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The Last Rune #5
Das Tor des Winters
Es gibt nur eine Waffe, um die magische Welt Eldh und die Erde vor der Zerstörung zu bewahren: das Runenschwert - denn nur mit ihm kann der Fahle König ein für alle Mal daran gehindert werden, das Tor des Winters aufzustoßen und sein eisiges Gefängnis zu verlassen. Gemeinsam mit einer kleinen Gruppe-Getreuer muss Grace Beckett, der das Schwert gehört, in die Schlacht ziehen ...
423 pages, Paperback
First published July 29, 2003
9 people are currently reading
284 people want to read
About the author
Mark Anthony
43 books190 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Mark Anthony learned to love both books and mountains during childhood summers spent in a Colorado ghost town.
Later he was trained as a paleoanthropologist but along the way grew interested in a different sort of human evolution—the symbolic progress reflected in myth and the literature of the fantastic. He undertook Beyond the Pale to explore the idea that reason and wonder need not exist in conflict.
Mark Anthony lives and writes in Colorado, where he is currently at work on his next writing project.
Also writes under Galen Beckett.
Mark Anthony learned to love both books and mountains during childhood summers spent in a Colorado ghost town.
Later he was trained as a paleoanthropologist but along the way grew interested in a different sort of human evolution—the symbolic progress reflected in myth and the literature of the fantastic. He undertook Beyond the Pale to explore the idea that reason and wonder need not exist in conflict.
Mark Anthony lives and writes in Colorado, where he is currently at work on his next writing project.
Also writes under Galen Beckett.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 28, 2017
This book wasn't as good as the last one (I blame you, Travis!), but I can still say that I'm satisfied with giving it four stars.
"Now, at last, they were all where they belonged- here, together. For that moment, Grace let herself believe they would never be apart again."
Oh, Grace. This is just not how this series works. I don't think it took even 20 pages till the first POV character made off on his own.
So we basically follow the same three characters most of the time: Grace, Travis and Aryn. Some others are thrown in some times (least favorite POV character is definitely Deirde. How can a secret organisation that tries to find new fantastical things be so boring?), but those three are the fix points of this story now.
Grace's (classic fantasy) storyline (about fighting evil things at a special castle with a special sword) in this book was as solid as always. Sure, she's the classic secret princess whom everyone adores, but she's just really likeable and things like her heartwarming steadfast friendship with Durge and her plan to never have any servants be afraid of her make it understandable why others look up to her. They should just stop falling in love with her, because everyone who does is doomed.
Her part of the story also included three of my very favorite minor characters: Sir Tarus, Aldeth and Grisla. I wish we could have had a scene with those three snarking at each other and gossping about everyone else. It would have been glorious!
I was also once again surprised by how much I liked Aryn's story about what the different fractions of the witch coven(s) are up to. She's become a great woman, worthy of being followed. Plus, her POV also had Lirith, whom I love and Teravian, whom I'm endlessly entertained by. I also definitely loved how her arranged marriage plot developed. I didn't dare hope for it, but it actually ended how I wanted it to end.
Travis' POV was a bit of a bore. Present day Earth is just so uninteresting compared to Eldh. Didn't help that I had no idea why we needed to read about his life as a homeless person in such detail.
I however did very much like that while he still insisted on loving both Beltan and Vani, he also made clear which one he would choose if he really had to. I also loved that he actually admitted that he doesn't even know why exactly he loves Vani. I mean, dude. I don't get it either. It's been ridiculous from the start. But then, it's also pretty clear why she had to be there:
I still think it would have worked better if her romantic love had been unrequited. But it's water under the bridge now, I guess.
Of course all the conflicts in the three major POVs (The Pale King coming back, the unity of the witches falling apart and Duratek shenanigans) lead to the big boss fight in the end, that's actually not really a fight army vs. evil monsters, but more a struggle of one man against his fate.
