Review: Tome of the Undergates - Sam Sykes

Series: The Aeon's gate 1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 704
Published: April 11th 2011 Gollancz

Lenk can barely keep control of his mismatched adventurer band at the best of times (Gariath the dragon man sees humans as little more than prey, Kataria the Shict despises most humans, and the humans in the band are little better). When they’re not insulting each other’s religions they’re arguing about pay and conditions.

So when the ship they are travelling on is attacked by pirates things don’t go very well. They go a whole lot worse when an invincible demon joins the fray. The demon steals the Tome of the Undergates – a manuscript that contains all you need to open the undergates. And whichever god you believe in you don’t want the undergates open. On the other side are countless more invincible demons, the manifestation of all the evil of the gods, and they want out. 

My thoughts:

This was one big book of fights, I will tell you that at once. What a gang, I honestly thought they would kill someone in their own group, but it was also very amusing to read.  I am taking a step back to explain.

Lenk is the leader, a young man with a sword and a voice in his head. What is going on? Is he loosing it? He started to really intrigue me after a while and when it ended I did want more of him. Other interesting characters include; Kataria, a warrior woman who hates humans and calls them monkeys. There is also some tension between her and Lenk, either they will kill each other or get it on. And I sure hope it will be the latter. Another one of the adventures (they are even worse thought of than mercenaries, so bad people here), is Gariath, a dragon man who can crush a man's skull with his foot. There is also a wizard, a skulking rogue and woman named Asper who is a healer and who follows them to learn to use her craft. There you have, a mismatched crew who only wants money, while some wants money and to kill. But they are so strange that you have to like them.

The whole book starts with an almost 200 pages long battle, yes I am not joking. I do confess that it was hard at times to get into the book because of this long battle, but there was always something there making me continue. And the more I read the more I got into this book. Because he always manages to surprise me, there are frogmen, purple women, and screaming mermaids. Always something interesting.

As for the story it's about the hunt for the tome that has been stolen. This book can open a gate and demons will get out and tear the world asunder. They must get it back and while doing it they will meet a lot of dangers, a lot of fights, creepy demons, and a lot of great tension since they all get so angry. And that is a good thing.

Conclusion:

Interesting fantasy that is not afraid to try something strange. It will surprise you and make you wonder. And at the end you will want more if you are as curious as I am. It might not end with a total cliffhanger, but the world is by no means saved.

Rating:

Interesting

Cover:

Well it fits the story.

from the publisher

Come visit me :D I am a guest reviewer over at Alternative Read today and I am reviewing Raven's Quest by Anya Bast