Traitors' Gate: The Extraordinary Conclusion to the Crossroads Trilogy (Crossroads, 3)

Traitors' Gate (2009) is the third Fantasy novel in the Crossroads trilogy, following Shadow Gate. In the previous volume, Avista refused to eat rice with Chief Tuvi, but instead took rice from tailman Jagi. Shai saw the children safely across the ford and returned to the scouts. In Toskala, traitors opened the gates and the Star of Life invaders took the town with fire and slaughter. Nallo and Pil fought through the panicked crowd to reach Clan Hall. Marit tried to save the leadership within Justice Hall, but the false Guardians were already prepared to take them down. In this novel, Marit is now wearing the cloak of Death and is a Guardian. She is traveling with two other Guardians -- Mist and Sky -- while avoiding the false Guardians. Joss is Marshal of Argent Hall. He is also still dreaming and thinking of Marit two decades after her death. He is not aware that she is a Guardian. Anjihosh is a half-brother of the Sirniakan Emperor and the nephew of the Qin Var. Anji and his Qin soldiers are leading the southern defense against the Star of Life invasion. He is very devoted to his wife. Mai'ili of the House of Mei is married to Anji and has a child by him. Mai is responsible for coordinating the civilian resistance. Shai is the youngest uncle of Mai. He is the seventh son, capable of seeing and hearing ghosts. He is scouting for the resistance. Zubaidit is the sister of Keshad and a hierodule of the temple of Ushara. Bai is also a temple assassin. Miravia is a Ri Amarah and the sister of Eliar. She is the closest friend of Mai. Nekkar is an ostiary over the temple of Ilu in Toskala. He is trying to protect his envoys and novices as well as the people of Toskala from the invaders. Lord Radas was a northern noble. Now he is a false Guardian, Lord Commander of the Star of Life army. Night is the leader of the false Guardians. She has corrupted four others, including Lord Radas. Twilight is a conflicted Guardian. He is the revenant of Harishil, brother of Mai and Shai. Hari is not trusted by the false Guardians, who have taken away his spear of office and tortured him. Arras is a captain in the Star of Life army. He commands the Sixth Cohort. He finds his commanders lacking in military skills. In this story, Marit learns how to kill Guardians. The normal way is with five other Guardians, but there is another method. She and her Guardian associates decide to try to find two other Guardians. Marit searches for Twilight and the other two look for Earth. Night is looking for the four missing Guardians. She also has the other false Guardians searching for outlanders and those veiled from their sight. Unfortunately, Shai matches both criteria. Shai is captured by the invaders and taken before a false Guardian. He is surprised to find his brother Hari wearing a Guardian cloak. Hari rolls Shai in a rug to protect him from an imminent visit from Lord Radas and then asks Captain Arras to remove Shai from the city.

Over all the story telling in this book is top notch. The ending is not a predictable fantasy ending, something that I find satisfying. An observant reader can see most it coming, but that is because the characters are fully fleshed out and the story telling does not deviate from its path merely for a cheep trick. The examination of changing cultures was interesting, and the book makes we want to see what happens in about 100 years, or whenever... ah, but I don't want to ruin the end. So the possibilities hinted at in the end-- I want to know how they play out. The only complaint I have about the writing is the author's need to add characters to the last part of this Trilogy. The characters who were added could have easily been done with out, the stories incorporated more cleanly into existing characters stories. What couldn't be included in existing characters was rather extraneous and didn't do much for the story. Over all, this was definitely worth reading.

This is a great conclusion to a great trilogy and stands as one the best fantasy series around. Period. Elliott's characters are complex and real. The plot moves along at just the right pace, that is if you like epic fantasy and this is a great epic. Three long volumes is perfect for this type of series, and Traitors' Gate is an excellent book to end up on. Unlike her previous series that went on too long, the Crossroads story ends at just the right time. This was a wonderfully realized world, complex, coherent and fascinating. But beyond the grand themes, the people who inhabit the book face believable dilemmas in which they sometimes exceed themselves and sometimes fall short, making them all the more human. I treasure it. Kate Elliott has now firmly established herself in the top tier of fantasy and I eagerly await her next venture.

Traitors' Gate is >500 pages of the smallest print I've seen in a new book for a while. It would have to be long to give space for all the open plot threads from the previous books. I was wondered how easy it would be to remember what had happened, and who all the characters were. I shouldn't have worried, as each plot thread was started, there were enough hints for me to think, 'oh yes, I remember this.' <br /> <br />For me to like a book, there has to be sympathetic characters. I've never been able to make it through Elliott's Crown of Stars series because I don't like most of characters. I wanted to know what was going to happen next to the people in the Crossroads trilogy like Joss, Mai, and Anji. <br /> <br />I enjoyed this series immensely. It's wonderfully intricate. We have the Hundred with a complex mythology--can you call it mythology when the 'myths' exist?--and at least four other societies (not including the nonhuman ones) complete with different religions and cultural mores. The cultural shifts occurring in the Hundred due to the war could lead to some interesting problems in future stories. With luck, the series will sell well enough that Kate Elliott will be able to publish more books. I, for one, look forward eagerly to that day.

The land of the Hundred is on the verge of collapse as war has swept across everywhere. The cause is a stunner as someone from within The Guardians of the Altars has betrayed the trust; causing massive chaos slaughtering of thousands of people in a mindless march of destruction. The only viable adversary to the horde of the Guardians of the Altars is the Outlander army who want peace and prosperity to return. They know their enemy is beyond reason and prepare for war against an invincible foe, who even devastated the Eagle Reeves used to enforce the law of the land. The third Crossroads epic fantasy (see SPIRIT GATE and SHADOW GATE) is a super entry that will have readers considering what a value is on individual and collective levels and can a person ignore natured values that are nurtured by society; that psychological well-being is the essence of TRAITOR'S GATE. The story line is action-packed and fast-paced from the onset, as the Outlander soldiers as individuals think they can perform actions that feel contrary to their psychological essence, but as a group may find the tasks required overwhelming because these brave soldiers must also overcome the intrinsic values of the group. Complex and complicated, the world of Kate Elliot is filled with mental personal gates that amass in the realm of the Hundreds on an epic scale of doubt and devastation. This is a deep thought provoking entry within a strong saga. Harriet Klausner