The Gates of Night

The Dreaming Dark #3

by Keith Baker

A band of war-weary soldiers have uncovered a plot that may tear the very fabric of reality forever. To save their own lives and to prevent a long-banished race of monsters from unleashing an army of horrors upon the waking world, they must reach the very heart of Dal Quor. To stop the cataclysm in time, they must fight their way to . 

Genres: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Fiction, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

375 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

I've been interested in games since I first fell under the sinister influence of the Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, back in sixth grade. Over the last few decades I have managed to turn gaming from a hobby into a career. Here is a list of the highlights of my life as a game designer. If you have any questions, let me know!

From 1994-2002, I fell into the computer games industry. My first job was with Magnet Interactive Studios, in Washington DC. Sadly, Magnet never managed to hit the big time as a game developer. I worked on a number of projects during my stay at Magnet; for a time I was lead designer on a game called BLUESTAR, a position that was held at other times by such roleplaying luminaries as Ken Rolston and Zeb Cook. However, the only work that ever saw the light of day was some level design on the abstract arcade game Icebreaker.

Magnet began a slow implosion in 1996, and along with a number of other people I went to work for a Colorado company called VR1. I started as lead designer on VR-1 Crossroads, a text-based MUD centered on warring conspiracies – The X-Files meets Illuminati, with a world of dreams thrown in for good measure. When VR1 decided to move away from text games, I started work on a graphical MMORPG based on the pulp serials. After a few twists and turns, the project ended up being known as Lost Continents. But early in 2002 I decided that I'd had enough of the computer games industry and left VR1 to focus on writing. Then in June of 2002, Wizards of the Coast announced their Fantasy Setting Search, and I thought: What about pulp fantasy? And the rest is history. . .


Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the trilogy, the third book is probably the best - a sign of improvement given that this is Keith Baker's first trilogy. It has good suspense, moral dilemmas, plot twists (although a little obvious) and a deeper study into the character's thoughts and motivations.

It nicely builds on the characters introduced and set up in the first two. Despite still not liking Daine at all (he gets annoying at times with his need to whine or complain about things not of his business), I found myself liking Jode and Pierce. And I got a little fond of Xu'sasar, especially the few parts where it was told from her perspective.

The character interactions and their journey itself on the other planes was filled with very good imagery and great storytelling. It was an adventure!

I'd have given it another star if not the ending - which was really abrupt and resolved nothing but the main plot. And the it did even that made the whole "save the world" trip feel totally inconsequential. The author either ran out of ideas or out of pages.

In short, the whole read from front all the way until the last chapter and the epilogue was a good read. Quite disappointed that the ending left a sour aftertaste with all those loose threads.

(One final note: The proofreading was again quite bad - with a lot of glaring errors).

[Marco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much chaos, too much fantasy "per se". There's no real ending concerning the characters, it's left to the reader imagination whether Daine and Lei will, at last, succumb to the feelings they have for each other. And Pierce and Xu are just left there, like two puppets, with no real story to them. I really hope there's a sequel or something because this is a no-ending.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I feel like this one has a more cohesive story than the second book in the series, it still ultimately falls quite a bit short of its potential. The first book in the series was quite good, especially up until the end, because it did a great job of introducing you to the world. This one stayed back in the land of more dime-a-dozen series tie-in novels.

I really like the world of Eberron, because of its blend of fantasy and sci-fi. But I think in order to truly capitalize on that you would have to have a, epic fantasy series set in the world to establish a "main" plot-line. These kind of books that are turned out by the franchise are really just popcorn fantasies, and I'm sure they satisfy a big part of the market. But what I really want to find is a series like this that is truly written with the art of the story in mind. It doesn't have to be epic and the stakes don't have to be huge. That was what worked in the first book - we were just concerned with the fates of the four main character. By the end of this book, our heroes are trying to save the entire world just like every other cliche genre fantasy series out there. And it doesn't even sell it to the readers. As other reviewers have stated, the ending just falls apart because it doesn't really have much backbone to it.

If it had been kept toned down, with a focus on characters and world-building, I would have been a lot more satisfied by this series.

[Hyann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hates when authors used dreams in the story most of the time it didn't really adds something... well this book is all about the plane of dream.

