Wit'ch Gate (The Banned and the Banished, #4) by James Clemens

Wit'ch Gate (The Banned and the Banished, #4) Reviews

• 
  Ahmad Sharabiani

  Wit'ch Gate (The Banned and the Banished #4), James Clemens
  
  In a spectacular feat of daring and magic, Elena and her army of outlaws and rebels have defeated evil's minions and released the mystic secrets of the Blood Diary. But the malevolent Dark Lord has unleashed the Weirgates—black wells of ferocious energy that are his greatest source of power. Now Elena's bravest allies are sent to find and destroy the Gates, as windships carry the fight north to the frigid woodlands, south to the burning desert sands, and east to the blasted regions of dread Gul'gotha.
• 
  Carol (StarAngel's Reviews) Allen

  I know this book is next to the end and it's mostly a build up to the finale' but the action and adventure is non-stop! I thoroughly enjoyed this one even though with each page I read, it gets closer and closer to the end.
• 
  Connie53

  Sterk en spannend met verschillende verhaallijnen. Elena en haar reisgenoten zijn verspreid over hun hele wereld. Elke groep is vertrokken naar een van de windrichtingen om de poorten naar de Weer te vernietigen. En dit gaat natuurlijk niet zonder slag of stoot. Er vallen doden en gewonden. Er wordt liefde gevonden en heel veel magie. Een heerlijk boek om in te duiken. Ik zal deel 5 zeker snel gaan lezen, maar dat moet nog even wachten.
• 
  Itya

  Blblbl, un quatrième touché à sa fin.
  Ça y est, on sent que la saga est bientôt terminée. 😍 On s’approche petit à petit de la bataille finale.. ❤️
  
  J’ai bien aimé ce tome, un peu long parfois, mais plaisant. On a des héros toujours aussi forts, on a des pertes malgré tout.. Plein d’émotions se mélangent, j’ai si hâte de lire le final ! L’auteur a réussi à construire tout un monde de prophéties depuis le tome 1, c’est incroyable.
• 
  Joan Damiens

  3.5/5
  
  Un tome plein de rebondissements, malgré un début un peu long... Les personnages sont toujours aussi intéressants, mais des intrigues et dénouements assez attendus. Bref, un volet relativement mitigé.
• 
  Basilic

  Un peu (beaucoup) sexiste quand même
  Ça vaut un 2.5 /5
• 
  itchy

  p51: "...they are one in the same...."
  
  p169: he stared dumstruck after her.
  
  p237: queen tratal remained ice. retrieve your sword, plainsman. she turned her back on him, unconcerned by any threat he could offer. "it is time you accepted your fate as well."
  
  p266: "...but you should this see yourself."
  
  p287: when last she had lain eyes on him, the mustache had been black as oil.
  
  p430: "not even ragnar'k can near that monster."
• 
  'Nathan Burgoine

  Reading the "Wit'ch" series, previously my only real frustration had been the proliferation of apostrophes (and perhaps ...should take note here that searching for "Witch Gate" doesn't give you any hits, only "Wit'ch Gate" does). Having just finished "Wit'ch Gate" in the space of two evenings, I must say that I've put the stuttering-effect of apostrophes aside, and will joyfully dive into this series again.
  
  The cast of characters seemed swollen to capacity with the last book in the series, and you're in for a rough ride. Clemens has a real ability to make you care about characters, and then when those characters end up facing potential death, certain death, or outright suicide, you're gripping the book with frustration: you don't want them to die.
  
  Elena takes a little bit of a back seat in this book, and that works out fine. The other characters, especially Elena's brother Joach, Kast, and Nee'lahn, shine forth in this book with a real aplomb. The story splits three-ways, and the following of one group up to a cliffhanger and then switching to another group is a style that will leave you twitching. All in all, this book is a truly enjoyable experience of fantasy.
  
  Specific to the plotline, the group has to split three ways in order to tackle three of the four wiergate creatures of which they learned in the previous book. The story is sensible, the plot twists are unpredictable without being unplausible, and the magic at no time overpowers the characters or the story to the point of Deus Ex Machina. It doesn't matter how powerful the characters may be, it is not their power, but their soul or heart that matters. Solutions to previous plot conflicts are well thought out and always surprising (especially those in the case of the former-hero Kast, twisted to dark magics, and that of the Mogweed/Fardale shapeshifters trapped in one form).
  
