The Traveler's Gate Chronicles

Traveler's Gate Chronicles #1-3

by Will Wight

Together in one volume for the first time, the Traveler's Gate Chronicles are nine short stories that provide depth and breadth to the world of the Traveler's Gate Trilogy. They have been published separately as the mini-collections Tower of Winter, Gardens of Mist, and The Lightning Wastes.

These stories each follow a different Traveler on a journey through one of the mystical Territories that make up the fascinating world of the Traveler's Gate Trilogy.

In Tower of Winter, Traveler Donia Sarkis comes face-to-face with the ancient powers hidden within Helgard's mysterious sixteenth floor.

The Feathered Plains follows Denner Weeks of Valinhall in his attempts to avoid assassinating a fifteen-year-old Avernus Traveler who has seen the future.

The Crystal Fields is a retelling of an ancient legend that Lirial Travelers have passed down for generations.

In Gardens of Mist, one man finds out what happens when you trust your senses in the Mists of Asphodel.

Maelstrom of Stone features an impatient young Ornheim Traveler named Chloe as she risks her life to rescue an enemy.

In The Steel Labyrinth, a Damascan swordsman named Valin finds himself introduced to the treacherous clockwork maze known as Tartarus.

In The Lightning Wastes, Leah hires a familiar bodyguard to help her recruit some wayward Travelers of Endross.

Caverns of Flame features a young Traveler-in-training as he's faced with a rival he can't beat and a test he can't pass.

In the final story, Ragnarus, the first Queen of Damasca gives her life fighting the Incarnation of Elysia.

These stories are set in the universe of the Traveler's Gate Trilogy, which begins in the novel House of Blades. If you have not read House of Blades or its sequel, The Crimson Vault, you will not understand the stories in this collection.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, High Fantasy, Anthologies, Ebooks, Amazon

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2015

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Traveler's Gate Chronicles are a collection of 9 short stories from various territories of the Traveler's Gate world. They are tied together as an Elysian Book of Virtues telling a story to describe each of the Elysian powers along with their purpose. Some of the stories feature some familiar characters from the main series.

First and foremost I have to comment on when someone should read this book. If you don't want to potentially spoil any aspect of the Traveler's Gate trilogy, you should read this after finishing the City of Light. There are definitely spoilers for anyone who hasn't completed the Traveler's Gate trilogy.

None of these short stories are particularly groundbreaking, but I found myself enjoying the ones that focused on characters readers have already met. The stories that feature prominent characters from the main story are The Feathered Plains, The Steel Labyrinth, The Lightning Wastes, and Ragnarus.

The Feathered Plains features Valinhall Traveler Denner Weeks. I always enjoyed seeing Denner in the main series even though we don't get a lot about him. Here we get to see him being recruited for his speciality and showing off a Valinhall power that wasn't seen in the main series. He's sent on a mission to execute a young traveler who can see the future.

The Steel Labyrinth featured the Wanderer himself Valin. Valin is a young man in this story and Valinhall doesn't yet exist. This story was undoubtedly the most interesting to me because Valin is shown to be working for a prior Damascan Queen. Considering what has been revealed about Valin previously, it truly makes me wonder why he becomes determined to kill Damascan royalty later in life. Valin is sent by Queen Deianira III to Taratarus to assist the travelers with murders occuring in their territory. The story also gives some additional insight into who Valin is as a man and I'd truly love to learn more.

The Lightning Wastes features Queen Leah, Simon, and briefly Indirial. Leah, Simom, and an Endross traveler head into Endross. Their goal is to get the Endross traveler's to return to duty in Damasca. It's told from Leah's perspective which isn't always great. In this instance it's appreciated because it lets the reader see Simon as the world sees him. He doesn't look like much initially, but he's deadly when he starts to fight.

Ragnarus is absolute spoiler territory if you haven't read City of Light. It features Queen Cynara the first and Elysia's Rhalia. This describes the final battle between the two and how Cynara found herself hung under a Hanging Tree. It also opened up a potential mystery. I'm interested in finding out more whenever the sequel trilogy is written.

The Traveler's Gate Chronicles was a good set of short stories with a creative Elysian tie in.

3.5 out of 5 stars

[Shreyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Traveler's Gate Chronicles" (Short Stories #1 to #9) by Will Wight.



When to Read:
These short stories can be read after finishing 'The Crimson Vault' (Book 2 of the Traveler's Gate trilogy). But the best time to read these, in my opinion, is after completing the entire trilogy.



Review:
While the Traveler's Gate trilogy is fantastic series in terms of action and the magic system, it does leave out some of the world-building when it comes to the different territories. Will Wight rectifies the slight oversight with this short story collection.