Nonetheless, this time, after everyone important survived against the odds again and again in former books, there were actually major losses this time. Two characters who had been there from the very first book, didn't make it. I would lie when I said they didn't make me sad. They did. But I also thought the deaths made sense. Especially since I expected one of them to happen way earlier.
(I will now discuss those deaths under a spoiler tag, beware!)
All in all this pretty much felt like the final book in a series and I'm actually curious what will happen in the last book.
"Now, at last, they were all where they belonged- here, together. For that moment, Grace let herself believe they would never be apart again."
Oh, Grace. This is just not how this series works. I don't think it took even 20 pages till the first POV character made off on his own.
So we basically follow the same three characters most of the time: Grace, Travis and Aryn. Some others are thrown in some times (least favorite POV character is definitely Deirde. How can a secret organisation that tries to find new fantastical things be so boring?), but those three are the fix points of this story now.
Grace's (classic fantasy) storyline (about fighting evil things at a special castle with a special sword) in this book was as solid as always. Sure, she's the classic secret princess whom everyone adores, but she's just really likeable and things like her heartwarming steadfast friendship with Durge and her plan to never have any servants be afraid of her make it understandable why others look up to her. They should just stop falling in love with her, because everyone who does is doomed.
Her part of the story also included three of my very favorite minor characters: Sir Tarus, Aldeth and Grisla. I wish we could have had a scene with those three snarking at each other and gossping about everyone else. It would have been glorious!
I was also once again surprised by how much I liked Aryn's story about what the different fractions of the witch coven(s) are up to. She's become a great woman, worthy of being followed. Plus, her POV also had Lirith, whom I love and Teravian, whom I'm endlessly entertained by. I also definitely loved how her arranged marriage plot developed. I didn't dare hope for it, but it actually ended how I wanted it to end.
Travis' POV was a bit of a bore. Present day Earth is just so uninteresting compared to Eldh. Didn't help that I had no idea why we needed to read about his life as a homeless person in such detail.
I however did very much like that while he still insisted on loving both Beltan and Vani, he also made clear which one he would choose if he really had to. I also loved that he actually admitted that he doesn't even know why exactly he loves Vani. I mean, dude. I don't get it either. It's been ridiculous from the start. But then, it's also pretty clear why she had to be there:
I still think it would have worked better if her romantic love had been unrequited. But it's water under the bridge now, I guess.
Of course all the conflicts in the three major POVs (The Pale King coming back, the unity of the witches falling apart and Duratek shenanigans) lead to the big boss fight in the end, that's actually not really a fight army vs. evil monsters, but more a struggle of one man against his fate.
Nonetheless, this time, after everyone important survived against the odds again and again in former books, there were actually major losses this time. Two characters who had been there from the very first book, didn't make it. I would lie when I said they didn't make me sad. They did. But I also thought the deaths made sense. Especially since I expected one of them to happen way earlier.
(I will now discuss those deaths under a spoiler tag, beware!)
All in all this pretty much felt like the final book in a series and I'm actually curious what will happen in the last book.
January 23, 2011
This really brought the story lines to a finish. I loved the action, the magic, and the reunions in this one. I never read book 6 as I never felt the need to continue with this story. Mark Anthony has created an amazing world and filled series, filled with fabulous characters, magic, and places. This is a series that all fantastic readers should add to their reading queues.
October 5, 2019
Kurzfazit
Am Anfang der Bücher gibt es immer einen kurzen Rückblick auf die vorhergehenden Ereignisse, was ich wirklich sehr begrüße, denn es ist unglaublich viel passiert: zum einen auf unserer Welt, in der das Böse Einzug hält, aber hauptsächlich auf der Welt Eldh, die voller Magie und Abenteuer steckt.
So kann man wunderbar jedes Mal aufs neue direkt in die Geschehnisse einsteigen.
Band 9 war einen Tick schwächer - es hat mich nicht so ganz packen können, aber dafür ging Band 10 wieder rasant und super spannend weiter. Alles, was sich bisher aufgebaut hat, greift ineinander und kommt nach und nach zu einem gut strukturierten Ende.