  Specifically, I find myself actually worried for some of the characters, and to manage that level of empathy for a character is a real skill indeed. I cannot find anything I found negative enough to mention, and as a result, a rare five stars from me. Grab this one - grab the whole series first - and sit down to a truly great story.
• 
  Brecht Denijs

  2018 reread
  
  After quite a bit of inner debate, I've decided to upgrade my rating from four stars to five. The book isn't perfect by any means, but I feel the good far compensates the lesser bits and that the series deserves a bit of extra love for being as underappreciated as it is. So yeah, five for overall feeling, though objectively slightly flawed. The splitting of the party and the plot for the three weirgates was exhilarating and heart-breaking and might be one of the best of the series. The book is hard to put down, the characters are all awesome and in many ways fresh within the fantasy genre and the plot is original and well thought out. One trope I wish the story (and all stories for the matter) would give up on is the whole thing about virgin purity and first menses and the attributed "purity" that play a part in the magic system. That shit can go rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.
  
  The Banned and The Banished is an interesting mix between Epic and Grimdark fantasy that really works for the most part. Personally I'm more of a fan of Epic fantasy so the Grimdark bits were a bit much at times and are what I liked less. Still, for the most part they fit within the story and are not gratuitous, with two noticeable exceptions in this instalment:
  
  Why on earth did they have to skin Mycelle alive?! Couldn't they have either waited till she had passed or else mercifully ended her pain? This was such a horrid scene and there was absolutely no reason why they had to do this while she was still alive. Definitely one of Clemens' lesser moments.
  Second problem was the Kesla subplot. It seemed so unnecessarily cruel that she would be created just to die and as she isn't real it makes no sense for her blood to have those magic properties. Again, it seemed unnecessarily cruel and was slightly forced to serve the story. This is what made me consider deducting a star even. There definitely could have been a better solution to this plot point.
  
  Already looking forward to the next book and I'm sure I'll be returning to this series again at some point in the future.
  
• 
  Kit

  These battle scenes are TOO LONG. I found myself skimming them eventually because my GOODNESS I am tired of them! One gory fight after another, sigh!
  
  Clemens' insistence on putting every man and woman who looks at each other in a romance with each other is way more annoying than I remember. Like, sweet buttered toast, its EVERYONE. Male #1 looks at female #6 and NOW THEY'RE IN LOVE. dude I may not understand straight people but I know they don't fall in love with literally every member of the opposite sex they see.
  
  Also, skeevy age differences, yikes on BIKES. Sy-wen was like, thirteen when she met Kast? Elena was thirteen when she met Er'ril? Elena magically aged into the body of a woman but shes still at this point, mentally, 15-16. Its creepy. Sy-wen is ACTUALLY mentally and physically 15-16 and she and Kast are always doing the do. Am I supposed to be okay with this bc it's a "people die young so they get together young" scenario, like the middle ages? Cause I'm not. It's gross. Its significantly older men with teenagers. Gross.
  
  I liked the idea of the dream desert. I LOVE deserts so it was super cool to see the desert being a living thing and breathing life into its creations!
• 
  Melcouettes

  Que vous dire? Un gros pavé mais je savais que j'allais passer un super moment. On ne s'ennuie absolument pas. Ce tome est plein de surprise et de rebondissement!
  Plus qu'un tome pour mettre fin à cette série... Toute les bonnes choses ont une fin...
• 
  Jo Marjoribanks

  It's been so long since I last read these books that I'd forgotten a lot of the details, including one of the biggest reveals of the series. It's so much fun rediscovering these things. I can't wait to rediscover forgotten parts of the story hidden in the fifth and final book.
• 
  Sheila

  The writing here is much tighter, with the separate quests really well done. I just wish the romance in this book could be excised...ugh.
• 
  Steven Báthory

  Après un précédent tome des plus passionnant et haletant, je ne m’attendais pas ce que James Clemens réitère l’exercice une nouvelle fois et pourtant, Le Portail de la Sor’cière s’est démontré des plus palpitant et renversant à parcourir.
  
  Il faut dire que l’on ressent très vite que la fin et conclusion accrochent à grands pas. S’agissant de l’avant dernier volet, l’auteur voit les choses en grands et fait preuve d’une délicieuse et savoureuse audace. Tout n’est finalement pas toujours tout est bien qui finit bien et j’en suis plus que ravi. Ce dernier opère certains choix douloureux mais qui m’ont permis de vivre pleinement cette nouvelle aventure dont les chapitres défilent inlassablement et avec rythme. Ainsi et bien que des guerres soient gagnées, d’autres encore plus importantes et dangereuses semblent s’apercevoir derrière le maigre espoir que renferme les dernières pages de ce roman. Une nouvelle fois encore, l’univers se dessine et se voit davantage développer. Malgré une certaine répétition dans sa construction, je reste admiratif du travail réalisé par James Clemens qui parvient à emmener et immerger toujours plus en profondeur son lecteur au sein de son sombre et dangereux monde magique et dont celle-ci a une place prépondérante. Ainsi et alors que je pense détenir toutes les réponses à mes questions en ce qui concerne cette notion, ce dernier apporte de nouveaux fragments complexifiant bien davantage cet aspect. Néanmoins et alors que j’en ai très peu parlé, les références ésotériques sont comme toujours parfaitement maîtrisées et j’apprécie réellement en apprendre davantage sur les élémentaires et leurs dangereux dons, cette fois-ci accompagné d’un soupçon de romance que je ne sais encore appréhender.
  
