2013 read #144: Shadow Gate by Kate Elliott.

Shadow Gate by Kate Elliott
475 pages
Published 2008
Read from November 18 to November 23
Rating: ★★★ out of 5

One thing I didn't mention in my review of Spirit Gate was something that often plagues first volumes in trilogies: it felt like setup for some kind of delayed payoff down the line. The world was established for the reader, characters and factions were put into place; there was lots of walking and travel, and a token easy victory for our heroes at the end, with the obligate "The war is just beginning" speech to round things out, but not much actually happened. Sadly, instead of moving forward with that promised momentum, Shadow Gate continued to feel like setup, in some cases stepping back years from the end of the first book in multi-chapter flashbacks. I won't say these extended stretches of backstory were entirely wasted; my favorite bit in the entire series thus far detailed Kirit's history among a well-executed matrilineal steppe society. I would love to read an entire novel set in that culture. In terms of squandered momentum, however... well, you can tell how engaging I found this book if you look how long it took me to read it, given I wasn't reading anything else concurrently.

The problems with this being a stock fantasy story, adequately good but with nothing new to say, are magnified now that the novelty of the setting is wearing off; there isn't much to sustain my interest. The characters either bore or annoy me, with few exceptions (and those exceptions, like Kirit and Shai, are either criminally underused or used in a manner that doesn't play to what I find interesting about their characters, respectively). Basically all the women of the Hundred are tough, cocky, winking flirts. I love fantasy societies that explore different gender roles and expectations, but when every single bit player or tertiary character is some kind of confident and saucy tradeswoman, indistinguishable from the last, all eying the handsome male visitor up and down, it's less a matter of how the culture is portrayed and more the author getting lazy with characterization. Similarly, every Hundred man accepts that his cock is an aphorismic "handle" to drag him around, as if every man lacks volition when sexuality is invoked; every Qin warrior is honorable and prudish; and Mai, a somewhat interesting character in the first book, devolves into a plot robot with two or three settings: I miss my husband, I wish my friend lived in a less chauvinistic culture, I like bargaining in markets.

Meanwhile, Elliott's prose, never more than adequate, sustains a sequel slump; certain stock phrases leap out from every page. (Every time someone "sketched a bow" or "sketched a gesture," I wanted to grit my teeth.)

Shadow Gate was still somewhat entertaining, and I expect to see this thing through (at least as far as the close of this trilogy; I understand there are more books in this world, but don't much care). At least it isn't as bad as L. Jagi Lamplighter's "Prospero's Children" trilogy had gotten by this point. I'm kind of sad to see the Crossroads Trilogy squander its potential, though.