Der Schreibstil bleibt relativ einfach, aber dafür auch sehr flüssig zu lesen und zwischendrin gibt es immer wieder kleine, tiefsinnige Zeilen ...
"Seit ich nach Eldh gekommen bin, hab ich lernen müssen, dass unmöglich nur bedeutet,
dass es bis jetzt noch nicht geschehen ist." S. 99
Die Gefühlswelt der Charaktere wird noch immer recht nüchtern beschrieben, trotzdem fiebert man mit den Figuren mit, denn man kann trotzdem jegliche Gefühlsregung gut nachvollziehen. Außerdem fordert die große Schlacht einige Opfer; doch noch ist es nicht zu Ende und ich bin schon sehr gespannt, was die letzten beiden Bände noch bereithalten.
Am Anfang der Bücher gibt es immer einen kurzen Rückblick auf die vorhergehenden Ereignisse, was ich wirklich sehr begrüße, denn es ist unglaublich viel passiert: zum einen auf unserer Welt, in der das Böse Einzug hält, aber hauptsächlich auf der Welt Eldh, die voller Magie und Abenteuer steckt.
So kann man wunderbar jedes Mal aufs neue direkt in die Geschehnisse einsteigen.
Band 9 war einen Tick schwächer - es hat mich nicht so ganz packen können, aber dafür ging Band 10 wieder rasant und super spannend weiter. Alles, was sich bisher aufgebaut hat, greift ineinander und kommt nach und nach zu einem gut strukturierten Ende.
Der Schreibstil bleibt relativ einfach, aber dafür auch sehr flüssig zu lesen und zwischendrin gibt es immer wieder kleine, tiefsinnige Zeilen ...
"Seit ich nach Eldh gekommen bin, hab ich lernen müssen, dass unmöglich nur bedeutet,
dass es bis jetzt noch nicht geschehen ist." S. 99
Die Gefühlswelt der Charaktere wird noch immer recht nüchtern beschrieben, trotzdem fiebert man mit den Figuren mit, denn man kann trotzdem jegliche Gefühlsregung gut nachvollziehen. Außerdem fordert die große Schlacht einige Opfer; doch noch ist es nicht zu Ende und ich bin schon sehr gespannt, was die letzten beiden Bände noch bereithalten.
January 3, 2015
"It was amazing."
The last part was a little too quick and I think the Falken/Melia plotline deserved a full on actual plotline instead of what it got instead, but oh my god all the parallelisms and sychronizing and Grace and Travis and BELTAN oh my god dude Beltan shouting at Looney Toons on an airplane because the Roadrunner is so cruel, this is basically the best book ever.
As always, enjoyed the real world stuff more than the Eldh stuff, Deirdre's plot especially though everything with Travis was also rad. Aryn's plot was second place, sucks Lirith didn't get as much to do this book as last cause I adore her but Aryn got to be so fucking bamf. Pretty satisifed overall with the conclusion of matters between she and Durge and Teravian which has been building forever. I definitely guessed the huge reveal re:Grisla last book but it was still awesome.
This feels like a last book in SO many ways it's hard to believe there's another but but there's still Vani's shit to deal with and Morindu and the sorcerors. I generally prefer the Scirathi stuff to the Pale King/Dominions stuff so it should be rad.
The last part was a little too quick and I think the Falken/Melia plotline deserved a full on actual plotline instead of what it got instead, but oh my god all the parallelisms and sychronizing and Grace and Travis and BELTAN oh my god dude Beltan shouting at Looney Toons on an airplane because the Roadrunner is so cruel, this is basically the best book ever.
As always, enjoyed the real world stuff more than the Eldh stuff, Deirdre's plot especially though everything with Travis was also rad. Aryn's plot was second place, sucks Lirith didn't get as much to do this book as last cause I adore her but Aryn got to be so fucking bamf. Pretty satisifed overall with the conclusion of matters between she and Durge and Teravian which has been building forever. I definitely guessed the huge reveal re:Grisla last book but it was still awesome.