  Quant aux personnages et bien qu’une certaine constance demeure, tant beaucoup restent fidèles à eux-mêmes, comme les attachants Elena et Er’ril, James Clemens mise sur l’évolution d’autres de ses protagonistes. En ce sens, Joach se retrouve au centre de ce volume et j’ai été ravi de ce renouveau tant j’adhère totalement à la complexité et la dualité qui ne cesse d’animer ce personnage à la fois bon et mauvais par moments et bien souvent en conséquence de ses choix. Ce dernier se dévoile aussi important que sa sœur dans la révolte qui gronde et son pouvoir de tissage semble bien plus important et moins anodin qu’il n’y parait. D’autant plus que son cœur sera mis à rude épreuve et que pour sauver Elena, celui-ci risque de souffrir plus que nécessaire. Ainsi son cheminement personnel m’a semblé des plus sensible et c’est tout en sentiments que ce dernier se dévoile au lecteur. Ainsi et naturellement, Kesla s’ouvre à son tour et se dévoile également un atout majeure quant à la quête que mène cette bande de parias. Finalement, beaucoup auront à offrir et autant à perdre dans cet épisode laissant gronder le combat final que je m’apprête à débuter dès à présent !
  
  Cet avant dernier épisode des plus renversant à parcourir laisse entrevoir toute la puissance que l’ultime épisode à venir. L’issue finale ne m’a jamais parue aussi incertaine et je suis ravi du travail réalisé par James Clemens. Ce dernier se dévoile des plus audacieux et n’hésite pas à faire souffrir ses personnages qui ont tant à perdre cette fois-ci. Entre magie, action ainsi qu’un brin de romance, j’ai dévoré cette lecture.
• 
  Bowie

  This is definitely my favorite of the books. So far. I have one left. Which is ominous considering how this one ends. A complaint about the writing (which goes for all the books in this series but, somehow, stands out more in this one): so much exposition! I mean, jesus. It's unreal how many info dumps there are in this series. It's one of my favorite series, but this shit makes me angry. A few exposition scenes are expected in any novel, especially ones in series that deal with multiple groups of characters in separate situations. But, and I am not kidding, there are at least 2-3 paragraphs of exposition/info dumping at the start of every chapter and chapter break. Yes. That's right. There are multiple paragraphs of exposition after almost every chapter break (Shitty Definition: when there's a shift in perspective [or something of that sort] within a chapter, usually indicated by a double space between blocks of text). So, if you took everything but the exposition out of this series, you would have enough text and enough information to basically understand the entire 5 book series. This, to me, is a problem. Show don't tell.
  
  Moving on. Writing complaints aside, this book is awesome! Lots of action, lots of feels, lots of stress, (lots of stress), and lots of Tol'chuck being sad (less awesome). I hope he's happier in the next one. Joach's story makes me angry because it's so stressful, but not angry in a bad way. He deserves everything and is a precious cinnamon roll. Not being able to remember what happens next for him is stressful. (This series is really stressful, I don't know if I've mentioned)... Ah, oh, yes. The one thing I genuinely don't like about this one (apart from the horrendous overuse of info dumping) is Meepmorp. Gleepglop. Sneepsneep. Whatever the fuck the obvious Golem rip-off's name was! Shit, it was fucking stupid anyway. You can't do that. You can't take a character from a widely beloved classic fantasy, dumb him down, and stick him in your world like it isn't basically plagiarism. Not to mention that the land in which you introduced him was basically Mordor, volcanoes and all. There is being inspired by something and straight up ripping it off. And in this case, it was less inspired and more what were you thinking. Maybe I'm alone on this, but that's how I feel, so... end of review.
• 
  CJ

  First and foremost, this book is miles better than the prior ones in the series. The writing quality has hugely improved and someone clearly got on his case about of the 'suddenly's that were the bane of my existence while reading. I noticed within the first few chapters and held on to the vague tattered notions of hope that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't descend back into mediocrity. I wasn't disappointed, thankfully. I'm both impressed and pleased for Clemens that Wit'ch Gate really pulled through.
  