Each of the nine short stories is set in a completely different territory, thus helping us gain more knowledge about these territories. And to top it all, each of the stories is somehow tied into the 'Elysian Book of Virtues' in which each virtue represents a territorial short story. And we do have some Valinhall Travelers in a couple of these short stories - thereby completing the task of covering all the eleven known territories.

As with most short story collections, most of these short stories are hit-or-miss. The ones that particularly stand out are The Steel Labyrinth, The Lightning Wastes, and Ragnarus. Honestly speaking these three short stories were the saving grace of the entire collection and the reason why it got such a high rating from me instead of a mediocre one.

The Steel Labyrinth is a particularly interesting short story since we encounter Valin decades before the founding of the Valinhall territory. He isn't even a Traveler, yet he bests the best of the Travelers with his exceptional swordsmanship. And we can see how his Wanderings influenced the different rooms and magical abilities of Valinhall. A much recommended read even if you aren't interested in reading the entire collection.

The Lightning Wastes offers us a perspective of Simon from someone else's eyes. People often disregard him as a Traveler because of his lanky looks and the doll (of course!), but how they end up getting terrified of him once he gets going. A very interesting read that takes place between the six months time-skip during the initial chapters of the third book.

Ragnarus depicts the story of the entrapment of various Incarnations with the help of the Hanging Trees during the Reign of Queen Cynara the First. And we do finally get to see the circumstances under which she eventually becomes an Incarnation. The identity of the Old Man is still a mystery though, and I hope it comes into play during the sequel trilogy.



Individual Ratings of the Short Stories:
1) 'Tower of Winter': 2.5/5.

2) 'The Feathered Plains': 3.0/5.

3) 'The Crystal Fields': 4.5/5.

4) 'Gardens of Mist': 2.5/5.

5) 'Maelstrom of Stone': 2.5/5.

6) 'The Steel Labyrinth': 5/5.

7) 'The Lightning Wastes': 5/5.

8) 'Caverns of Flame': 3.5/5.

9) 'Ragnarus': 5/5.



Overall Rating of the Short Story Collection: 7.5/10.




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PS:
Will Wight has also released around five short stories set in the Traveler's Gate world on his mailing list from the period of 2014 to 2019. These short stories aren't accounted for on Goodreads, so I decided to mention a quick review and ratings of those along with this collection.

The White Flame short story takes place during the six-month time-skip set during the initial chapters of the third book. The other short stories take place after the events of the final book of the Traveler's Gate trilogy. These short stories were far more enjoyable than the ones in the Traveler's Gate Chronicles collection, perhaps because we get to see the events unfold through the eyes of Simon and Leah, and because we are given a glimpse of things that happen after the third book's conclusion.

The Reaping Dance was my favorite one of this lot. It was quite different in the sense that it wasn't action-oriented like most of the stuff, but more fun and lively. And hilarious.

Here's an individual rating of the five short stories:

1) The Incarnation's Daughter: 4.5/5.

2) A Collection of Swords: 4.5/5.

3) Steel Diplomacy: 4.5/5.

4) The White Flame: 4.5/5.

5) The Reaping Dance: 5/5.



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[Andrey Lukyanenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of short stories set in the world of Traveler's Gate.

I'm really glad that I read them. They make the world muuch more alive and vibrant.

The main series are interesting, but the books focus on the main hero, who rapidly becomes stronger. Very soon non-incarnation enemies become just a meat fodder.

And here we can see other types of Travelers, what is their purpose, how they see the world and so on.

[Andrew Rockwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 stars—-

These were great, and I think I may have enjoyed them (as a unit) more than I enjoyed the corresponding trilogy (as a unit).

If you like short stories and haven’t read Will Wight, this is a decent place to start to see his style, creativity, and character work.

I also highly recommend this to anyone who has read anything by Wight, especially the House of Blades trilogy (the stories take place on the same plane/planet).

[Benjamin Espen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love short story collections. I love them because you can really get to the meat of a story without the overhead of a novel. I like novels, I read a lot of them, but I find many of my favorite authors by means of short stories. Take Tim Powers for example. Jimmy Akin published Powers' short story "Through and Through" in 2006, and I was immediately hooked. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the late Jerry Pournelle's There Will Be War! series too, I own all ten volumes of it. I've explored the works of many of the authors who contributed to those collections, and I am better read for it.

Where the short story format shines is in letting us traverse the depth and breath of Simon's world, without needing to build characters, construct narratives, or even introduce the grand concept. While I think this book could serve as an excellent introduction to Simon's world, the Unnamed World, it served even better as a digestif.