This feels like a last book in SO many ways it's hard to believe there's another but but there's still Vani's shit to deal with and Morindu and the sorcerors. I generally prefer the Scirathi stuff to the Pale King/Dominions stuff so it should be rad.
June 20, 2025
Better than I anticipated. I had read the first four books over 15 years ago and came across the next book in the series. The author made it surprisingly easy to get back into the story. There are a lot of characters and elements to the story, so I’m sure there are items that I did not appreciate as much compared to if I had read the books straight through.
There are a lot of moving pieces to the story, almost too much. There are two worlds: earth and Elhd. Both are dealing with the growing malignant presence of Morg an evil god, which had been exiled from Elhd for over a thousand years. These two worlds are coming closer together and as more people from earth learn about it, the desire to “portal” over. The two main groups are the Seekers and a company called Duratek. The Seekers are an organization (Masonesque) established to tract other, worldly encounters. Duratek is a company that, on the surface, wants to capitalize on the resources of Elhd, but in fact have become puppets of Morg. There are two minor characters on earth that move the story along (Deidre and Anders) and interact with Elhd characters.
Most of the story takes place on Elhd, where the cast of characters is much more expansive (Grace, Travis, Durge, Aryn, Lirith, Sareth) and a host of minor characters. There are a few subplots ongoing, but the main premise has Grace leading a small company across the kingdoms Gravenfist to keep the Pale King from invading the realms.
These two worlds story bounces between the two worlds with Travis going back to earth to try to stop Duratek with the assistance of the Seekers.
These story has decent pacing and the characterization is solid. However, there were several things that kept me from giving this 5 stars. I never had any empathy for the characters. The victory and losses didn’t move me. It seemed like the author did a nice job of building up to an important moment, but then failed to deliver. This happened several times throughout the book, including the end, where the conclusion came about abruptly. There appeared to be some random developments at the end that did not seem to be plotted into the story.
I felt this was closer to 3.5 stars, but because of the long delay between readings I thought some of the problems may have been on my end, so I gave it a 4. There is one more book to go, I will be curious to see how the author concludes the series.
There are a lot of moving pieces to the story, almost too much. There are two worlds: earth and Elhd. Both are dealing with the growing malignant presence of Morg an evil god, which had been exiled from Elhd for over a thousand years. These two worlds are coming closer together and as more people from earth learn about it, the desire to “portal” over. The two main groups are the Seekers and a company called Duratek. The Seekers are an organization (Masonesque) established to tract other, worldly encounters. Duratek is a company that, on the surface, wants to capitalize on the resources of Elhd, but in fact have become puppets of Morg. There are two minor characters on earth that move the story along (Deidre and Anders) and interact with Elhd characters.
Most of the story takes place on Elhd, where the cast of characters is much more expansive (Grace, Travis, Durge, Aryn, Lirith, Sareth) and a host of minor characters. There are a few subplots ongoing, but the main premise has Grace leading a small company across the kingdoms Gravenfist to keep the Pale King from invading the realms.
These two worlds story bounces between the two worlds with Travis going back to earth to try to stop Duratek with the assistance of the Seekers.
These story has decent pacing and the characterization is solid. However, there were several things that kept me from giving this 5 stars. I never had any empathy for the characters. The victory and losses didn’t move me. It seemed like the author did a nice job of building up to an important moment, but then failed to deliver. This happened several times throughout the book, including the end, where the conclusion came about abruptly. There appeared to be some random developments at the end that did not seem to be plotted into the story.
I felt this was closer to 3.5 stars, but because of the long delay between readings I thought some of the problems may have been on my end, so I gave it a 4. There is one more book to go, I will be curious to see how the author concludes the series.
