Gate of Ivrel

by C.J. Cherryh

Book Overview

Scattered about the galaxy were the time-space, gates of a vanished alien race. Long before the rise of the native civilizations, they had terrorized a hundred worlds--not from villainy but from folly. Now the task was to destroy their potency for mischief. This is the story of one such Gate.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879979569
• ISBN13: 9780879979560
• Release Date: September 1984
• Publisher: Daw Books
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Classic!

This is one of the small handfull of books which I have kept for years (decades?) and read repeatedly. It hovers just below THE LORD OF THE RINGS on the scale of great sci-fi/fantasy. Nobody who has read this book on my recommendation has been anything less than 100% pleased. Including my Mom. Though this is the first of a series, it stands well on its own -- perfection just as it is. A real classic which can be read by people who don't usually read or like sci-fi. Loan it to your own Mom after you are finished and you will see. The "heroine" is a traveler through space and time named Morgaine. But the entire tale is from the point of view of Vanye, a youth from a primitive and superstitious warrior culture who regards Morgaine as a witch. He is forced by a sacred oath to serve her, even though he believes that serving a witch will cost him his soul -- a LITERAL "Damned-If-I-Do and Damned-If-I-Don't" situation. The book is science fiction, but reads like sword and sorcery, because that is how Vanye sees the world. He is a wonderful character, probably one of the BEST CHARACTERS EVER CREATED, imho. Cherryh's gift for realisticly portraying the psychology of a superstitious, obsessive, highly traumatized, warrior-caste teenager is so spot-on it is almost creepy. Morgaine isn't too shabby either. Give it a try. I tell people to read the first three pages of Chapter One. That is all it takes to get them hooked. Oh, and don't be misled by the the cover art. This isn't remotely cheese-cakey. The heroine wears clothes and everything.

beginning of one of the finest SF series I've seen

_Gate_ is a great beginning to the Morgaine novels. Morgaine is an excellent heroine, breaking a lot of the lame stereotypes that lesser writers have fallen back on when it was too much effort to create a strong, unique female protagonist. If you appreciate a heroine who is all business and only fleetingly vulnerable, Morgaine is the genuine article. Vanye makes the perfect foil to her: fallible, afraid, loyal, and very human.To give just one example of Cherryh's descriptive talents without spoiling the book, if you close your eyes and visualize when Morgaine draws her primary weapon, a shiver will probably go down your back. Rare indeed is the author who can scare you without resorting to grossness.You could save time by ordering _Well of Shiuan_, _Fires of Azeroth_, and _Exile's Gate_ at the same time you order this one. If you order this one you are going to want the other three anyway.

Beautiful, Heartfelt, Intense...and one EXTREME sword!!!

I have been a fan of fantasy for years now. The Morgaine Cycle is my favorite. It's an intense epic and I still get giddy at my favorite parts. There is more feeling and tension in one of C.J. Cherryh's conversations than I have read in some 6-book series. She creates worlds with these amazingly real characters stuck right in the middle. Morgaine and Vanye are very well matched as comrades, with a twist or two... I love that Ms. Cherryh gives them so many facets and even insecurities. I find it refreshing that even world-weary Morgaine doesn't have all the answers. And Vanye is easily the most convincing male character that I've ever read. The swordfights are breathtaking and it's easy to tell that Ms. Cherryh knows her horses. She has such incredible attention for details. It may sound pathetic, but as a potential writer, my ultimate goal is to write a series half as great as this partcular C.J. Cherryh original.

On a scale of 1-10, this is a twelve.

This was my first Cherryh book. I read it and promptly read it again. I was flabbergasted by the power of it. I read it again. What it is that Carol Cherryh did, I am not certain. I can describe it as powerful,yes, heavy, profound, clever, astute, but I am not yet getting close. I've often thought of the role of a modern writer as the same as that of the ancient tribal mythologist, the preserver, interpreter and creator of frontal lobe symbol-stories that hold a culture of creatures such as us together, thrill us and explain our urges and dreams. This book reads like that. Joseph Campbell with his heroes and Carl Jung with his archetypes would have much to say of it. But it is also a damn good read. The style smacks slightly of the best of Tolkein with a strong dose of Old Testament, maybe. Good writing anyway. I was glad there were other "Gate" books to continue with though none whacked me in the head and heart like this one. Of course I have gone on to all the other Cherryh books, I have a shelf that is as long as I am tall that won't contain them all. She is master of "worlds" and master of her own unique style of "steam of consciousness." She's now tops in straight S.F. as well. She's changed a lot since Ivril, but she went way back there once to do another Morgaine book, and I wouldn't be surprised if she did it again. When I was a kid, the Lone Ranger was number one, but he never made mistakes. The whole point of most of Cherryh's books are the mistakes that people make. My reader's Tee-shirt reads "Morgaine Yes' as per C.H. Cherryh." and most everything else by her too.

TENSION ... that makes you beg for more

This whole series, consisting of "Gate of Ivrel", "Well of Shiuan", "Fires of Azeroth", and "Exile's Gate", is my favorite of any author's, and I've read A LOT. Cherryh's style is clean and dry, but at the same time very intense and passionate. Instead of using flowery words and melodrama to spoon-feed emotion to the reader, she uses common words and short, almost aggressive phrasing. The tension and passion and danger are drawn with a sharpness and clarity that is almost painful. A deceptively simple word or glance between these characters, whether friends or enemies, will at times bring that tension to a breathless peak, but without the expected release afterwards. This is not an easy, exciting Harlequin-esque roller-coaster of peaks and valleys. This is a sharp ridge on a bare mountain with an occasional rock slide. This is not a graceful Puccini aria that makes you want to weep and feel melancholy. This is avant-garde jazz where a single painfully high note is drawn out in the background for so long that you find yourself begging for a release that you fear may never come but then again do you really want it to? It's exhausting, but in the best sense. And about the 4th time I read the series, I found that it was funny too! It is, of course, a very dry humor, but it's there. And not a joke or eccentric comedic bit player to be seen. It's easy to fall in love with these characters. They're very different from each other, but they're both excruciatingly familiar! Cherryh creates the perfect male characters for a straight female audience. Cherryh's men are the kind many of us would create for ourselves. (Which is very different from the men male writers create.) Cherryh's men are capable of great valor and honor, but also of very deep emotion and affection, and self-reflection. Also, her men often feel strong love and affection and respect for other men, without there being any sexual element to it. This is not only unique, but very difficult. The ability to create tension between male characters who love each other without it reading like sexual tension or a Sunday night "family drama" is something I rarely see. I appreciate it when I do. My circle of friends has a shorthand way of expressing our reaction to this exhausting mix of physical danger and emotional tension, just by groaning "AAAAAHHHHGHHHHGHGHHHHHG!!!". If one of us starts off a conversation this way, another might say "Are you dying, or did you just finish a Cherryh?"