The characters are in a bizarre world so you just watch them battle against monsters after monsters in a very linear manner.
Like a bad D&D session, the heroes got a special weapons to make them hotter and people come from nowhere to help them for some reason.
Yes Baker answered a lot of questions but too many thing happen for no reason.. don't like when people have it too easy. The epilogue was bad too... maybe he wanted to have the possibility to make another trilogy..

Too bad the trilogy finishing like that, i really like the first book but the lack of depth in the plot and opponents make this a one read-only. I got this books for 4 or 5 years before I read them and probably take a few other books before I return in the Eberron setting.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the characters of this series. I was significantly affected when Jode died in the first book, and when Lei was flung into the river, I was on the edge of my seat. However, this book and the series as a whole felt less like a novel and more like a narration of a D&D session. On top of that, the ending just falls incredibly short; it feels rushed and does not provide any sort of closure for the characters.

Favourite line of the entire book: "Daine, when you ask your imaginary friend if he's imaginary, what sort of answer do you expect to get?" - Jode

[Newton Nitro · Rating 3 out of 5]

E vamo que vamo para o final da trilogia Dreaming Dark, os primeiros romances publicados do cenário Eberron, para Dungeons and Dragons!

The Gates of Night (The Dreaming Dark #3) - Keith Baker | #fantasia #eberron #d&d #magipunk | 375 pgs, Wizards 2006 | Lido de 04.07.17 a 07.07.17 | NITROLEITURAS

SINOPSE
No livro final da trilogia The Dreaming Dark, o capitão Daine, o soldado warforged Peirce, e a maga Lei descobriram um plano milenar feito por entidades poderosas que pode destruir o tecido da realidade de Eberron para sempre. Para salvar suas próprias vidas e evitar que uma raça de monstros cósmicos destrua todo o mundo conhecido, eles devem chegar ao coração do plano dos sonhos de Dal Quor.

Enquanto Daine, Peirce e Lei (e Jode) viajam para outras dimensões em seu esforço para escapar da morte nas mãos de Harmattan, eles encontram respostas para seus passados e seus destinos em lugares improváveis.

RESENHA
O que começou com uma aventura urbana termina com uma jornada extra-planar divertida, com os nossos heróis envolvidos em uma trama de consequências cósmicas.

Gostei desse livro final, mas considero que ele deveria ser lido em conjunto com o livro 2 da trilogia, ou ter sido publicado em um único volume. Os dois livros fecham de maneira satisfatória os arcos narrativos, e, apesar da edição ter ficado meio "solta" nesse último livro, com algumas repetições de temas e cenas, me diverti muito com os personagens.

O plano dos sonhos é interessante, mas achei estranho a narrativa se passar longe de Eberron, pois imaginava que a proposta dessa primeira trilogia seria a de apresentar o mundo para os leitores. E a história caiu naquela armadilha terrível do "foi tudo um sonho", que normalmente causa muita rejeição aos leitores, apesar de que, em GATES OF NIGHT, é mais ou menos um "foi quase tudo um sonho".

O final é bem aberto em relação aos personagens, o que, pelo que li em outras resenhas, deixou muita gente indignada, mas não me incomodou. Acho que o que senti falta foi de Eberron mesmo, e pensando aqui com meus botões, a trilogia de Keith Baker tem seus pontos fortes justamente quando se passa em Eberron, com a mistureba de magia, sword and sorcery e toques cyberpunk ou magipunk.

O primeiro livro foi fascinante com o ambiente urbano de Sharn, eu gostei demais do segundo com o "inferno verde" de Xen'drik, mas o plano dos sonhos, apesar de bem lovecraftiano, não me pareceu tão interessante assim.

Apesar disso, recomendo a trilogia pela qualidade dos personagens, o ritmo da narrativa, as piadinhas do Daine, e o drama meio "Blade Runner" que o Keith colocou em uma história de fantasia medieval. Não vou falar qual é, mas quem leu a trilogia irá entender esse dilema Blade Runner doidimais!

Fica a recomendação para a galera que curte romances de fantasia mais pulp ou baseados em cenários de RPG!

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[JJacy1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tied with a bow

This being the last book in the series I must say it is hard to see and rate it as a stand alone book. I will try but there are spoilers.