May 13, 2018
This book is whirlwind of activity, spanning two realities, and over a thousand years of history! The group gets separated & must try to fight the forces of the Pale King on several fronts. Travis & others are thrown into the Old West Of Colorado, where they search for the breach of wild dark magic into Earth. Grace and Aryn must determine whether the existence of shadow covens within the Weirding will help save or destroy the Dominions. The Seekers of current day Earth have their own roles to fulfill. Each group has a piece of the puzzle, including where & when the Final Battle will occur. They must rise to the challenge of getting back together & discover the truth behind the Runebreakers secrets.
I seriously lost sleep over several parts that I had to know the outcome before putting down the book! This is really rare in a long series like this & congratulations to Mark Anthony for a great story!
I seriously lost sleep over several parts that I had to know the outcome before putting down the book! This is really rare in a long series like this & congratulations to Mark Anthony for a great story!
November 27, 2019
For four books, I have tried to embrace Travis as a hero and likable character. This book solidified why I have been unable to do so. He is a dim bulb on a low wattage circuit. He is incapable of doing anything on his own, without someone or some voice telling where to step. That said, this book was a solid read, based on the strengths of the other characters.
July 30, 2025
It's taken me 18 years to get to book 5 and it was well worth the wait. I couldn't have asked for a better story in this 5th instalment of the last rune series. I'm now very interested to see where book 6 is going to go. I loved every page.
March 17, 2015
In this fifth volume of the Last Rune Series Travis, Lirith, Sareth and Durge have come back to Eldh after their adventures in the Wild West of Colorado. The relationsship between Travis and Beltan is a bit strained and Beltan avoids Travis whenever he can. Travis the poor one who is soo in love with both (Beltan and Vani – and I still can´t comprehend when that happened) feels (as always) sorry for himself and decides to slip away back to Earth to destroy the Gate Duratek (now allied with the Pale King and the old god Mohg) has opened to send their agents to Eldh.
Meanwhile in Calavere Grace accepts her destiny to march with a small army to Gravenfist Keep a fortress near the Gate of Iron to hold back the Pale King when he comes through and the signs are there that this will happen soon..
The rest of the book is about Travis as a homeless in Denver (yes, he even managed to get robbed of all his money and I really thought he stopped making idiotic mistakes) where he searches for a way to destroy Duratek and Grace´s fight against the Pale King. Secrets are revealed about the second runebreaker and some cherished characters depart their lifes (unfortunately Vani wasn´t among them). My suspicion proved to be right – Vani is pregnant by Beltan after their little encounter on the White Ship. Again I can´t help the feeling Vani´s character was only thrown into the story to create a love triangle to appease female readers who may not like a relationship between two men (not that anything did actually happen between Travis and Beltan two or three kisses don´t count in my opinion). Travis has gone back being his whiny self it seems the little bit character development he has shown in the former book has vanished into thin air. I admit I´d started to like Grace more than Travis she seems to be more couragous in embracing her fate as the queen of Malachor. But there´s still a chance for Travis´ development in book six.. a girl can hope, right?
At last I would have liked a register at the end of the book with a short explanation of every mentioned character, the many names, places and stories connected to them are getting more and more confusing and a quick look to reacquaint yourself with them would have been nice.
Website of the author: http://www.thelastrune.com/
Meanwhile in Calavere Grace accepts her destiny to march with a small army to Gravenfist Keep a fortress near the Gate of Iron to hold back the Pale King when he comes through and the signs are there that this will happen soon..
The rest of the book is about Travis as a homeless in Denver (yes, he even managed to get robbed of all his money and I really thought he stopped making idiotic mistakes) where he searches for a way to destroy Duratek and Grace´s fight against the Pale King. Secrets are revealed about the second runebreaker and some cherished characters depart their lifes (unfortunately Vani wasn´t among them). My suspicion proved to be right – Vani is pregnant by Beltan after their little encounter on the White Ship. Again I can´t help the feeling Vani´s character was only thrown into the story to create a love triangle to appease female readers who may not like a relationship between two men (not that anything did actually happen between Travis and Beltan two or three kisses don´t count in my opinion). Travis has gone back being his whiny self it seems the little bit character development he has shown in the former book has vanished into thin air. I admit I´d started to like Grace more than Travis she seems to be more couragous in embracing her fate as the queen of Malachor. But there´s still a chance for Travis´ development in book six.. a girl can hope, right?
