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The Death Gate Cycle #5
The Hand of Chaos
Chaos is everywhere as the Lord of the Nexus orders his servant Haplo and the human child known as Bane to further their master's work on Arianus, the realm of air. But their one time companion Alfred has been cast into the deadly Labyrinth. And somehow the assassin Hugh the Hand has been resurrected to complete his dark mission. More important, the evil force that Haplo and Alfred discovered on Arianus has escaped. As Haplo's doubts about his master grow deeper, he must decide whether to obey the Lord of the Nexus or betray the powerful Patryn...and endeavor to bring peace to the universe.
464 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
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3898 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Weis
693 books5,777 followersMargaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 225 reviews
December 22, 2020
The story cycle at last revolves back to the original setting and characters interesting enough to carry the plot out of its unfortunate morass. As awful as it sounds, the best way to enjoy this series is to go straight from Book 1 to Book 5 - you get serviceable summaries of the relevant plot points from the weak installments previous anyway.
3 stars.
3 stars.
April 30, 2020
This book is part of a series and must be read in order as each book builds on each other. In this one, the serpents are using the Death Gate as they travel to worlds so they can incite fear, anger, and chaos. This will allow the serpents to thrive.
I have really enjoyed this series but I did think this was the weakest book so far. This book was like a first episode of a new season of a television show. Things were wrapped up in the previous episode and now we are setting the table for the upcoming season. That was this book. It was a set up book as we head towards the end of this series and this book did suffer a little. The problem was that this book really put an emphasis on exposition. We get exposition on how the characters are accepting their current situation and this wasn't the most exciting aspect for the reader. Don't get me wrong. It was needed whether it was a character accepting his responsibility for his actions or not knowing what the next course of action to be. It felt real but it went on for too long. That being said, the final act was amazing and really saved this book. I could not read the final pages fast enough.
This is the weakest book of this series but it still earned a three star rating. That just states the strength of this series. If the finale of this book is any indication what is in store in the final two books I look forward to them and the conclusion of this series.
I have really enjoyed this series but I did think this was the weakest book so far. This book was like a first episode of a new season of a television show. Things were wrapped up in the previous episode and now we are setting the table for the upcoming season. That was this book. It was a set up book as we head towards the end of this series and this book did suffer a little. The problem was that this book really put an emphasis on exposition. We get exposition on how the characters are accepting their current situation and this wasn't the most exciting aspect for the reader. Don't get me wrong. It was needed whether it was a character accepting his responsibility for his actions or not knowing what the next course of action to be. It felt real but it went on for too long. That being said, the final act was amazing and really saved this book. I could not read the final pages fast enough.
This is the weakest book of this series but it still earned a three star rating. That just states the strength of this series. If the finale of this book is any indication what is in store in the final two books I look forward to them and the conclusion of this series.
April 23, 2012
This one is so far the weakest link in the chain, but it's still good. It suffers from some pretty unlikeable main characters (an annoyingly precocious and evil child, a gang of evil incarnates, and a suicidal assassin). And there's a rehash of the annoyingly simple Gegs (dwarves) who have lost their innocence but haven't gained much wisdom. The previous books had long stretches of compelling reading (so far Fire Sea is the one I couldn't put down), but this one I could start and stop at will. Alfred is absent in this one, which means the Alfred vs. Haplo dynamic is absent, and that's what makes the whole series work for me. Haplo is not given much to do in this one. Hugh the Hand is back, but he's an empty shell. This one boils down to Haplo vs. the snakes in a chess match, and he's shown a weakness in the snakes that has more to do with character than action, which should foreshadow a future confrontation. This one moved the actors in the series along, without really growing them much.
October 14, 2017
This series full of unlovable characters is somehow growing on me.
May 25, 2020
I didn't like so much this one because of two main things:
1. There are too many repetitions and explanations about things that the reader already knows. I know that it was the fifth book so maybe, the reader who was reading the serie during its publication could have forgotten some details but it was too much: too many notes and too many repetitions in dialogues.
2. I was he first person who, after the first book, would have Hugh still alive but after 3 books, I resigned myself to it and his return was too forced. In the third book, Alfred felt so guilty for resurrecting Bane and he never mentioned about another ressurrection (I don't mean he should have talked about Hugh, a mention about another person could have been enough) so I can't help but think that authors changed their minds and decided that Hugh was a useful character
1. There are too many repetitions and explanations about things that the reader already knows. I know that it was the fifth book so maybe, the reader who was reading the serie during its publication could have forgotten some details but it was too much: too many notes and too many repetitions in dialogues.
2. I was he first person who, after the first book, would have Hugh still alive but after 3 books, I resigned myself to it and his return was too forced. In the third book, Alfred felt so guilty for resurrecting Bane and he never mentioned about another ressurrection (I don't mean he should have talked about Hugh, a mention about another person could have been enough) so I can't help but think that authors changed their minds and decided that Hugh was a useful character
December 2, 2010
This is the book where The Death Gate Cycle changes--Haplo has explored all four worlds created during the Sundering of the original world, and it's time to start putting his Lord's plans for domination into action. However, Haplo is suffering a crisis of faith. He's doing his best to blindly follow Lord Xar, but he has seen too much and experienced too much to believe in the one-dimensional view of the world that Xar is promoting. Haplo is also starting to believe that Xar is misguided and just plain wrong, which terrifies him.