For example, we get to see the Territories outside of the point of view of Simon's grand tale of vengeance and awakening. I didn't really appreciate that people lived and worked in the Territories! Even for people who were not themselves Travelers, the Territories could be mundane [you can get used to anything].

On the other hand, we also get the backstory of several important characters, including Valin himself. Seeing Valin as a mere man, before Valinhall existed, explained so much. Valinhall was aptly named.

In this case, I didn't read The Traveler's Gate Chronicles until after I had finished the rest of the Traveler's Gate trilogy, but this themed collection set in each of the nine Territories was written so beautifully, and answered so many questions I didn't know I had, that I almost wish I had read it first. Wight deftly wove in little bits that I hardly remembered from the novels into an exploration of the world he created for Simon, son of Kalman.

Something I hadn't appreciated about Simon's world until I read Chronicles is the way color tells you hidden details about characters. I was reminded of an article I read years ago, sent by my friend Tom, about the visual storytelling of Pacific Rim. Visual storytelling in movies is simply how things are done. del Toro, in particular, is obsessed with color. But to do this in a book.

In Wight's world, each Territory, and its corresponding virtue, is color-coded. Violet is the color of honesty and openness. Orange is the color of loyalty, red the color of dominance and rule, blue of mercy. What truly surprised me, and this colors my review of City of Light, is that those virtues are often not precisely what you, or even the Travelers of a Territory, might think. The color that matches the prime virtue of a Territory is often different than the dominant hue you see there, or in its Travelers' habitual dress and presentation.

However, this is not simply a matter of balancing yin and yang, counteracting dominance with self-sacrifice, but the more active discernment of the golden mean. A self-consciously self-sacrificing leader is often the most oppressive one of all.

[Jonathan Crabb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read Wight's Traveler's Gate trilogy for a work book club and enjoyed it much more the second time through. The original trilogy doesn't give enough context of the world for my preference, but it is still very good. This series of short stories set in the world was EXACTLY what I wanted more of in the original series. Some of the stories are awesome action, some are world building, and a couple are even just straight having fun with the characters. It was an excellent addendum to the original trilogy and well worth the read if you even marginally enjoyed the original trilogy.

[Vignesh Doraiswamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid 5/5. A great collection of short stories that lastly improve our knowledge of the Traveler's Gate worlds. Fantastic World building in a good mix of new characters as well as old ones that we have all come to know and love. Will wight has yet to disappoint.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the short stories in this collection were at best 2-3 stars, but the last one was significantly better than the rest.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Khari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bunch of short stories that are set in the world of the Travelers and I really liked it.

I liked it because Will understands what stories are. They are a way to explore the world and find meaning. A way to extrapolate out a belief and see how it works in a mental simulation.

In this series of short stories, Will is exploring various traits that we consider to be both moral and good, traits like wisdom and loyalty. But he doesn't just state what wisdom is, he writes a story about how that trait would play out in a particular situation. It acts both as an illustration for the reader and also a way to explore your own interpretation of the traits.

I particularly enjoyed the loyalty one and it made me think a lot. My best friend and I have talked a lot about loyalty, because it is the most important thing about a real relationship for her. But we discovered that we have a very different view of what constitutes loyalty. For her it is in the moment, if she were to commit a crime, I would protect her from the cops. For me, I believe it is important to be loyal to the whole person, not just who they are in this minute, but who they will be in the future as well, in which case I would have to consider that future self in my decision making. Would it be better for her if I hid her from the police and then she gets arrested for the original crime plus obstruction of justice? Or would it be better to talk her into turning herself in and getting a lighter sentence? Which is true loyalty？

[Steven Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice set of short stories set in The Traveler's Gate world.

The majority of the short stories take place before the events of book 1. There is one story that takes place between Books 4 and 5. My advice is to read this set of short stories after reading the trilogy itself first time through. Afterwards you would be familiar enough with the world in order to read it beforehand. Overall the story is based around the color system of the Elysian territory and the territories in the world they are closest to.
The short stories are entertaining and some do at background to the trilogy most are simply short stories with some moral to teach. Some end abruptly before you think they should but they are nice little adventures in and of themselves. It does have a feel of an author practicing how to write short stories and would not work without the trilogy as a foundation for the best world building that was required.

The trilogy is well worth the price and given that there is a complete set of the trilogy and these short stories together it could be an excellent added bonus. Really enjoyed the Cradle series also written by the same author. He has a great style that works really well in Epic Fantasy length.

[Diarmuid O'Donoghue]

Nothing in here was particularly interesting, but I didn't really expect any more from such a short collection framed around a bit of a gimmick. While it fleshed out the Territories a bit, it honestly felt more like retconning - you're telling me all the Travelers actually live in their territories and have towns and shit? Nowhere was that evident in the main trilogy! It's in the name, they travel through the territories! Obviously Valinhall is different because the territory is literally a big house. The world building of this series is also not really interesting enough that I cared at all - it's one big homogeneous blob of a kingdom, a single city state, and a few borderline villages. It's fine for telling a fun progression and action story, but when you slow down and want to fill in the gaps (after the trilogy has concluded?) it just feels a little pointless. It's missing all the juice that gave the main books enough of an end to be enjoyable despite their flaws.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this short story collection. The worlds of Traveler's Gate have a lot to offer, and the framing of each story as a lesson from Elysia made most of them feel like a fable. The only stories that felt out of place in the collection were the ones that take place during City of Light, but they were still enjoyable and don't deter from the tone overall. My particular favorites were The Feathered Plains and Tower of Winter.

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I normally hate the short story format. Anything smaller than a novella has just never clicked with me, much to my frustration. However, I think short stories designed to flesh out an existing story world have hit the spot. All of these were at least good, with some being fantastic. I think my favorite was the final one with Ragnarus. I would read these after book 2, but before book 3 for the most effect. If you read before book 2 ends, you will have some spoilers.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sad sequel for the Traveler's Gate

I loved the original Traveler's Gate Series. I blazed through it as fast as I could turn a page. This short book of a short story about each kingdom ley mere down. One or two of the stories were good, but I was let down by the others. It didn't h have Will Wight's trademark humor and his excellent skill of putting together well- crafted sentences. If I had known this before, I wouldn't have read them.

[Jake Thunderbolt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series a while back, but since binging on Will Wight again with his Cradle series, I needed more of Will's wonderful world-building and character development, so I reread this trilogy. While I wouldnt want Cradle to be delayed any, i do hope that one day he returns to this series and lets us know how Simon is faring!

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This compact short story collection does more for worldbuilding in the Traveler's Gate universe than the main trilogy books combined. Solid stories full of interesting characters both old and new with more creative plot ideas outside simple combat all the time.

You should read this after the trilogy because there are spoilers and it would be confusing without a reference point.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good collection of short stories. Each one was about one of the Elysian virtues. Cool writing technique to tie them all together. I enjoyed going back to the Traveler’s Gate world, even if just for a short visit. Each story illuminated a unique aspect of each of The territories. Well worth the read

[Reflector · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting world building

I did enjoy the stories with the other travelers but they felt a bit disconnected. Just side characters that held only a few lessons. The stories with characters from the main story were good. Valin was interesting as was the side stories with Leah and Simon

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really fun! Each vignette representing each of the Elysian districts tells the story of a virtue. We meet some new characters as well as some familiar ones (Valin and Simon). If you enjoyed the Traveler’s Gate series, this will be a treat.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories, but this book was basically way too short! I think it was even made up of 3 books, which would have made those 3 books tiny. Need the writer to go back and do another novel or series, based on the Traveler's Gate.

[Rana Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still fire

Got bored and went looking for another Wight book to fill my nighttime. This novela is mad fire and I find myself reminiscent of books past. The longing for valinhall hate to open and make the traveler earn another secret gift. Fam, this series went hard in the paint.

[Franklin J. Vergara M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthevery minute of reading it was awesome

This is one of the best short story books I have ever read. It is so faithful to the original story had felt part of them. I do hope the author decides to visit this world and its stories soon.

[Joseph Miceli iii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun return to the world of Travelers Gate

Little bit of some old characters, a lot of bit about the different territories, fun read overall. Worth it if you want more of Traveler's Gate, hope Will writes more in this world.

[Trevor Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this world

I always like hearing "after the end" stories. These short stories are also perfect to introduce more about the different territories and their powers. I'm just a huge fan of this series and I thoroughly enjoy this book as well!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good short stories to give additional insight. But who is the old man? if it's the Eldest ... that would be weird.

[Ryan McCoin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid side tales

These are a nice addition to the Traveler's Gate World and provides a lot of good background and world building.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed

I really enjoyed seeing more of the other territories. Interesting world. Of course, my favorite was the one with Simon. Nice to see him through others’ eyes.

[E Kummeneje · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off: definitely read this AFTER you've read the proper 3 TG books. Otherwise I doubt it'll make much sense. And if you do, these small glimpses back into the Territories are quite lovely. I particularily enjoyed seeing Simon again, from the outside, as a fully confident and nearly invincible Founder's Heir of Valinhall.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best read after the three main Traveler’s Gate books.