Status
Call number
Series
Publication
Description
The Union of Arcana has expanded through the portals linking parallel universes for over a century and a half. In that time, its soldiers and sorcerers have laid claim to one uninhabited planet after another¿all of them Earth, and in the process, the Union has become the most powerful, most wealthy civilization in all of human history. But all of that is about to come to a screeching halt, for the Union¿s scouts have just discovered a new portal, and on its far side lies a shattering revelation. Arcana is not alone, after all. There is another human society, Sharona, which has also been exploring the Multiverse, and the first contact between them did not go well. Arcana is horrified by the alien weapons of its sudden opponents, weapons its sorcerers cannot explain or duplicate. Weapons based upon something called . . . science. But Sharona is equally horrified by Arcana¿s ¿magical¿ weapons. Neither side expected the confrontation. Both sides think the other fired first, and no one on either side understands the ¿technology¿ of the other. But as the initial disastrous contact snowballs into all-out warfare, both sides can agree on one thing. The portal which brought them together is Hell¿s Gate itself!… (more)
User reviews
Pointless politics, petty rivalries, and meaningless repetition fill the majority of this novel.
Book one of the Multiverse series is a most engrossing 1200 pages. Evan’s and Weber portray two unique civilizations on a road to conflict. Arcana bases their technology on magic. Sharona has psychic talents but bases their technology on science. The
David Weber and Linda Evans do a superb job in describing two dissimilar cultures and those cultures’ idiosyncrasies. As they alternate back and forth from culture to culture you find your sympathies vacillating as well. The beauty of their work is that you truly find things that are both laudable and stimulating for each culture. They are being drawn into conflict by serendipitous contacts and malicious behavior in spite of their root similarities. I can not wait to read the next volume, “Hell Hath No Fury”.
I highly recommend it and all of David Weber’s Work.
Although the two authors have their distinctive voices, they mesh quite well in this book though I suspect David rather preferred the Sharonian side to the Arcanians - both sides have different levels of technology and mental skills - the Sharonians have Talents that resemble 'traditional' psionic skills, and a level of technology around the late Victorian era, whilst the Arcanians employ magic and have developed creature out of legends such as dragons and unicorns, and a level of technology about the late medieval period and the inability of either side to come to terms with their opponents' skills is one of the drivers of the conflict that drives the series