I missed Alfred in this book but enjoyed the brief reappearance of Zifnab. I also really liked getting to see favorite characters from the first book, how their lives have changed, and how their individual stories contribute to the bigger picture.
I missed Alfred in this book but enjoyed the brief reappearance of Zifnab. I also really liked getting to see favorite characters from the first book, how their lives have changed, and how their individual stories contribute to the bigger picture.
May 20, 2017
This book was a little annoying. I don't know why. I think it's Bane. That little bitch pisses me off!
May 8, 2024
1 2 3 4
Not much happens in this one, though it's the longest yet. All four worlds visited, Haplo revisits the one from the first book, and the characters from that book return and some loose ends involving them are wrapped up, but not, for the most part, interesting ones or in an interesting way. The serpents that are clearly supposed to be Satan that were introduced in the last book (I forget what they were called exactly—dragon-snakes? blood serpents? the main one is called Sang-Drax now, so it was probably something like that) have also made it through the Death Gate, and they're manipulating Haplo's Lord, who has suddenly always been called Xar, and are stirring up trouble in Arianus, but their abilities are so poorly defined that every encounter with them, win or lose, feels extremely arbitrary.
At one point a ghost dragon god is summoned by some elves, but it's only used for transportation. Its relationship to the One God mentioned in the last two books (but not in this one) is unclear, but I'm now at least considering it more likely that that will turn out to be another dragon and not the actual Mormon God after all, if it's even mentioned again at all.
Two more to go. They're obviously not getting better, but I think I can manage two.
Not much happens in this one, though it's the longest yet. All four worlds visited, Haplo revisits the one from the first book, and the characters from that book return and some loose ends involving them are wrapped up, but not, for the most part, interesting ones or in an interesting way. The serpents that are clearly supposed to be Satan that were introduced in the last book (I forget what they were called exactly—dragon-snakes? blood serpents? the main one is called Sang-Drax now, so it was probably something like that) have also made it through the Death Gate, and they're manipulating Haplo's Lord, who has suddenly always been called Xar, and are stirring up trouble in Arianus, but their abilities are so poorly defined that every encounter with them, win or lose, feels extremely arbitrary.
At one point a ghost dragon god is summoned by some elves, but it's only used for transportation. Its relationship to the One God mentioned in the last two books (but not in this one) is unclear, but I'm now at least considering it more likely that that will turn out to be another dragon and not the actual Mormon God after all, if it's even mentioned again at all.
Two more to go. They're obviously not getting better, but I think I can manage two.
November 6, 2018
Working through this series, a couple of things become increasingly apparent about Weis and Hickman: though they may be accomplished story-tellers, the novel is not a medium that plays into their strength; and, given this, they have clearly improved as novel writers over the course of the series. In fact, it's a little surprising that The Hand of Chaos, the fifth of seven in the cycle, came only 3 years after the first.
As for the first observation, the appendices in these novels are the kind of info-dumps that one finds in role-play game books; they build the depth of the world in a way that is beyond the capacity of even several novels and is often, at any rate, irrelevant to the action and themes of the story itself. This is completely understandable given where Weis and Hickman came from and how they became writers, but it definitely speaks to a failure to fully transition into a more pure novel-writing mode. The information presented in the appendices in the Death Gate novels falls into two categories: that which should simply have been excluded, being unnecessary to the story and even, sometimes, diminishing it; and that which should have been worked into the main text of the story itself, in a more organic fashion. The same could be said for the myriad footnotes throughout the series. In the first category falls most of the information on the Sartan and Patryn magic systems; the attempts to weave the language of physics in general and quantum mechanics in particular falls increasingly flat the more laboured the attempts become. This concept simply doesn't work and the more the authors try to explain it, the more hand-wavingly nonsensical it becomes. It's a fantasy novel, I will accept an unexplained and reasonably arbitrary capacity of some characters to perform actions beyond the constraints of reality as we understand it, but if you are going to try to explain and justify it you had better make sure the whole construct has a rigorous internal consistency. All the stuff about the pre-sundering history falls into the same category; the vagueries of the beginning were fine, trying to explain too much just makes the whole thing fall apart. An example of the latter category is the information about the Brotherhood of the Hand, which could very easily have been included in the story in a more organic fashion and, if it had been fleshed out earlier in the story, could have added a nice thread to the first novel.
As to the second observation, the character arcs, though elements of them retain a sense of being a bit arbitrary and undeserved, have gotten much stronger; the characters continue to be more believable in their actions, though external events do often remain a little too convenient, especially when it comes to dumping the characters, who are otherwise incredibly capable and intelligent, into absurd amounts of trouble that they probably should have been able to avoid, at least partially...
As for the first observation, the appendices in these novels are the kind of info-dumps that one finds in role-play game books; they build the depth of the world in a way that is beyond the capacity of even several novels and is often, at any rate, irrelevant to the action and themes of the story itself. This is completely understandable given where Weis and Hickman came from and how they became writers, but it definitely speaks to a failure to fully transition into a more pure novel-writing mode. The information presented in the appendices in the Death Gate novels falls into two categories: that which should simply have been excluded, being unnecessary to the story and even, sometimes, diminishing it; and that which should have been worked into the main text of the story itself, in a more organic fashion. The same could be said for the myriad footnotes throughout the series. In the first category falls most of the information on the Sartan and Patryn magic systems; the attempts to weave the language of physics in general and quantum mechanics in particular falls increasingly flat the more laboured the attempts become. This concept simply doesn't work and the more the authors try to explain it, the more hand-wavingly nonsensical it becomes. It's a fantasy novel, I will accept an unexplained and reasonably arbitrary capacity of some characters to perform actions beyond the constraints of reality as we understand it, but if you are going to try to explain and justify it you had better make sure the whole construct has a rigorous internal consistency. All the stuff about the pre-sundering history falls into the same category; the vagueries of the beginning were fine, trying to explain too much just makes the whole thing fall apart. An example of the latter category is the information about the Brotherhood of the Hand, which could very easily have been included in the story in a more organic fashion and, if it had been fleshed out earlier in the story, could have added a nice thread to the first novel.