  More details and spoilers under the break~
  
  
  As seems to be the case with my reviews, I end up with way more cons than I do with pros. Can't be helped I suppose.
  
  Sy-wen and Kast - Holy what I hated these two in Wit'ch Gate. I couldn't fucking stand them and wanted them just gone. They still haven't been developed in the slightest, and really only exist as a convenient plot device. Having a great scout that can also kick some major ass and then turn back into a nifty travel-size human at the end of a day's work is awfully convenient and for the most part just pissed me off. Not to mention - after the crash of Richald's windship, apparently the only thing they were concerned about was finding some privacy so they could get their funky groove on. Wow, really? People died in that crash and you're stranded in the desert, and all you can think about is sex? No no no no no nope.
  
  Plot twists - I personally found them easy enough to predict and generally expected them long before they showed up. Some people might enjoy being able to nail down what's going to happen; I do not. I enjoy being shocked and surprised in books and I don't like things taking conventional and logical turns if at all possible. This one's more of a personal dislike than anything, but generally, a bit more intrigue and build-up to the reveal never hurts.
  
  Redshirts - The background characters are rarely named and seem to exist almost for kill fodder and nothing else. It's frustrating to see so many characters, all of whom would realistically have lives and worries and actual names being discarded so easily. As soon as a new Redshirt Recruit joined the main party, you could pretty easily predict there'd end up being some sort of kerfuffle and the poor new guys would get killed.
  
  Snowflakes - There are a lot of them, really special ones too. I marked down a reference to the sheer amount of Sues and Stus I was coming across, followed by a stream of expletives that took up two lines, so I assume there were a bit too many for my tastes. I'd add more on this but my brain seems to have purged those memories. Aside from most of the main party, anyway, who were set up as them in their introductory books.
  
  Marriage - No, please no. The whole forced-to-marry-Er'ril-in-an-elv'in-tradition-thing marriage deal just isn't working for me at all. It seems far too convenient, almost as if the author was having too much trouble getting the two characters to sit the hell down and talk about their feelings, so he smushed them together instead through an interrupted arranged marriage. And of course that somehow makes at least Elena more willing to accept and talk about her feelings. Despite how much this part of the story pissed me off, what did help sweeten it for me was that Elena didn't take to it immediately. She took her time thinking about it, instead of just immediately jumping into her feelings for Er'ril. Again though, despite that, there were aspects of it that changed right off the bat that I felt were just ridiculous.
  
  Women - Although Clemens tries his best to write strong, believable female characters (major props for trying, I have to give him that)...he just isn't getting it well in the Wit'ch books. There's too much of 'I am a woman and therefore need a man in my life or else I will never feel fully happy with myself'. Mycelle, for one, could be a perfectly bad-ass, tough as nails female warrior who clearly does not need a man in her life. Yet she falls for plenty of them, with Tyrus or Tychus or whatever his name is being the last. It's kind of ridiculous and demeaning, not only to women, but also to people who are perfectly content not being in a relationship. Not everybody seeks the companionship of another person, and that's normal. Some more diversity in that area would kick ass, and a great opportunity for that was missed with Mycelle.
  
  A good example is that instead of speaking and relaying information themselves, both Sy-wen and Elena turn to their men to do it for them. They're not mute, and they've always been portrayed as the ones 'in charge' so to speak - Elena as the infamous and foretold wit'ch, and Sy-wen as the daughter of a councilmember and ambassador of the merai people. And yet somehow they still need their gruff, strong silent type men to do all of the talking for them while they just...hover around I guess. It's ridiculous.
  
  Assassin's training - It was mentioned so unbearably often. Every time Kesla did anything, bat an eyelid or fart or whatever, her Assassin's Training was spoken of, sometimes in detail. I originally enjoyed the idea of the Alcazar assassins, training out in the middle of the desert all mysterious and such, but the sheer amount of mentions just completely ruined it for me. It made it feel like too much of a gimmick, being pushed onto me and forcing me to acknowledge it. Let those assassins stay mysterious, and instead of just throwing 'IT'S THEIR TRAINING GUYS TRUST ME' around whenever one of them does anything, just describe it, or leave it alone. We know they're assassins. We know they're going to be doing assassin-y things. Describe it simply without pushing it into our faces, or leave it alone.
  
  Standard cereal box villains - The monologuing ghoul. I was in mental pain having to read that particular part. If your villain has to monologue to feel good about himself, then he's probably a shit villain. It's not realistic, it's not believable, it's good for nothing except telling our main good guys a ton of information that they probably suspected but couldn't confirm and were shocked at the half-revelations before swiftly dispatching Mr Baddie, probably tragically losing at least one member of the party in doing so. Yep.
  
