Stargate

by Pauline Gedge

At the earliest dawn of a universe the sun-lords have been tempted by the Worldmaker with forbidden knowledge. One by one they have fallen from power and had their kingdoms sealed off from the cosmos. In a desperate bid to save their worlds, the sun-lords must become mortal - and brave the revenge of the Worldmaker...

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Canada, Science Fiction Fantasy

417 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

I was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on December 11, 1945, the first of three girls. Six years later my family emigrated to England where my father, an ex-policeman, wanted to study for the Anglican ministry. We lived in an ancient and very dilapidated cottage in the heart of the English Buckinghamshire woodland, and later in a small village in Oxfordshire called Great Haseley. I grew up surrounded by countryside that I observed, played in, and grew to know and love passionately, and I wrote lyrically of its many moods.

My father had his first parish in Oxford, so in 1956, having passed the eleven-plus exam, a torture now fortunately defunct, I attended what was then the Oxford Central School for Girls. I was a very good student in everything but mathematics. Any academic discipline that is expressed and interpreted through words I could conquer, but math was bewildering and foreign, a maze of numbers and ridiculous symbols with which I had nothing in common. I liked chemistry, because I was allowed to play with pretty crystals and chemicals that behaved as if they had magic in them. I studied the violin, an instrument I struggled over and gave up after two years, and the piano, which I enjoyed and continue to play, along with the recorders. Music has always been important to me.

Then in 1959 my father accepted a parish in Virden, Manitoba, and the family left for Canada. After three months at the local high school, I was sent to a boarding school in Saskatchewan. It was the most dehumanizing, miserable experience of my life. In 1961 I began one inglorious year at the University of Manitoba’s Brandon College. I did not work very hard, and just before final exams I was told that my sister Anne was dying. I lost all interest in passing.

Anne wanted to die in the country where she was born, so we all returned to New Zealand. She died a month after our arrival, and is buried in Auckland. The rest of us moved down to the tip of the South Island where my father had taken the parish of Riverton. For a year I worked as a substitute teacher in three rural schools. In ’64 I attended the Teachers’ Training College in Dunedin, South Island, where my writing output became prolific but again my studies suffered. I did not particularly want to be a teacher. All I wanted to do was stay home and read and write. I was eighteen, bored and restless. I met my first husband there.

In 1966 I married and returned to Canada, this time to Alberta, with my husband and my family. I found work at a day care in Edmonton. My husband and I returned to England the next year, and my first son, Simon, was born there in January ’68. In 1969 we came back to Edmonton, and my second son was born there in December 1970.

By 1972 I was divorced, and I moved east of Edmonton to the village of Edgerton. I wrote my first novel and entered it in the Alberta Search-for-a-New-Novelist Competition. It took fourth place out of ninety-eight entries, and though it received no prize, the comments from the judges and my family encouraged me to try again. The next year I entered my second attempt, a bad novel that sank out of sight. Finally in 1975 I wrote and submitted Child of the Morning, the story of Hatshepsut, an 18th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh, which won the competition. With it came a publishing deal with Macmillan of Canada and the rest, as they say, is history.

Reviews

[Dexter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has absolutely no relation to the movie and subsequent TV series. None whatsoever. But it did come first. And it is beautiful.

Man, what a thrift store find. This book is gorgeous, and so so unique. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. It strongly reminded me of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, mostly just the Eloi.

The world is so secluded and complete, with just enough mystery to keep me interested. And the plot progression! Get ready for a journey here.

I don't want to say a lot about it, because part of the greatness of my experience was knowing absolutely nothing about the story. It made it exciting and surprising and painful all at the right times. But I will say that I love the characters and the amazing way they go from one extreme to the other by the end of the book.

It's a strange mix of epic fantasy and science fiction, somehow condensed into 337 pages.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1982 and re-issued in 2016, Pauline Gedge’s Stargate is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid writ large. Its universe rides the mythic themes of a world overseen by Gods who live within the vague rules similarly employed against their literary and cultural brethren in Olympus. Gedge seems more than happy to borrow these Grecian mythic motifs while putting her own sci-fi/fantasy spin on the creation myths we find embedded within even modern religions.

Important note before I continue: This book has nothing to do with.... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[S.M.M. Lindström · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bittersweet story, heavy on the bitter. The summary on the backcover was misleading; this is not the tale of an epic all-out war between sunlords and the Unmaker. Instead it's a story about the end of innocence and of how paranoia and distrust can lead to downfall. In short, it's a tragedy with a hint of hope at the end.

I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did. There is much description to get through and the POVs switch constantly (but the switches never confused me which is a big plus). There is no one main character to follow and no big quest to finish, which might put some readers off. It's also very, very sad and violent.

So why couldn't I put it down? Partly because of the mystery of how it would all end and what choices the characters would make. Partly because of how not-human all the characters were most of the time. We only sporadically get to meet creatures that think like us humans, some of them going from being not-human to human in a single night and that is what kept my interest. The description of beings who had been free of fear, violence and hate coming face to face with those things and changing was very well done. Horrific, yes, but well done all the same.

This is not a book you should read if you want something to cheer you up. But it is a book that's interesting to ponder and discuss with others. Could it have ended differently? Would it have been good if it had? Who exactly put it all in motion? And so on and so on.

[Kat Doll · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry to have to add to the dismal 1 star review.

I read this many, many years ago and wanted to revisit as I couldn't remember anything about this other than the fact it was science fiction which is a big change for Pauline Gedge who is a historical fiction queen (as far as I am concerned).

I found the first 1/3 (that's as far as I got) of Stargate to be incomprehensible for the most part. There are gods that are in charge of several separate and varied worlds with mortals on each world. The worlds were once open to each other and gods and mortals could travel between, but now because of something that happened to the Worldmaker (übergod, I presume), who is also called Unmaker on occasion (I think) the gates between the worlds are closing and the gods are succumbing to some sort of evil that was brought on by something in a book that is somehow making it's way around between all of the gods. There are also beings called traders that move between the worlds selling goods.

I had trouble keeping the characters and which worlds they belonged to straight and I really had trouble making the physical layout of the worlds cohesive in my mind.

Also, I was not a big fan of the writing style and voice. I found it florid and overdone in a big way. I can't remember if I liked it the first time around, but this time definitely my tastes have changed.

Sorry, Pauline... this was one bad one amongst the very many good...

[waffl · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the title I was initially expecting Stargate to be a science fiction novel, but instead I found myself trudging through this rather dull and unfocused mythological fantasy story set in a bizarre set of bubble worlds with little relevance to each other (and equally little relevance to the reader).
In many ways it feels more like a collection of related short stories than a continuous novel. The POV bounces around erratically between the many characters, most of whom have no real resolution or influence on the story - for instance, the character we start with dies (as much as a god can die) in the the first third of the book and is rarely mentioned again.

There are some nice moments where the story zooms in on the mortal people who are living basic lives, which gave me something to connect with in a more grounded way. Unfortunately these moments are usually immediately overshadowed by the strange drama of the gods which, most of the time, is much less interesting.

Perhaps if I knew what to expect going into the book I might have enjoyed it a little bit more, but sadly I finished it feeling like it was a story without stakes, consequence, or weight.

[Christine Bowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was not what I expected, I was pleasently surprised by my enjoyment of it. The story was unique, well written, and the later half of the book held me captive until 1 am as I tried to finish to find out how everything would end.
I recommend this book to other science fiction fans.

For a more detailed review check out my blog post: http://christybooklust.blogspot.com/2...

[Red Ink Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author was recommended to me and the book was the only one by this author that my local library had. I am a fan of the movie Stargate starring Kurt Russell and the Stargate tv-shows that came to be after the movie, so I was excited to get settled in with this book.

Unfortunately, it was a really hard book for me to get into. It wasn’t until I was at least half way thought the book that it started becoming enjoyable to read.

The concept of the book is you have this supreme entity, the Lawmaker, who created a being called the Worldmaker who it in turn created many worlds and sun-lords to act as guardians over these many worlds. The Sun Lords were given their power and life by the suns that orbited their worlds. The suns obeyed the commands of their sun lords and as long as the suns burned with vitality and strength so to do their sun lords. However, when the subs burnt out and died, the sun lords would also die. Thus, the sun lords were in effect immortal.

On these many worlds were gates that connected the worlds together were by the immortals and certain beings could travel through them, through the stars and visit other worlds and peoples.

Eventually over time the Worldmaker became corrupt and wanted more power and dominion over the sun lords and the mortals who inhabited their worlds. Many sun lords fell one by one, closing the gates to protect their worlds from the Worldmaker who became the Unmaker, slowly destroying the worlds and unmaking them one by one.

The Unmaker used his powers to try and corrupt the sun lords of the worlds and their suns. The sun lords had to close their gates and seal their worlds and themselves offer the prevent the spread and corruption of the Unmaker.

However, one sun lord thought he had found a way to stop the corruption of the Unmaker, using the Book of What Will be. Thinking he was doing what was right to stop the dreaded Unmaker he instead found himself being corrupted losing his essence, destroying his world and the mortals

Overall it wasn’t a bad read I just think the first half of the book could have been written a lot better, so it was more engaging for the reader.

[Juushika · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the Worldmaker becomes the Unmaker, a vast family of linked stars and guardian sun-lords fall one by one. This is a loss of innocence narrative on a literally universal scale, a uniquely massive premise with a pervasive sense of inevitability; it strips autonomy from its characters and prohibits investment on the individual level, to its detriment: it's distant, bitter, inaccessible. The imagery is diverse and beautiful, but there's so much that it becomes monotonous. But while this isn't successful, and I don't recommend it, there's a seed of potential within--I've rarely encountered a narrative so stubbornly vast, so willing to refuse the human element and conceivable scale.

[Rebecca Thomason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the most misunderstood and underrated book I have read. Because it shares the name with a later book-to-movie, it gets confused as being that book, and it is so definitely not. This books stands on its own merits. For me, this was a scifi Paradise Lost. Beautifully written, interesting take on entropy. I love the way it portrays mortality vs immortality. I will probably reread this one I enjoyed it so much.

[Eric M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creative and well written

Timeless and interesting spin on creation myth. Unfortunate that this story is confused with the other content that is also called stargate. This is completely different.

[Len · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a great series

[Shirley Grift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my style. it was ok but I like suspense, thrillers, criminal mysteries, reallife stuff.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely could not get into it. Don't know if this was what the movie and series were based off, but I found it slow, boring and hard to stay with.

[Anastasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was long and boring. The world building was good as was the idea. It too long to do anything. The religious connotations were to heavy as well.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just not that into reading sci-fi.

[Dan Henne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay it really doesn't have anything to do with the movie or TV show. But it's a very good read. A little slow at the start but it builds a world you want to get into.

[Niki · Rating 2 out of 5]

a very intriguing story - perfect worlds until greed and power enter the worlds - a little bit boring though

[Lukas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went into this thinking it was THAT Stargate. It isn't, but I was pleasantly surprised by this beautiful book.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Love0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spectacular

[Vikrant Rana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3/5
Very Average

[Andrew Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange how something can be such complete and utter fantasy, but seem more real than a historical fiction. We're forced to accept this strange galaxy, each solar system governed by an immortal sunlord who is sustained by and controls their sun(or suns) and traverses the galaxy by "stargates". It's a highly theological story with a kind of divine hierarchy, the sunlords were created by the "Worldmaker/Unmaker", who was created by the "Lawmaker". At the start, one sunlord Fallia is cast out of the sunlords' council and sealed off in the remains of her world Fallan. We later learn that she is not the first to be cut off, something has been causing their worlds to fall into ruin requiring them to be sealed off. After Fallia there is only sunlords Ixelion, Danarion, Sholia and Ghakazian left. The council is led by another immortal being Janthis who lives on Danarion's world Danar, in the sunlords' council building. The sunlords continue to be corrupted leading to infighting and wars between their worlds. Meanwhile they are questioning their own theology wondering how misplaced their faith has been.

I suppose after finishing the book one can see a connection between its theology and Judeo-Christianity, but it certainly isn't like reading the Bible. The sunlords are impressive characters, you could almost imagine them being this way if such beings really existed. While the mortal human beings on the various worlds seem very humble and ordinary in comparison, there are a few men who stand out for challenging the sunlords' authority. Later Danarion is forced to "inhabit" the body of a mortal, causing him to almost become comfortable and not wish to leave.

I don't think I'd come across the name Pauline Gedge before finding this book. I was interested because of the title and that it was about 13 years before the 1995 film Stargate, which lead to the TV series'. Actually the "stargate" concept had been around in the '70s and there was a popular arcade game Stargate(or Defender 2) in late '81. I was more interested when the book cover said that Pauline was born in Auckland, NZ and later settled in Canada.

[Book Him Danno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to Stargate when I watched the movie like most everyone else I knew. I had no idea it was a book. When I drove right inn I quickly learned they are not the same. When I received the Email requesting me to review Stargate I couldn't pass up the chance.



I am grateful I had said yes but the emotions this story brings to the surface is hard to explain.


Pauline Gedge tells a story that will pull at the heart strings of everyone who has witness the evil in the world and the loss of innocents.

The story is told from different POV which will not get the reader lost. This story really has nothing to do with the movie which I loved. Instead it one of violence, mystery, lost of life and how everyone is able to handle the changes.


This book would make a great group discussion because the author leaves you pondering questions. What if someone had done something different would it have ended the same? Was the path already laid down and nothing they could do would change that?


I will admit the beginning of the story had me struggling but soon I was able to figure out the authors style and the story gained it momentum and I really enjoyed the story.


If you loved reading H.G. Wells you will love this Science Fictions. That leaves you pondering on questions the author leaves for you.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure - I won this in a goodreads.com giveaway.

This was a challenging book. Indeed, it could also be considered 2-3 books in one novel. The start is so compelling it pulled me in right away. The ancient and alien universe created here is astonishing.

Unfortunately, there are several narrative side-trips that, while overall contribute to the saga as a whole, completely stalled the progress of the novel for me.

In the end, we get a conclusion that is satisfying. This may be a story you need to binge-read. I think the steam that was lost was my doing—reading a few pages, maybe a chapter, here and there.

The one thing that nagged me the whole time was the almost-complete similarity to the Stargate movie and TV shows. Was this the basis?

[julianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried, Oh lord I tried so hard to read this. Incomprehensible at the beginning and it doesn't get any better.

Don't get me wrong, I had no expectations from this. I had no advance impressions to go on. Yes I know about the movie and TV series but I was aware that the book bore very little resemblance to those.

I wanted to read the book for a long time, but my anticipation over-weighed how I really felt. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. Ah well I'll move onto the next....

[Jolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book many years ago, but never finished it. I found it on my shelf the other day & tried to read it again, but didn't get any further than I did the first time. What I did read was o.k., but confusing. I skimmed through it and read other parts, but I had to put it down. Maybe in another few years I'll give it another go...

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably in the top five of the best Science Fiction books I have ever read.
This was not an easy book to get through,having said that, there was a lot of material and characters. I usually make a chart when I read,crazy?? I know.

It was confusing in the beginning but than it found it's momentum and I loved it.

[Hannah Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I super enjoyed this book. It shows the strain of keeping evil out and keeping everything the same. Yet it does come to planets.

I'm glad this book has nothing to do with the series on t.v.

Gedge did a wonderful job of weaving a great tale about the struggle of keeping evil out and keep everything the same. Yet one does realize that change will happen but he would assist in it.

[Marge Perko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book, as a fan of the movie. (It's totally different, by the way.) However, the set-up of the active plot dragged on - you only get real action in the last part of the book. I really tried to love this book as much as her historical novels.

[Raiveran Rabbit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depressing dressed up as beauty.