At last I would have liked a register at the end of the book with a short explanation of every mentioned character, the many names, places and stories connected to them are getting more and more confusing and a quick look to reacquaint yourself with them would have been nice.
Website of the author: http://www.thelastrune.com/
January 5, 2020
I have at last reached the penultimate volume.in my second read-through of this series, and it absolutely did not disappoint. After four books, nearly all of the various plot threads come together in an epic climax. So much so that, unfortunately, a few characters are absent for most of the book, only to show up and explain that they've dealt with their things while the book was focusing on the larger stuff.
While the first half of the book is largely concerned with moving people where they need to be, the second half is absolutely riveting. I started out reading "just one or two chapters before I go to bed," and instead was up until an hour more accurately called early morning than late night finishing the entire book. This is, by far, the best book in the series so far.
Of course, while The Gates of Winter is very much the climax of The Last Rune, it is not the conclusion... As I said, it wraps up "nearly all" of the plotlines. And for the remaining few, there's one final book left before the ending.
While the first half of the book is largely concerned with moving people where they need to be, the second half is absolutely riveting. I started out reading "just one or two chapters before I go to bed," and instead was up until an hour more accurately called early morning than late night finishing the entire book. This is, by far, the best book in the series so far.
Of course, while The Gates of Winter is very much the climax of The Last Rune, it is not the conclusion... As I said, it wraps up "nearly all" of the plotlines. And for the remaining few, there's one final book left before the ending.
December 6, 2014
The protagonists are once again reunited, just in time for the Pale King to make his move to conquer the world to prepare the way for his master the banished god Mogh to return to Eldh and remake it in his own image. To prevent this from happening, Travis returns to Earth, with the hope of keeping the stones of power out of Mogh's reach, only to find that events are culminating there with the insidious corporation Duratek on the verge of leading an army to Eldh.
All of the threads of the main plot line of the entire series start to converge, with prophecies coming true, factions of witches trying to outmaneuver each other, and armies brought into battle. In the end, Grace must lead an army to hold off the forces of evil while others try to find a way to stop the world from being literally shattered. The action spans two worlds, and pretty much every character from the previous four books has a part to play, in addition to several new characters.
In the end, this could have been the culmination of the series, and it ends on a satisfying note, which many epic fantasy sagas don't. Should be interesting to see what the real final book after this one does, but it will be good to re-visit these characters one last time.
All of the threads of the main plot line of the entire series start to converge, with prophecies coming true, factions of witches trying to outmaneuver each other, and armies brought into battle. In the end, Grace must lead an army to hold off the forces of evil while others try to find a way to stop the world from being literally shattered. The action spans two worlds, and pretty much every character from the previous four books has a part to play, in addition to several new characters.
In the end, this could have been the culmination of the series, and it ends on a satisfying note, which many epic fantasy sagas don't. Should be interesting to see what the real final book after this one does, but it will be good to re-visit these characters one last time.
June 29, 2017
like many others, i am severely bothered by the sudden appearance of vani as an obvious method of placating those who don't enjoy their heroes being- gasp!- involved in a homosexual relationship. but overall this is still a very solid installment in the series, and i plowed through it just as fast as i did the others.
February 15, 2016
Even though it broke my heart, this was one of the best books of the series. Parts of the ending were a little rushed, but the rest made up for it.
May 22, 2015
...and this is where I completely dropped off as Anthony has apparently given up on writing fantasy and is now using the series to explore his sexuality.
July 27, 2016
Book 5 of "The Last Rune". If you liked the previous, you'll like it. There's a sixth, but SFPL doesn't have it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews