air), leaving enough loose ends for possible sequels. Combining magic, intrigue, and 19th-century manners and style, this stylish fantasy adventure belongs in most libraries. Recommended.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2005
Two books ago, in " The Wizard Hunters" (2003), Wells showed Ile-Rien about to fall to the mysterious, unstoppable Gardier, who attack from black airships; thanks to a sphere created by sorcerer Nicholas Valiarde, his daughter Tremaine and a ship's crew of defenders are thrown into a world more primitive than Ile-Rien. In " The Ships of Air" (2004), the Gardier, revealed as hailing from yet another world, are revealed to be using magic they don't completely understand, and Ile-Rien's defenders learn enough to defeat the Gardier. Now, in " The Gate of Gods," Tremaine Valiarde and her comrades have found a hidden Gardier base and hints of what may stop them, though it calls for jumping near blindly through more sorcerous gates, and Ile-Rien is running out of time. Wells shows us some very convincing characters in a desperate situation: attacked without warning, their usual weapons made ineffective, and with allies sometimes as strange as their enemies. The plot is very complex, so start the trilogy at the beginning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)