Review of The Eternity Gate (Volume 1) by Katherine Briggs
A.E. Jackson Review Score: 3 / 5 Ravens
How was this review scored?
Katherine Briggs’s freshman offering delivers on its high-fantasy epic promise with a vast rich world, complex characters, and non-stop action. Readers will dread putting down the novel for fear of missing out on the vibrant living world tucked between the pages.
The book isn’t out yet, until then, readers will enjoy getting to know Briggs through her short stories on her website. Subscribers to her well-written email newsletter even get a copy of her Reading and Writing Playlist. That’s how you can really get to know what an author’s thinking…
Enclave Publishing brings this piece to the world. Enclave is one of the leading publishers of Christian speculative fiction. Every novel from their vast selection library has been a pleasure to explore. Whether readers enjoy Christian science fiction, fantasy, time travel, steampunk, alternate history, spiritual warfare, superhero, or technothriller, speculative fiction from a Christian worldview can be found at Enclave. They strive to get Christian speculative fiction into the hands of the fans who love and devour great stories.
The Eternity Gate by Katherine Briggs releases September 2023!
Destroy the key. Save her people and herself.
The Eternity Gate is found, and kings and monsters battle over its legends of treasure. But rumors whisper that someone stole the gate's ancient key.
Seyo, handmaiden to the princess, keeps three secrets. First, she's gifted in fire, not light, and may as well be cursed. Second, she translates a prophecy warning that the gate does not offer treasure but judgment. Third, Jorai, the scorned prince and Seyo's confidant, entrusts her with the key and disappears.
Surrounded by war, Seyo and her companions embark on a journey to seek help from a faraway empire and find Jorai, unaware of the trap awaiting them. But what should Seyo do with the key? Who can survive judgment, especially someone as flawed as her? Will hiding the key—or destroying it—save her people or ensure their defeat?
The moment readers leave the beautiful cover art behind and step into the vast rich world created by Briggs, they are in for a fantastic adventure. The world she’s developed is multi-layered, historically complex, and rich with imagined details that feel real.
The story is told from a strong first-person point of view. The word choice is exactly what readers expect of a character in a fantasy setting modeled after the Middle Ages. The phrases, tone, and tempo of Seyo’s descriptions and thoughts capture the voice of the main character. When she explains her world, readers are swept along and experience it with her.
Briggs has a firm grasp of the writing craft. She introduces the world, its cultures, the characters, and their troubles through scenes of action and storyline progress. None of the novice mistakes of simple exposition are found here.
At times the struggle between Laijon, a kingdom with a past lost to the destruction of its history, and Pirthyia, their enemy, felt like a familiar story. Readers might feel this tale draws elements from Esther, Daniel, or Joseph. There seems to be some combination of the three Biblical narratives fighting for space on the page.
The entire novel is well-paced, with plenty of action to keep readers flipping pages. Thoughts and insightful interpretations about incidents the main character faces are told amidst relentless forward motion. At times readers may feel as if the constant cycle of action tosses the party out of the pan and into the fire!
Themes of responsibility, duty, honor, and unity despite the kingdom’s differences and divisive history are woven into the dialogue, action, and subtext of the story.
Award-winning author Katherine Briggs crafted her first monster story at age three. Since graduating from crayons to laptop, she continues to devour and weave fantasy tales while enjoying oolong or chai tea. She, her coadventurer husband, and rescue dog reside outside Houston, where she classically educates amazing students and studies her second language.
Katherine Briggs began writing at age three by coloring in notebooks and dictating to her mom. Four novels later, she graduated in Craftsman Fiction from Jerry B. Jenkin’s Christian Writers Guild, which opened the doors to writing mentors including bestselling author DiAnn Mills, conferences, contest finals and wins, short fiction and novel publication, critique partners, and friends.
Read more from Katherine Briggs at https://katherinebriggs.com and find her on social media at Facebook(@katie.lohr.334), and Instagram(@katherinebriggs_author).