Overall the writing improves and we see our band of heroes continue their journey in fighting the Dreaming Darkness. Lost histories are covered and wrapped up nicely and so is the end to the menace.

Sort of standard fantasy fair but I have to say that the end did feel a bit of a cop out. Being given the power to fight the big bad vs. coming up with a clever way themselves to defeat the trouble was “cheap” and less fulfilling.

The world creation was interesting but didn’t stand up to the first book. They are in a plane of existence that is nightmares but it didn’t have a poignant anchor to it nor the more open ended fill the dread with your own imagination that good tales of horror give you.

So it was overall a good read but not something that left me much to think about going forward. No moral quandaries or even much looming “but they could be back” or such.

[M.A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baker's trilogy begins the flag as the third book gets underway. It was during this third book that I began to see that he is a skilled world-builder but that his ability to craft and communicate the fine details of character, motivation, and plot weren't quite up-to-snuff. It's an interesting world, with conflict on a grand scale - this time taking the heroes outside Eberron to the "planes" - but in the end, the characters still feel a little wooden and their conflict somewhat impersonal. They become more powerful towards the end, and get a bunch of cool magic weapons, but I'm hard-pressed to say how they changed as people. One character gets slightly less cynical, I suppose?

In the end, this series became just like every other D&D novel / story: something that was probably a lot of fun for the players but not all that interesting to read about in narrative form second-hand.

[Zehavit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to these books I am now obsessed with Eberron and want to play in no other campaign setting. Sorry Dragonlance, you have been relegated to second place.

The ending was insane, didn’t expect Daine to go quite as Iron Man as that. I am still recovering. Lei is one of my all time D&D characters which is a surprise because I am usually firmly on the villain side and she is a main character. It has a lot to do with how the mechanics of an artificer are described in such detail and accuracy without it ever interfering with the plot.

Some of the random elements of this book had me drooling. It was so much fun. And being in different plains made it all deliciously surreal. Non stop action and endearing character developments.

I am very fond indeed. I need more Eberron books in my life.

[Aran · Rating 3 out of 5]

They changed the reader! Brett Barry isn't bad but I don't like that they changed the reader after two books in a trilogy. I do prefer Alex Hyde-White's voice for Pierce but otherwise I just didn't like the change. The story picks up directly where the previous one ended. These last two books of the trilogy are fine but not what I expected. The story isn't what you would expect as a D&D player in Eberron (but the first book was exactly that!) so I was a bit disappointed in that factor. I will be on the lookout for another Eberron book soon.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It needed more...in a trilogy where the story should introduce concepts and build the world around the core of Eberron we were everywhere else but there.
Felt at times it was writing to get from point to point...battle to battle event to event.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, great end to the trilogy - I didn't quite get the ending at first, then woke up the next morning like 'OH SHIT!'

Will definitely be reading more on Eberron and more from Keith Baker!

[José Vicente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta tercera parte, quizá por desarrollarse en el mundo feerico y en mundo onirico de Eberron, tiene una lectura mucho mas caótica que sus predecesores, pero averiguaremos temas de sus protagonistas y sirve de conclusion de todo lo que el autor ha planteado en los dos anteriores.

[Veiltender]

Although I enjoyed the series overall, I feel like the ending didn't quite stick the landing. I would have liked a slightly longer ending, with a chapter exploring some of the implications of the events in the book.

[John Bowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many questions left unanswered. This book failed to complete the trilogy.

[Rylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the trilogy quite a lot, hated how rushed and incomplete the ending was. I know Baker's intent was to tell more stories with the characters and that WotC never let him, but the end of a trilogy should be a satisfying ending, and this was anything but.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole, I like the Eberron setting a lot and I think that the plot of the The Dreaming Dark series is interesting and fun. I give the series as a whole 3 stars.

The second and third books in the series improved my opinion of the first, in as much as the actions of certain characters seemed less contrived. I also found the whole series to be too self conscious: I don't need to be told that every lantern is a "cold fire" lantern. My criticisms and low rating with the third book deal mostly with the execution.

This book (as well as the second to a lesser extent) suffered from bad editing. There were sections were the same thing was repeated. For example, take a pattern like: character X realizes Y because of Z. This would occur and then be repeated a page later as if it had not happened.