As to the second observation, the character arcs, though elements of them retain a sense of being a bit arbitrary and undeserved, have gotten much stronger; the characters continue to be more believable in their actions, though external events do often remain a little too convenient, especially when it comes to dumping the characters, who are otherwise incredibly capable and intelligent, into absurd amounts of trouble that they probably should have been able to avoid, at least partially...
October 14, 2019
This series sure likes to end its books, while still wrapping up the main plot, with a cliffhanger for the next one. Gosh. Darn. It.
Haplo! Precious boy must protect main character buddy! Your character development is So. Damn. Good.
It was such a joy getting to come back to the first world from the first book. Seeing the changes in the characters we'd left here and what they've accomplished while we were gone. (Thanks to this style of us readers following Haplo from world to world here). Limbeck reminds me of Tasslehoff from Dragonlance. Especially with the way his description of the big machine on his world is explained at the end of the book in the Appendixes. I don't always read the extra stuff at the back, but for these books, it's been fun. For sure.
(Plus I still can't get over the fact that there's actual music written out for songs that are mentioned in the book. For example, one of the songs chosen this time is written for two flutes and a drum like fjafldjf;dkaf;ja it's beautiful okay? Beautiful.)
Haplo! Precious boy must protect main character buddy! Your character development is So. Damn. Good.
It was such a joy getting to come back to the first world from the first book. Seeing the changes in the characters we'd left here and what they've accomplished while we were gone. (Thanks to this style of us readers following Haplo from world to world here). Limbeck reminds me of Tasslehoff from Dragonlance. Especially with the way his description of the big machine on his world is explained at the end of the book in the Appendixes. I don't always read the extra stuff at the back, but for these books, it's been fun. For sure.
(Plus I still can't get over the fact that there's actual music written out for songs that are mentioned in the book. For example, one of the songs chosen this time is written for two flutes and a drum like fjafldjf;dkaf;ja it's beautiful okay? Beautiful.)
November 11, 2009
Enjoyed the reintroduction of the popular character Hugh the Hand, thought dead in Dragon Wing (Book 1), but resurrected by Alfred. Haplo begins to stand up and defy his master Xar, blinded by ambition and hatred of the Sartan. He also shames the mensch of Arianus for fighting and hating one another by illustrating their common enemy. In turn, the mensch, including a human mystriarch, elven Kenkari wizards, and the stubborn dwarven leaders Limbeck and Jarre, show Haplo that the only way to fight the ancient serpents introduced in Serpent Mage (Book 4) is without fear, their lifeblood and sustenance.
This book had long tracts of meandering and positioning, and was heading for a dull 1 or 2 stars, but culminated in some exciting and consequential fireworks in the last 50 pages. The various plot lines dove-tailed well, and even characters that I hadn't cared much for performed admirably, giving purpose to their place in the overall story.
This book had long tracts of meandering and positioning, and was heading for a dull 1 or 2 stars, but culminated in some exciting and consequential fireworks in the last 50 pages. The various plot lines dove-tailed well, and even characters that I hadn't cared much for performed admirably, giving purpose to their place in the overall story.
June 12, 2022
4,25 stars- Dutch hardcover
I liked this book because I got a close up look at the Sartans who had sundered the world and enjoyed the character development of the dwarven main characters, Grundle the tough female dwarf being my favorite.
The giant dragon-snakes were introduced here and it was in this world that Alfred showed some potential as the Serpent Mage.
Chelestra's realms are now being flooded by the dragon-snakes who wish to escape Chelestra through the Death Gate to reek havoc in the other realms as they have done in Chelestra.
Haplo has been imprisoned by the Sartans but because of the flood can now escape and travel back through the Death Gate, hopefully to convince Xar that he is not a trader and to warn him about the dragon-snakes. He also has a desire to find and help Alfred some how.
Alfred and his lover had been at first imprisoned by Samah in Chelestra because Alfred had found out Samah had lied about being aware of the higher power that could have prevented the sundering of their world, and feeling threatened that Alfred had this knowledge, had thrown Alfred and Orla into the Labyrinth.
The strange properties of the water in Chelestra canceled out Patryn rune magic and Sartan mind magic which I found an interesting development.
We also look in on Bane, the nasty widdle kid Xar found potential in and who now calls Xar Grandfather and Hugh the Hand, an assisin hired to kill Bane. Hugh now only wants his own true death and is looking for the only one who can give it to him, Alfred, an exceptional necromancer who had raised him from the dead giving him a strange and intolerable kind of immortality; he could die in a sense, feeling all the pain and suffering of his death only to be ressurected and with an added, sneaky twist...he can no longer kill
. "A hell of a note for an assisin" he said. Things get complicated when Bane's mother, Iridal, and the woman Hugh loves, shows up wanting to hire him to find Bane who is being held by the elves.
