Damian Southam's Reviews > Gateway

In a bold and much debated sensitive topic, Gateway opens tactfully with the recollections of Ember, as she's brought back from her peaceful experience of knocking on death's door. Thus her earliest recollections following her attempt against her own life, jump from the decor of the hospital emergency room to that of her shared room in the psych ward. If nothing else, the cliched setup of the walls and absent decorations would've given it away. Her peaceful descent on the wrong end, or right, depending on your perspective, of a whole bunch of mixed prescription medications will now be carried as yet another burden and stigma of her teenage life. For the most partthere'll be awhole bunch of peoplescreaming, 'how could she do this to me'. She knows forewell what will now be said about her, in hushed and hidden conversation, behind closed doors and for the bold, to her face. Not that any of the agents of authority would agree, but Ember knew what she wanted and was in complete control and certainty when she did it, and was not about to throw into the mix, words such ax accidental. The only place where things went wrong was in her failure to succeed.

Ember, in attempting to take her own life, had finally positioned herself in a locale where others with similar problems existed. Despite the miasma of so-called experts surrounding her in the mental institution she now finds herself a resident of, her greatest allies and peers suffering with similar problems would be found in the institution's clientele. That others with vastly different reasons were present was no surprise, but the truths she would find among her peers would open her mind to a different world than that with which she struggled most. The voice of guidance in Ember's head and the drawings of a strange design that she'd been seeing in the past year, have greater meaning than she could've ever known had she not been admitted to where she was now. A strange boy and younger girl would prove to be the things which rattled her reality the most. That the boys eyes seemed to pierce and see through her soul would prove to be only the tip of the iceberg that rock her world. The voice and the drawings, including the small replica Ember'd had tattooed on her hairline, were immensely important in a struggle slmost no one knew of.

Ember will quite quickly learn to question everything that has come to pass or has not yet come to be. Growing up with a mother with mental illness has taught her to recognise signs others wouldn't notice and to keep her own secrets and musings a closely guarded secret. But this new knowledge that Earth isn't the only realm where life exists and that what popular culture knows as demons, and the belief that they come from hell, is simply humanity's way of rationalising what it doesn't understand, is in many ways harder to grasp than the notion of her own possible insanity. The voice Ember began hearing in her mind has guided her and revealed only truths since she began to test whether it would lead her astray. Now that the world has been revealed in all its gory detail, Ember struggles with the dilemma that the voice which lead her to those who would offer protection, are the same confidants would have her not trust the voice. Instincts developed since it's inception into her mind are now called into question.

Many millennia ago the world of Earth was inhabited by humans and daemons, living peacefully in coexistence. Over time, some from each species intermingled and there were those that went so far as to fall in love, producing offspring hybrids. Like in many races there are those that are traditionalists and saw these matings as blasphemous. As with the nephilim of our own mythology, the history of Gateway subsequently saw events leading to war. Over the span of three days in constant conflict, the two sides took such heavy collateral damage that both species looked to become on the verge of extinction. That is, until eventually the daemon and human coalition were successfully able to evict their opposing forces into an alternate dimension created to replicate that of Earth. Never intended as a punishment, the realm was rich in life and mirrored exactly that of the Earth they had known. Once completed nine gateways came into existence to seal away those expelled, who would become known as demons.

At such time Keepers began being born, humans with birthmarks that reflected one of nine separate pieces of the whole image that depicted the sign of the gateways. As the demons and daemons both had the advanced mind capabilities of telekinesis and telepathy, the demons attacked in force the remaining daemons from the other side of the gateways. As such, the daemons slowly fell into extinction and the keepers began to establish safe zones where they were free from the telepathic attacks that would lead them into insanity if not held in check as they grew up. Separate institutions began teaching and providing safe harbour, so that those born with marks could successfully grow into their roles and prevent the demons from returning to Earth. Whilst not a prophetic knowledge it was hypothesised by some that among the keepers there might one day be those born bearing the complete mark of the gateways, and that they would be the first evolutionary step back toward the advanced race that were once the daemons.

Both moving and captivating, Gateway offers a new spin on the realms of demons and humankind. In some ways a reflection of how urban fantasy has portrayed the relationship between humans and angels. The use of mental illness as a precursor to identifying those who would be keepers is surprisingly intrinsic. Even for a lay person its obvious that for people with culturally defined illnesses of the mind, that those same people clearly see a different world. Ember is a complex and powerful leading character, with enormous potential to now come into her own. That her hardships have been a run of trials deemed necessary by fate to prepare her for her future destiny, is not an uncommon thread in real peoples lives.

What begins as an (somewhat) expose quite succinctly becomes a powerful urban fantasy with much action, intrigue and drama. Earlier elements of the story, whether intended or otherwise, gives the feel of possibility instead of straight out fantasy. Better still its a story still winding up and gathering further momentum, to take it forward into the remaining books. There's also the added bonus of highlighting in small pieces where further novellas and a prequel could most definitely find their way into the trilogy, outside of the traditional three books usually seen in trilogies. I can already picture a book zero-point-five looking at Taren's parent's experiences, and perhaps even a one-point-five and two-point-five that deal with Taren and Kat's points of view respectively. I certainly have no hesitation in ticking off the fifth star and writing the review herein.