The main characters transitioned from "somewhat nondescript" in the first book to "caricatures" by the third. I found Daine a bit annoying in this book.

I think too that Baker tends to expound on the same point too often (e.g., warforged have a unique symbol on their head.)

The third book also felt rushed. In fact, it felt like something was left out between the ending and the epilogue. Maybe it's a setup for more books.

Despite giving it such a harsh review, I had fun reading it and I found the series to be a page turner despite the problems. I also know that this is Baker's first series and I think it's a good job for a first time novelist.

[Chip Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This final book of the Dreaming Dark trilogy is much like the first two. Fast-paced and exciting action in a strange new world with unique and well-developed characters. As Daine, Peirce, and Lei (and Jode) travel to other dimensions in their effort to escape death at the hands of Harmattan, they find answers to their pasts and their destinies in unlikely places. Much of this book is pretty strange, with the heroes actually leaving the world of Eberron and traveling to a world of dreams. A new character, Xu'Sassar, is introduced and adds significantly to the story but isn't nearly as well-fleshed out as the others. This book is noticeably shorter than the previous two, with words spaced out more and in larger font, but taking up the same number of pages. It doesn't take away from the story however, and you never get the feel that it was rushed.

Baker does an excellent job of wrapping up the story and explaining the hows and whys of the many mysteries he'd introduced in the first two books. You'll finally understand Lei and Peirce's pasts, as well as what happened to Jode. All in all, this book serves as a fine conclusion to an excellent trilogy. I look forward to reading more of the Eberron novels.

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The least engaging book of the series for me--I'm just not big on planar gallivanting--but it's done pretty well despite much of the book, like much of the series, having little impact on the part's big-picture. The characters are pursuing their own fates, for a change, and the narrative finally devotes serious time to Pierce, the most intriguing character in the series. To me, anyway. In that regard the series certainly works well as a means of marketing the D&D world of Eberron; who wouldn't want to play a warforged?

Most things are wrapped neatly enough, sometimes a bit too neatly but altogether satisfactorily. The entire series feels very much like a D&D campaign, and this book especially so. Also worth noting was a quite obvious change in the writing style, at least in terms of structure: The chapter grew much longer compared to the first two books. Still unsure what effect this had on the reading, though I quite liked the shorter chapters of the earlier entries. Made the narrative seem springier.

[Robert Carlberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good end to the trilogy. I do wonder if it was planned to go on though. The ending seemed to mean that the author wanted to write more. I know there are a lot more books in Eberron I haven't read, so maybe it does continue. Really did enjoy reading about Daine, Lei, and Pierce. Even their friend Jode showing up in the end was a nice surprise. They travel from one of the continents of Eberron (Xen'drik) to another plain in this book. The armies of Dol Quor are forming to take over Eberron and these three are tasked with stopping them, since they helped create what was needed so these armies could make it back to Eberron. Really good read. I recommend the whole trilogy.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was awful and very confusing. I was very disappointed and it is a shame because I loved the first two books and the charactwrs.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the Shattered Land and reasonably satisfying in its conclusions. The ending feels rushed with the bulk of the book set in Thelanis (not, as one would expect, Dal Quor). Thelanis is pretty nifty, with characters and stories of its own. Thankfully, the heroes aren't separated and embroiled in other conflicts, but the whole aside feels like an excuse to power up Daine, Lei, Pierce and their new drow friend, Xu'sasar. Indeed, there is a bit too much powering up going on, as if the heroes could never handle the quest without all this outside help.

[Matthew Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, the worst of the series. The author retells the story multiple times from chapter-to-chapter through the eyes of the main characters. Honestly, it gets very confusing and quite annoying. It's almost like a page-filler. The ending was equally atrocious and not something that I'd really ever like to see in a book again. All-in-all, a terrible ending to a great trilogy.

[Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ending, breath taking and the end draw near.

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope, scratch that. The book loses a star for the completely lackluster ending and the complete lack of resolution for the characters.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why did it end like that?!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than the previous book in the series. You feel like you want to care about what happens to the characters again. Anti-climactic finish, but an ok story overall.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

[REVIEW TO COME LATER UPON RE-READ.]

[Lucky MBor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Espantoso cierre de trilogía si es que se le puede llamar cierre a eso.

[Matthew Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great conclusion to the dreaming dark saga.