This was yet another well-done book in the series.
I liked this book because I got a close up look at the Sartans who had sundered the world and enjoyed the character development of the dwarven main characters, Grundle the tough female dwarf being my favorite.
The giant dragon-snakes were introduced here and it was in this world that Alfred showed some potential as the Serpent Mage.
Chelestra's realms are now being flooded by the dragon-snakes who wish to escape Chelestra through the Death Gate to reek havoc in the other realms as they have done in Chelestra.
Haplo has been imprisoned by the Sartans but because of the flood can now escape and travel back through the Death Gate, hopefully to convince Xar that he is not a trader and to warn him about the dragon-snakes. He also has a desire to find and help Alfred some how.
Alfred and his lover had been at first imprisoned by Samah in Chelestra because Alfred had found out Samah had lied about being aware of the higher power that could have prevented the sundering of their world, and feeling threatened that Alfred had this knowledge, had thrown Alfred and Orla into the Labyrinth.
The strange properties of the water in Chelestra canceled out Patryn rune magic and Sartan mind magic which I found an interesting development.
We also look in on Bane, the nasty widdle kid Xar found potential in and who now calls Xar Grandfather and Hugh the Hand, an assisin hired to kill Bane. Hugh now only wants his own true death and is looking for the only one who can give it to him, Alfred, an exceptional necromancer who had raised him from the dead giving him a strange and intolerable kind of immortality; he could die in a sense, feeling all the pain and suffering of his death only to be ressurected and with an added, sneaky twist...he can no longer kill
. "A hell of a note for an assisin" he said. Things get complicated when Bane's mother, Iridal, and the woman Hugh loves, shows up wanting to hire him to find Bane who is being held by the elves.
This was yet another well-done book in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2010
This book took me a long time to get into. I'd say it was around the last third of the book where it stopped being a chore to read. Much as there definitely is some good stuff in this series, I'm seeing that it does suffer from the self-indulgence that I dislike about fantasy. This series should be shorter, and could be without losing anything integral to the story or the emotions meant to be generated by it.
But anyway. I was happy to have Hugh back (although I really hope they explain his resurrection more at some point. He hasn't been resurrected as a mindless corpse like most of the dead on Abarrach, but he's also not a lazar. He's basically just him, the way he was before, and I hope they explain why that is.), and I enjoyed the further developed dynamic between him and Iridal. I hope that goes somewhere good, although Hugh's pretty screwed up at this point, so an actual relationship may simply not be in the cards for him. I guess we'll see.
As a matter of fact, I was happy in general to be back on Arianus, as I have to say it's my favourite world in this series, and peopled by my favourite characters.
Ultimately, though, this book really was boring for most of it. I've started the next one, and it's slightly more interesting so far, but I do hope it doesn't take half the book or more to really catch my interest.
And I wish that Weis & Hickman had a better copy editor. The spellings of several things have changed from book 1 to now, and that irritates the crap out of me. I get how that could happen, with two authors, and several books between when the words were used, especially in the time they were writing this, when spell check wasn't as good, and maybe adding words to your dictionary wasn't possible or whatever, but seriously? This is why you get an editor, and this is a huge part of what the editor's job is. Bad editing drives me probably even more crazy than bad writing.
Anyway, I have two more books in this series, which I will read, and I'll keep reading Kay, but I think I might be just about ready to back to declaring myself not a reader of fantasy.
But anyway. I was happy to have Hugh back (although I really hope they explain his resurrection more at some point. He hasn't been resurrected as a mindless corpse like most of the dead on Abarrach, but he's also not a lazar. He's basically just him, the way he was before, and I hope they explain why that is.), and I enjoyed the further developed dynamic between him and Iridal. I hope that goes somewhere good, although Hugh's pretty screwed up at this point, so an actual relationship may simply not be in the cards for him. I guess we'll see.
As a matter of fact, I was happy in general to be back on Arianus, as I have to say it's my favourite world in this series, and peopled by my favourite characters.
Ultimately, though, this book really was boring for most of it. I've started the next one, and it's slightly more interesting so far, but I do hope it doesn't take half the book or more to really catch my interest.
And I wish that Weis & Hickman had a better copy editor. The spellings of several things have changed from book 1 to now, and that irritates the crap out of me. I get how that could happen, with two authors, and several books between when the words were used, especially in the time they were writing this, when spell check wasn't as good, and maybe adding words to your dictionary wasn't possible or whatever, but seriously? This is why you get an editor, and this is a huge part of what the editor's job is. Bad editing drives me probably even more crazy than bad writing.
Anyway, I have two more books in this series, which I will read, and I'll keep reading Kay, but I think I might be just about ready to back to declaring myself not a reader of fantasy.
April 29, 2020
Very welcome indeed, as is the series' return to Arianus, the most vividly imagined of the 4+ realms of the Death Gate Cycle. Of course, that may be because Weis and Hickman made a killing in a similar realm in Krynn.
Anyway, now that we, the readers, have had a primer on the four new Sartan worlds , we now know the form that the great villain of the story takes (and, sort of thankfully, it's not Xar, the Lord of the Nexus). Haplo's journey from villainous lackey to anti-hero to actual hero continues, and, truly, reaches a true cross roads as he is to take the child-prince Bane from the Nexus and back to Arianus in order to complete the next phase of Xar's plan to "save" the four realms. This installment had a nice flow as we are reintroduced to old friends like Limbeck and Iridal, and new characters like the Door, Book and Soul. Weis and Hickman also set up some interesting dilemmas for the principal characters, where they truly won't be able to have their cake and eat it, too. They must choose where to possibly succeed and where to absolutely fail.
