Review: The Infinity Gate

The Infinity Gate by Sara Douglass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For me, this book is so bittersweet. While The Wayfarer Redemption trilogy (the second trilogy) in the series had a full sense of closure (in fact, I was at first surprised when Douglass returned to this fictional world), this book does not. It outright tells you that there is so much more that's going to happen. And that's all well and good, but unfortunately, Douglass passed away in 2011, which means those adventures are never to be written (at least, by her; there's a part of me praying she left outlines of books to come and her estate is just looking for the right person--maybe one chosen by prophecy--hahaha--to pick up the pen on her behalf). So in that regard, the book's entire movement feels like an act of reluctant engagement for the fan-reader because it ends (the book) but it doesn't (the adventures) but it really does (because we never get to know what those are).

Beyond that, the book is enjoyable but has its challenges. While the trilogy initially seemed to start with a strong focus on Maximilian, Ishbel, Isaiah, and Stardrifter, this one seems to throw much of that out. The strongest focus is on Axis--which don't get me wrong, is my favorite character--but it feels out of sorts to be so focused on him that these other characters feel like second-fiddles often.

But like her other books, it is a page-turn. It moves fast and one is constantly trying to determine where the next turn will happen. For the plot, we see the final rise of The One but like a good monster, every time, he's down, he's back up and this gets taken to almost amusing levels. In some ways, his infinite nature means he could always be brought back which feels a bit too formulaic. The Lealfast's treachery becomes evident and the Skraelings finally get a history to which makes readers rethink the entire history of the fictional world. Axis is as Axis does and while there seems some growth there, it's kind of hard to develop a character that's gone from human to Icarii to Star God to dead to back from the dead. But there's some room there. Douglass also manages to pull this final book in ways that tie back all the way to the first two books that she wrote long ago, which I appreciated.

In total, it's a must read if you've made it this far. But you're going to hit the last 50 pages and fight with yourself to read it, knowing that this is the complete end of a story that doesn't actually end (and that's not a spoiler; you get to know pretty quickly that Douglass had way more planned).


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