Status
Available
Call number
Publication
DAW Books (New York, 1976). 1st edition, 1st printing. 191 pages. $1.25
Description
Scattered about the galaxy were the time-space Gates of a vanished but not forgotten alien race. In their time, long before the rise of the native civilizations, they had terrorized a hundred worlds--not from villainy but from folly, from tampering with the strands that held a universe together. Now the task was to uproot these Gates, destroy their potency for mischief, take horror out of the hands of the few who hungered for power by misuse of the Gates. This is the story of one such Gate and one such world.
User reviews
LibraryThing member SELindberg
Sword & Sorceress Adventure– Morgaine rivals Elric with her dragon blade
This 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
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 am anxious to read Book 2.
This 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
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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 am anxious to read Book 2.
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LibraryThing member AnnieMod
Clarke's third law says "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". I rarely read books that remind me of it but "Gate of Ivrel" did. The first book published by Cherryh (although the second sold one) starts a trilogy, unrelated to her long series. And it reads a lot
An old race had built the Gates - portals through space and time. They had kept pushing forward, knowing that this is safe. Until one day someone decided to go backwards and time wrapped. Badly. The race disappeared but the gates remained. And a team of scientists is sent through them with a single mission - go and close them after yourself until there are no more gates left. And this is just the backstory - because our story opens with the last remaining member of the expedition (or maybe a descendant of one) and her quest to save a world.
100 years ago, Morgaine stepped on the planet and convinced the locals to help her going against a ruler that uses the Gates for his own means - filling the world with beasts that do not belong and ruling the world in despair and misery. And then she disappeared, along with most of the warriors, leaving Thiye in power. That is a story that Vanye had heard since he was a baby - and when he gets kicked out from his family's halls after killing one of his brothers and maiming the other, the last thing he expects is to meet her. But that is exactly what happens - and due to the oaths bound society, he ends up attached to her. And they are off - to the Gate of Ivrel so Morgaine can close it - with her special weapons and even better sword; with her not carrying about anything but her goal. And while they travel (and travel), we see the world and the clans, the harm from the Gates and the stupidity of men. There is a lot of horses riding and people getting beaten and not too much action outside of it.
The story itself is the standard one for sword and sorcery books - there is a quest and things just happen on the way there. Except that now it is sword and science (at least from Morgaine's point of view; for Vanye is may as well be magic). It is the kind of book that is more involved with the path and the journey than the end. The end opens the door for the sequel - with the surviving characters moving to a new world and ready to start over.
It is a nice novel if you know what to expect - the world building is exquisite even if the language is a bit clumsy; the journey is worth reading. But if you expect action and fast moving plot, that novel won't suit you.
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more like a fantasy than a science fiction - and if the prologue was not there, I would have called it magic (and the book fantasy) and been done with it. An old race had built the Gates - portals through space and time. They had kept pushing forward, knowing that this is safe. Until one day someone decided to go backwards and time wrapped. Badly. The race disappeared but the gates remained. And a team of scientists is sent through them with a single mission - go and close them after yourself until there are no more gates left. And this is just the backstory - because our story opens with the last remaining member of the expedition (or maybe a descendant of one) and her quest to save a world.
100 years ago, Morgaine stepped on the planet and convinced the locals to help her going against a ruler that uses the Gates for his own means - filling the world with beasts that do not belong and ruling the world in despair and misery. And then she disappeared, along with most of the warriors, leaving Thiye in power. That is a story that Vanye had heard since he was a baby - and when he gets kicked out from his family's halls after killing one of his brothers and maiming the other, the last thing he expects is to meet her. But that is exactly what happens - and due to the oaths bound society, he ends up attached to her. And they are off - to the Gate of Ivrel so Morgaine can close it - with her special weapons and even better sword; with her not carrying about anything but her goal. And while they travel (and travel), we see the world and the clans, the harm from the Gates and the stupidity of men. There is a lot of horses riding and people getting beaten and not too much action outside of it.
The story itself is the standard one for sword and sorcery books - there is a quest and things just happen on the way there. Except that now it is sword and science (at least from Morgaine's point of view; for Vanye is may as well be magic). It is the kind of book that is more involved with the path and the journey than the end. The end opens the door for the sequel - with the surviving characters moving to a new world and ready to start over.
It is a nice novel if you know what to expect - the world building is exquisite even if the language is a bit clumsy; the journey is worth reading. But if you expect action and fast moving plot, that novel won't suit you.
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LibraryThing member Blyton
Cool how the protaganist is seen by her helper, a male, and yes she is the main hero
LibraryThing member Anniik
This was quite an enjoyable book. While an early book of Cherryh's, and not quite to the level of her later boks, it is still quite enjoyable an the characters are well developed and the story interesting.
I wish the book had explained a little more exactly who Morgaine is, and what exactly is going
I wish the book had explained a little more exactly who Morgaine is, and what exactly is going
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on with these gates, but I'm hoping this will be found in the later books in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member Caragen87
n an age with Stargate: SG-1 rules the Flatscreen-- this was the first Stargate story I read. I first thought it was a Magic/Fantasy story-- but slowly, the writer pins the reader down with science and logic and the convolutions of time. And through it all the thread of Loyalty, Paranoia, Duty and
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Otherness as Vanye and his strange mistress Morgaine seek to close all the Gates on all the worlds. Show Less
LibraryThing member Pferdina
Set in the winter of a feudal land, where Nhi Vanye roams the wilderness as an outlaw, this is the story of Morgaine's quest to destroy the Gates left long ago by an alien race. Morgaine is a cold woman, determined to do her duty as she knows it, and careless of who she has to hurt in the doing.
LibraryThing member Karlstar
This is a classic fantasy sword-and-sorcery type novel, but the 'sorcery' is old science, not magic. This reads like a Conan or Moorcock novel with a woman warrior for the heroine. Good stuff. Don't judge the book by the bikini chick on the cover!
LibraryThing member sammii507
This was quite an enjoyable book. While an early book of Cherryh's, and not quite to the level of her later boks, it is still quite enjoyable an the characters are well developed and the story interesting. I wish the book had explained a little more exactly who Morgaine is, and what exactly is
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going on with these gates, but I'm hoping this will be found in the later books in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member jhudsui
I re-read this recently and it's better than I remember it being. It's pretty character-focused, both on the character's introspections and their interactions with each other, but it also hums along at a very quick pace plot-wise because it doesn't waste a lot of time on description or narration of
Whelan's cover art is fucking ridiculous and bad.
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stuff that isn't relevant. Which is basically exactly how I like my light entertainment reading constructed. And Vanye is a fun perspective because he actually has a realistic level of fear of death instead of the "gee this is an interesting adventure" blitheness you normally get in genre protagonists.Whelan's cover art is fucking ridiculous and bad.
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LibraryThing member MarkLacy
Not bad but not as great as Andre Norton says on the cover and in the intro. [Update, December 2, 2013: I came to like this series more than I realized. While Cherryh's prose can be a little difficult to follow at times, it's still a very good story. And I went on to read all the sequels.]
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
I read Gate of Ivrel long ago and was fascinated by the story. Would the story of Morgaine and the ilin (think Japanese "ronin") Vanye resonate still, even after the 1981 original publication? The answer is a resounding "Yes!"
The qhal created a mess, and it is up to Morgaine to fix the problem by
This classic sword-and-sorcery book with a hint of SF background stands the test of time. Read it if you haven't already!
The qhal created a mess, and it is up to Morgaine to fix the problem by
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shutting down the source: gates that link various times and places. The illegitimate Vanye, tossed out on his ear for accidentally killing one legitimate son and maiming the other, ends up giving his oath to Morgaine. Will they stay together? (Well, this is a trilogy!) Will they succeed in Morgaine's quest? Stick around and find out.This classic sword-and-sorcery book with a hint of SF background stands the test of time. Read it if you haven't already!
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1976-03 (First US Edition)
1977-05 (First UK Edition)
Physical description
191 p.; 7 inches
ISBN
0879973757 / 9780879973759