There's a bit of silly, spontaneous lovey-ness in this tome, too, but it does play a little better than some of the rest (Anne and Stephen is, by far, the best one of these), and given one character's long solitude, makes some sense.
There is a building action here that, while Hand of Chaos tells a complete story, sets the stage for the final couple of novels and sets the stakes much higher than anything that's come before. I'd rank this as being on par with, and perhaps even a little better fleshed out than, Dragon Wing. I've already started on "Into the Labyrinth..."
August 8, 2011
Agree with many of the others who thought this book was a ponderously paced. I read the first 4 of the series in 3-5 days each. This book took me six weeks because I grew disinterested in:
all the scenes without Haplo
most of the scenes with
The lack of Alfred bumbling through everything (Never thought I'd say that.)
Haplo's inactivity during his appearances in the storyline
Bane's non-development as a character
.
The bogged-down pace about 30% into the book cost it a star. Once reenters the picture, the book became very interesting again. I truly wish we could explore more of his back-story.
It wasn't until late in the book that I understood how this piece was supposed to advance the overall story arc at all. By that point, the book had shifted gears and was really moving at a good clip.
Spoilers of things I liked:
all the scenes without Haplo
most of the scenes with
The lack of Alfred bumbling through everything (Never thought I'd say that.)
Haplo's inactivity during his appearances in the storyline
Bane's non-development as a character
.
The bogged-down pace about 30% into the book cost it a star. Once reenters the picture, the book became very interesting again. I truly wish we could explore more of his back-story.
It wasn't until late in the book that I understood how this piece was supposed to advance the overall story arc at all. By that point, the book had shifted gears and was really moving at a good clip.
Spoilers of things I liked:
July 14, 2016
I've said it a thousand times, and I'll keep saying it. I absolutely love this series.
It's the kind of fantasy that I really enjoy, it's intricate, thought out, culturally diverse and in depth, great action, and wondrous feels.
The powers that are pulling every races strings in this are quite mysterious and fascinating- the series always leaves you questioning everything you think you know. While you're going through the story you learn so much, yet everything you learn leaves you asking more questions and craving more.
Seeing as this was a cliff hanger, I can't wait until I start the next one (even though that will be a couple books from now).
It's the kind of fantasy that I really enjoy, it's intricate, thought out, culturally diverse and in depth, great action, and wondrous feels.
The powers that are pulling every races strings in this are quite mysterious and fascinating- the series always leaves you questioning everything you think you know. While you're going through the story you learn so much, yet everything you learn leaves you asking more questions and craving more.
Seeing as this was a cliff hanger, I can't wait until I start the next one (even though that will be a couple books from now).
April 10, 2019
On the negative side, ugh, more Bane. Too much Bane, and no Alfred. Some of the dialogue is still woefully stilted, and the Assassins Guild is such a fantasy staple as to be overly familiar. But overall, we're really moving forward now in terms of plot, the pieces are all moving into place, and Haplo's personal journey stoll delivers. And the book gets better as it goes along.
June 19, 2017
My favorite installment so far, at first I was growing weary of the whole Sang-Drax business, dragging my rating between 2 and 3 stars, but once the Kenkari kicked in the whole mythos of the series began growing at an amazing rate and the whole story just went uphill from there.
September 27, 2017
I have thought for the last 3 books that they wrote these series with a sort of a filler feel about it. They feel longer than they should, however, this one finally pushes the plot forward and finally let's you see the whole picture, sort of. Anyway, let's see how everything unravels.
November 29, 2018
I enjoyed the continuation of the story in this one, but I can't stand Bane. He has a much larger role in this one, and that detracted from how much I was really able to enjoy the book. However, a lot of questions get answered, and a lot of things happen in this book.
November 1, 2019
This book is an inbetween like the two towers: you have met all the players in the previous book(s) and now they are preparing themselves for the final(s). Things happen, a lot of things happen, a lot of beginnings, a few endings, better, clearer alignment, all in preparation of the climax
October 18, 2021
The Death Gate Cycle was an ambitious undertaking and, at this point in the saga, all the different "worlds" into which the original world was sundered beging to interact and all the various factions finally beging to be aware of each other. In that sense, The Hand of Chaos was not meant to stand on its own... and it certainly doesn't. By this point in the story, anyone who simply picked up this book out the blue would have lost the remarkable development of Haplo from "evil minion" to "reluctant hero"... which has certainly been one of the highlights of the saga. It is also a pleasure to return to Arianus and observe the consequences of the first book's plot and to further explore its society (particularly, the various "death-oriented" religions and the inner workings of the assassins' guild). The return of the serpents from the previous book was expected and, although they are less physically scare than in , they're plots are even more dubious. The book has several drawbacks. Alfred's absence is certainly a low point, even though it's strictly required by the plot and his one-book dissappearance will certainly that his return will be more than welcome (both for readers and for Haplo). The actual major drawback is more structural in nature and is something common to the saga as a whole: although the authors put a lot of great effort to provide a rational explanation for rune magic and the actual operation of the death gates, too much information in a fantasy novel can be more of a curse than a blessing. Sometimes it's better to leave some details to the readers' imagination. In the particular case of this novel, some of the footnotes give too much information away and the appendixes actually spoil (or at least give very clear hints about) the outcome of the whole saga. Neverthless, this is a very interesting book and it certainly does its major task well: it brings together the four previous novels together and establishes the premises for the endgame.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2021
Met dit vijfde deel uit de reeks zijn Weiss en Hickman opnieuw op de goede weg.Het enige gemis is de persoon van Alfred, waar wel over gesproken en naar verwezen wordt, maar die zelf volledig afwezig blijft. Haplo en de verrezen Hugh de Hand spelen de hoofdrol samen met Limbeck de dwerg. En natuurlijk de aartsvijanden van iedereen: de drakenslangen.
De lezer krijgt niet alleen heel wat oude bekenden opnieuw te zien maar ook en vooral heel veel nieuwe informatie te verwerken. Vooral een boek van aktie wordt er toch opvallend veel plaats besteed aan achtergrondinformatie en verklaringen. Toch blijven nog heel veel vragen onbeantwoord, zeker nog genoeg om de twee volgende delen te vullen.
Haplo en zijn hond vormen weer een onafscheidelijk duo, en er wordt zelfs een verklaring voor de natuur van Hond gegeven, vraag is natuurlijk of dit de juiste is. Toch vallen er daardoor een aantal stukjes van de puzzel op hun plaats. De rode draad is de onderlinge strijd op Arianus tussen mensen, dwergen en elfen. Die bereikt een hoogtepunt als de Stootstamper stilvalt en alle leven bedreigt. De verschillende rassen geven mekaar de schuld en maken zich op voor een totale oorlog.
De oorlog voorkomen en de Stootstamper terug in werking stellen (en daarbij het plan van de Sartanen voor de Poort des Doods eindelijk compleet uitvoeren) is het doel. Maar of dat zal lukken blijft een open vraag. Er staan de lezer (en de hoofdrolspelers) wel een heleboel verrassingen te wachten, lang niet allemaal aangename.
De lezer krijgt niet alleen heel wat oude bekenden opnieuw te zien maar ook en vooral heel veel nieuwe informatie te verwerken. Vooral een boek van aktie wordt er toch opvallend veel plaats besteed aan achtergrondinformatie en verklaringen. Toch blijven nog heel veel vragen onbeantwoord, zeker nog genoeg om de twee volgende delen te vullen.
Haplo en zijn hond vormen weer een onafscheidelijk duo, en er wordt zelfs een verklaring voor de natuur van Hond gegeven, vraag is natuurlijk of dit de juiste is. Toch vallen er daardoor een aantal stukjes van de puzzel op hun plaats. De rode draad is de onderlinge strijd op Arianus tussen mensen, dwergen en elfen. Die bereikt een hoogtepunt als de Stootstamper stilvalt en alle leven bedreigt. De verschillende rassen geven mekaar de schuld en maken zich op voor een totale oorlog.
De oorlog voorkomen en de Stootstamper terug in werking stellen (en daarbij het plan van de Sartanen voor de Poort des Doods eindelijk compleet uitvoeren) is het doel. Maar of dat zal lukken blijft een open vraag. Er staan de lezer (en de hoofdrolspelers) wel een heleboel verrassingen te wachten, lang niet allemaal aangename.
March 31, 2021
4/5
Sorprendente quinta entrega de una saga con muchos altibajos. Me siento recompensado tras haber pasado por los correctos, pero nada excepcionales, primeros cuatro libros. En éste, el argumento adquiere una madurez notoria e inesperada. Se concluyen tramas abiertas y surgen otras nuevas muy interesantes. El mundo presentado adquiere cada vez más profundidad y complejidad. El final de la saga es difícil de entrever. Sigue pecando de ciertos elementos que le quitan seriedad, pero a niveles mucho más tolerables. Los personajes irritantes suman en lugar de restar, pese a que en ocasiones puedan enervarle a uno. La reaparición impensada de alguno de ellos dota a la narración de un ritmo muy favorable. La conclusión del libro invita a continuar leyendo el ciclo sin tomarte una pausa para conocer otro tipo de aventuras ajenas a este mundo. Y así va a ser.
Sorprendente quinta entrega de una saga con muchos altibajos. Me siento recompensado tras haber pasado por los correctos, pero nada excepcionales, primeros cuatro libros. En éste, el argumento adquiere una madurez notoria e inesperada. Se concluyen tramas abiertas y surgen otras nuevas muy interesantes. El mundo presentado adquiere cada vez más profundidad y complejidad. El final de la saga es difícil de entrever. Sigue pecando de ciertos elementos que le quitan seriedad, pero a niveles mucho más tolerables. Los personajes irritantes suman en lugar de restar, pese a que en ocasiones puedan enervarle a uno. La reaparición impensada de alguno de ellos dota a la narración de un ritmo muy favorable. La conclusión del libro invita a continuar leyendo el ciclo sin tomarte una pausa para conocer otro tipo de aventuras ajenas a este mundo. Y así va a ser.
March 19, 2018
In all probability, people who read the first of the Death Gate Cycle books and like it, are going to want to read all of the books in the series (regardless of any flucutation in the individual books' ratings). Ditto for the reverse: if people don't like the first book, then they're probably not going to want to read any of the other books in the series. Thus, instead of individual book ratings, I've rated the whole series and given a short blurb on any specifics for each book.
Overall, this is a very good series. The authors were amazingly creative in coming up with this concept and the books are well-written, extremely interesting, and internally consistent (mostly -- see below for some exceptions). I highly recommend this series of books for everyone. My comments for the individual books follow:
Vol. 1 -- Dragon Wing: This book covers the exploration of Arianus: the realm of Air. It introduces us to the two main characters (Haplo and Alfred) and many of the recurring characters throughout the series. It's a well-paced, well-written book that's an excellent representation of what to expect in most of the rest of the series. Essentially, if you like this book, you'll like the other six books. If you don't like this book, then there's no sense in reading any of the others.
Vol. 2 -- Elven Star: This book covers the exploration of Pryan: the realm of Fire. Alfred is entirely missing from this book, and Haplo isn't really the centerpiece. Instead, the book is mostly written from the perspective of the mensch and of the newly introduced (and recurring) Zifnab. The one possible weakness in the book is that Weis/Hickman wrote it such that the structure of Pryan itself is more of a mystery than Arianus was in the first book.
Vol. 3 -- Fire Sea: This book covers the exploration of Abarrach: the realm of Stone. Once again, both Haplo and Alfred are present. The characters and areas presented in this book are key elements for the entire series. An interesting book, but not a very happy one at all.
Vol. 4 -- Serpent Mage: This book covers the exploration of Chelestra: the realm of Water. Both Alfred and Haplo are on this world. But, for the most part, they follow separate plot lines. There's a lot of action taking place throughout the book and Weis/Hickman introduce some actual Sartan (besides Alfred). They also bring in an ancient evil to balance the ancient good introduced in the previous book. The most irritating thing about this book is that it ends in a cliff-hanger. The previous books tied up their worlds' activities fairly nicely. Not so in this book. It ends at a very inconvenient spot.
Vol. 5 -- Hand of Chaos: This book returns Haplo to Arianus and the people he met there earlier. Whereas the first four books of the series cover the exploration of the four realms, this book starts the synthesis of the various threads from those books into a movement towards closure. It's a good book, but, unfortunately, it doesn't do anything with Alfred. The previous book left Alfred heading towards a bad end. This book doesn't do anything with that. So, while reading the book, you constantly have this little voice in the back of your mind going "what's happening with Alfred?" Irritating.
Vol. 6 -- Into the Labyrinth: This book ranges across just about all of the worlds of the Death Gate. It brings all of the various threads from the other books to a head. Most importantly, it finally does something with Alfred. The unfortunate thing about this book is that it contains a lot of technical errors (or, more specifically, contradictions). For instance, in Dragon Wing, we're told that a person needs to be familiar with an area to use a transportation spell to get to that area. Yet, very close to the beginning of the book, one of the characters uses such a spell without ever having been to her target location. There are also several instances where the characters COULD have used such a spell, but don't. Likewise, there are problems with replication spells. In Fire Sea, Haplo and Alfred use such a spell to replicate enough food for a large group of people. Yet, in this book, no one seems to consider using a replication spell to produce more of some food. But, later on, those same people are using that same spell to replicate weapons. Plus, at one point, Xar uses a spell to just materialize both food and drink for a party. But, if such a thing is possible, why do the Patryns hunt and, apparently, farm in the Labyrinth? Also, the size of the Labyrinth seems wrong. From the previous books, it's taken hundreds (if not thousands) of years for various Patryns to traverse the hundreds of Gates in the Labyrrinth. Yet, in this book, from the very beginning of the Labyrinth they can see the results of things happening at the Final Gate. There's also the problem of how people at the center of the Labyrinth would know anything about the Final Gate.
Vol. 7 -- Seventh Gate: This is the conclusion of the Death Gate series. Unfortunately, I didn't much care for it. Basically, it comes across as being pretty sappy. All of a sudden, Haplo and Alfred are best buds and want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Most of the various threads are tied up adequately (if not very satisfyingly). But, the sudden push towards liberal "peace, love, and harmony" is trite. Of the seven books in this series, this one is the least good. Once again, I didn't much care for the tone of this book. But, since it adequately ties up most everything that needed tying up, I'm not going to downgrade the whole series because of that.
Overall, this is a very good series. The authors were amazingly creative in coming up with this concept and the books are well-written, extremely interesting, and internally consistent (mostly -- see below for some exceptions). I highly recommend this series of books for everyone. My comments for the individual books follow:
Vol. 1 -- Dragon Wing: This book covers the exploration of Arianus: the realm of Air. It introduces us to the two main characters (Haplo and Alfred) and many of the recurring characters throughout the series. It's a well-paced, well-written book that's an excellent representation of what to expect in most of the rest of the series. Essentially, if you like this book, you'll like the other six books. If you don't like this book, then there's no sense in reading any of the others.
Vol. 2 -- Elven Star: This book covers the exploration of Pryan: the realm of Fire. Alfred is entirely missing from this book, and Haplo isn't really the centerpiece. Instead, the book is mostly written from the perspective of the mensch and of the newly introduced (and recurring) Zifnab. The one possible weakness in the book is that Weis/Hickman wrote it such that the structure of Pryan itself is more of a mystery than Arianus was in the first book.
Vol. 3 -- Fire Sea: This book covers the exploration of Abarrach: the realm of Stone. Once again, both Haplo and Alfred are present. The characters and areas presented in this book are key elements for the entire series. An interesting book, but not a very happy one at all.