  
  All in all, a ton less happens. This is bad for some people, and amazing and refreshing for me. The characters had a lot more breathing room this time around, and we got to see a lot more thinking going on. This is exactly what the series needed, and I have to hugely applaud Clemens for the improvement. It's still plain and easy to predict and such, but it was so much better than the prior books. I feel it sets up the final book pretty nicely as well, so hopefully Wit'ch Star will show even more of these improvements.
• 
  Ryan

  This is one of the most conflicting series I have ever read. The writing is great. It's a fun series with a lot of twists and turns. I like almost everything about it aside from the unsettling romance between Elena and Er'Ril and Sy-wen and Kast. Elena is a thirteen year old. Er'Ril is 500. This is not ok. I don't care that she magically has the body of a woman. She's mentally a child!!
  
  Also, Kast is an adult male and Sy-Wen, although never given an exact age, was described as a "child" and she had only just gotten her first menstruation yet we are suddenly supposed to like the pairing of her with Kast?? At one point she was even described as not having yet developed breasts but oh well...she's banging Kast now every chance she gets! I can't shake the immense ICK factor while reading the scenes with these two couples because of these age discrepancies and I'm surprised more people aren't as weirded out by this or vocal in their reviews of this series.
  
  That said, it is a fun series. It flows really well. It has a truly roller coaster ride feel to it with so much action and dark magic. It would possibly be a top favorite series if not for the creepy factor with those relationships.
• 
  Mark

  This fourth volume in Clemens's series fully recaptured the enjoyment I had reading the first volume. We rejoin our heroes not long after their victorious battle for A'loa Glen. In the afterglow of victory Elena's human allies spend their time arguing over next steps. Tired of their endless bickering Elena consults the Blood Diary and sets out a plan for destroying the Dark Lord's four Weir gates, which are spread to the four corners of civilization. Not too surprisingly, the human "allies" all depart the next morning, unwilling to follow Elena's chosen course of action.
  
  But some new faces remain. Elena's new dwarven allies join her, Er'ril, and Tol'chuk on their journey to the far east. Lord Tyrus leads Mycelle, Meric, Kral, Nee'lahn, Fardale, and Mogweed, in the secret assault on Castle Mryl. The assassin Kesla joins Joach, Sy-wen, and Kast near the southern wall.
  
  Every group mission in this volume clicked for me. The set pieces were cinematic in scope, the decisions faced by our heroes were nigh impossible to resolve without despair, the character arcs of our core heroes were thrilling, and the new characters introduced were just as interesting as the original cast. This one is definitely worth reading again.
• 
  Melissa

  Après avoir libéré Val’loa de Shorkan, notre groupe de héros va devoir de nouveau se séparer entre les déserts du sud, les forêts du Nord et le Gul’gotha. Ils vont de nouveau devoir se battre, perdre des proches mais s’approcher de la résolution de leurs problèmes en en apprenant plus sur le Seigneur Noir.
  Dans cet épopée on retrouve vraiment beaucoup du Seigneur des Anneaux. Le Gul’gotha fait vraiment penser au Mordor. On pourrait le reproduire. Quant au trône de glace on peut en faire le trône de fer de Game of Throne.
  Il y a de bons moments dans cet saga et les personnages sont attachants. J’aime beaucoup Tol’chuk. Malheureusement le rythme est vraiment lent, on a l’impression que l’auteur rajoute des combats pour faire des pages et ressembler au Seigneur des Anneaux. C’est un peu dommage car son univers est riche et j’ai beaucoup aimé les sculpteurs du désert onirique. Cela aurait pu être plus et mieux développé.
  Je lirai le dernier tome mais plus pour connaitre la fin que par coup de cœur. Dommage.
  
• 
  Michele Benson

  The intrepid band of travelers almost saved the world in this one. I loved the whole desert dream sculpting section. Truly imaginative fantasy. One more book in the series... I can't wait to see how they defeat the Darkness.
• 
  Ashe Groot Roessink

  Fun story where the group is split up in 3, and while most of it was quite interesting the last bit surrounding Elena was a little bit anticlimactic, didn't feel like there was as much build up there. (I believe there was it just didn't feel the same compared).
• 
  Kathi

  9/10
  A very strong installment in The Banned & the Banished series.
• 
  Baro

  Bisher glaube ich das beste, obwohl alle gut waren. Aber hier ist es so richtig klassisch,verschiedene Gruppen für verschiedene Aufgaben. Dabei aber auch interessante Ideen. Super :)
• 
  Eddie King

  Again not as good as the rest of the set but the books are awesome and a MUST READ!