The Morgaine Saga: Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth

In Morgaine, CJ Cherryh has created one of the great characters of fantasy or science fiction. The premises are simple. There are "Gates," a technology that let an older race move through time and space at their whim. And eventually, that race and most of the universe was brought to ruin by too extravagant use of the Gates. But the Gates themselves survived, a temptation to all, with risk that it will all happen again.Humans and their allies agree the Gates must be destroyed. But there is only one way to accomplish the goal. A doomed quest to travel each and every gate, destroying each Gate behind them. One hundred start out. Over the years, the task destroys all but one of those one hundred: Morgaine alone survives. She has become half-mythical, known on worlds she has never touched because time itself has become strange and twisted.Her sole companion is Vanyel, himself a bastard, kin slayer and outlaw. Over the course of the four novels, Vanyel is himself transformed, and the relationship between Moragine and Vanyel is one of the great relationships of fiction.Lastly, Morgaine carries a weapon and tool that itself embodies the technology of the Gates. A terrible engine of destruction, Changeling is not just a technologically rationalized version of Moorcock's demon sword. It is also the tool that will allow its bearer to destroy the final Gate, if it can be found, if Morgaine and Vanyel can survive, if their wills don't fail.The Saga takes you across three very different worlds, where Morgaine and Vanyel face very different challenges. The books date from Cherryh's first novel, "Gate of Ivrel," to the third, "Fires of Azeroth," written later at the height of her formidable powers. You can see Cherryh's skills improve as well. Be sure to find and read "Exile's Gate," the fourth tale of Morgaine and Venyel, arguably even better.These are superb stories, among the best in the genre. Highly recommended.

These books have shot to the top of my all-time favorite books list because of Cherryh's wonderfully controlled and spare writing style, her complex and interesting characters and a story that has all the grandeur and tragedy of myth. I remember seeing these books many years ago and shying away from them. Morgaine, the main character seemed too much like a cliche of the female sword and sorcery genre (perhaps it was the cover art) and so I passed these by. I'm only sorry that I waited so long to find these wonderful stories, whose characters, good and bad are so compelling you want to reread whatever has been written about them again and again. Not to mention, like all classics, the story never gets old. Each rereading revels a nuance that I missed before and thus every time I've gone back for another drink at the well, I've been amply rewarded with new insights as well as the joy of visiting an old friend.In three short, fast-paced novels (Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan and The Fires of Azeroth) we meet the principal characters, Morgaine, a dreaded figure out of legend whose sole mission is to close and destroy world- and time-spanning gates and who will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She is neither human nor qhal and her origins remain shrouded in mystery. Nothing about her is soft or feminine. Her goal is noble but the means she uses to achieve it are horrible. She wields her gate-sword Changeling much as she wields whatever people are convenient, ruthlessly and without mercy to the purpose that she serves.Nhi Vanye is a bastard, an outcast warrior, and kin-slayer whose path accidently crosses Morgaine. Swept unwilling into her service he becomes her liegeman, bound to do her bidding while fighting to preserve his personal honor. He knows that he is simply an means to end with her, and that she will sacrifice him without hesitation. Yet whatever her crimes, past and present, Vanye finds with her a place and purpose that he could never find within his family. No matter how terrible the price may be.Interwoven through all these stories run tangled themes of honor, duty, and trust, family, good, evil, right and wrong and every shade of grey in-between. Morgaine does murder, betrayal and worse yet her purpose is good. Her qhalur nemesis through the books has undeniably done evil, yet in the end it is possible he will be redeemed. Cherryh wastes no words, action compelling the narrative at an often times dizzying pace. The reader is kept waiting and watchful for whatever scraps of dialogue or insight that is doled out. The many mysteries that surround Morgaine are only obliquely hinted and thus careful reading and rereading are rewarded. Although on each world Morgaine's and Vanye's purpose remains the same, each novel explores a uniquely different world, from doomed, drowning Shiua to fair and prosperous Azeroth. All the people, human and qhal are memerorable and distinct characters, fair or foul. In all cases we see the careful unfolding of

In the '70's just about every fantasy writer felt compelled to turn out one or more books about a tough female warrior. Morgaine is a direct descendant of those warriors--but better. The Morgaine Saga is sometimes considered fantasy, and with its low-tech cultures, its aura of timelessness, and Morgaine's own trappings--a horse to ride, a sword to close the Gates--it does have something of that feel about it, but a close reading will show that the worlds in it are clearly Lost Colonies that have slipped back to a pre-industrial level. What makes the books work is the people--Morgaine and her vassal Vanye: a hard, practical leader tested by virtual immortality, and an angtsy exile who fears, loves, and admires her all at the same time. And Cherryh's almost poetic style lends a sense of a saga being woven by some Homer of the future. The three novels in this omnibus, and their sequel "Exile's Gate," may rank with the Chanur Saga as Cherryh's best. They're among the few novels in my collection that I make time to reread. Not to be missed.

I'm an avid reader at roughly a book a day and I remember the books I've read, so finding literary entertainment is difficult. A book must keep me fascinated on myriad levels to warrant a second read. For a book to reach the status of "keeper", it must have that 'magical unfolding thing' going for it. Morgaine and Vanye have occupied a space on my shelf since I bought a ratty copy of "Exile's Gate" several years ago. I was captivated by the character, the story, everything that existed between the covers of the book. And each time I read the book it gave me a slowly changing understanding of the characters. I would very much like to see another book about Morgaine and Vanye, Maybe something exploring the whys and hows and circumstances that created the ice and steel in Morgaine's character. I will not try to influence a potential reader for or against, suffice it to say that the characters have stayed with me for years, the story has given me countless ways to view my fellow human beings and I consider myself the richer for it.

If you're ready for a real heroine--not someone in a chainmail haltertop and g-string, but a warrior haunted and driven by a mission that possesses her very existence, it's time you met Morgaine.Cherryh's well-known economy with words means that dull spots are rare to non-existent. Morgaine's vassal Vanye is a great character, human idealism juxtaposed against Morgaine's grim practicality, with both ultimately influencing one another. And when Cherryh describes Morgaine's weapon, if you close your eyes, you may well feel an icy chill down the back--that's how talented Cherryh is with words.Recommended to any lover of good fantasy, but most especially recommended to fans of women's heroic fantasy who are tired of stereotyped and lame portrayals. Morgaine is efficient, intelligent, and quite feminine (assuming one's definition of same isn't too narrow). Don't think of Xena--think of Honor Harrington, another of the great heroines conjured by an author's talent.