Vol. 4 -- Serpent Mage: This book covers the exploration of Chelestra: the realm of Water. Both Alfred and Haplo are on this world. But, for the most part, they follow separate plot lines. There's a lot of action taking place throughout the book and Weis/Hickman introduce some actual Sartan (besides Alfred). They also bring in an ancient evil to balance the ancient good introduced in the previous book. The most irritating thing about this book is that it ends in a cliff-hanger. The previous books tied up their worlds' activities fairly nicely. Not so in this book. It ends at a very inconvenient spot.
Vol. 5 -- Hand of Chaos: This book returns Haplo to Arianus and the people he met there earlier. Whereas the first four books of the series cover the exploration of the four realms, this book starts the synthesis of the various threads from those books into a movement towards closure. It's a good book, but, unfortunately, it doesn't do anything with Alfred. The previous book left Alfred heading towards a bad end. This book doesn't do anything with that. So, while reading the book, you constantly have this little voice in the back of your mind going "what's happening with Alfred?" Irritating.
Vol. 6 -- Into the Labyrinth: This book ranges across just about all of the worlds of the Death Gate. It brings all of the various threads from the other books to a head. Most importantly, it finally does something with Alfred. The unfortunate thing about this book is that it contains a lot of technical errors (or, more specifically, contradictions). For instance, in Dragon Wing, we're told that a person needs to be familiar with an area to use a transportation spell to get to that area. Yet, very close to the beginning of the book, one of the characters uses such a spell without ever having been to her target location. There are also several instances where the characters COULD have used such a spell, but don't. Likewise, there are problems with replication spells. In Fire Sea, Haplo and Alfred use such a spell to replicate enough food for a large group of people. Yet, in this book, no one seems to consider using a replication spell to produce more of some food. But, later on, those same people are using that same spell to replicate weapons. Plus, at one point, Xar uses a spell to just materialize both food and drink for a party. But, if such a thing is possible, why do the Patryns hunt and, apparently, farm in the Labyrinth? Also, the size of the Labyrinth seems wrong. From the previous books, it's taken hundreds (if not thousands) of years for various Patryns to traverse the hundreds of Gates in the Labyrrinth. Yet, in this book, from the very beginning of the Labyrinth they can see the results of things happening at the Final Gate. There's also the problem of how people at the center of the Labyrinth would know anything about the Final Gate.
Vol. 7 -- Seventh Gate: This is the conclusion of the Death Gate series. Unfortunately, I didn't much care for it. Basically, it comes across as being pretty sappy. All of a sudden, Haplo and Alfred are best buds and want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Most of the various threads are tied up adequately (if not very satisfyingly). But, the sudden push towards liberal "peace, love, and harmony" is trite. Of the seven books in this series, this one is the least good. Once again, I didn't much care for the tone of this book. But, since it adequately ties up most everything that needed tying up, I'm not going to downgrade the whole series because of that.
May 12, 2024
4.5 the story is moving forward and more pieces of the worlds are introduced. We return to multiple places and characters we have already met which makes it extra fun. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.
November 30, 2020
Good. There was a bit of a pokey plot but nothing compared to the slog of The Elven Star. Considering keeping the series when after book 2 and 3, I was going to finish to put it in the free library.
December 1, 2024
Not my favorite of the series but the end was satisfying.
April 1, 2022
Pas le meilleur de la série. J'ai trouvé que ça traînait un peu en longeur après un premier quart très intéressant, et sourtout il m'a semblé que deux points importants de l'histoire sont incohérents. Mais heureusement le rythme s'accélère sur la dernière partie et c'est toujours un plaisir de retrouver les personnages.
September 10, 2017
There are a lot of good things about Hand of Chaos. Haplo continues to develop. I like the Kenkari. I applaud the return of Bane the devil child. As well as Limbeck and Jarre. Also, randomly, I like the side character Trian.
I'm sort of ambivalent about the return of Hugh the Hand from the dead. On the one hand, what he turns out to be is pretty interesting, and... I like the guy. I also really, really appreciate that his relationship with Iridal doesn't go anywhere beyond –– his admiration of her. He cares about her but is intentionally keeping her at a distance, and it works well that way.
I do not like Iridal. Iridal is really sort of terrible. Instead of having proper strengths and weaknesses, she just seems to go from being swooning and helpless to massively powerful. Her abilities are just never USEFUL in a sensible way; they're either worthless, or a quick deus ex machina. Iridal is also evidently a complete idiot.
- spoilers follow -
She spends the whole book being completely, nay willfully blind to the fact that her son is not a sweet, innocent little boy. Despite OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE. She even knows enough to hide the fact that she has a means of talking to him because she knows everyone would suspect Bane of being up to something terrible. That is DEDICATED denial. Up until the last gosh darned minute, she throws herself blindly upon his mercies and envisions a peaceful family life for the two of them in the High Realms. This is after he has led her, personally, into a trap, had her drugged and imprisoned, and used her as leverage to convince Hugh to kill the King and Queen. All that she thought was just fine.
But then at the eleventh hour when she appears just as Hugh (intentionally) blows the assassination, and Bane picks up a sword and attacks the King himself... she just outright murders the little bastard. Suffocates him to death, in fact, and says it's "fitting" because the real prince that Bane was swapped for as an infant suffocated in the poor atmosphere of the High Realms.
I mean... really? After all that? A complete turnaround in a matter of seconds. Because she saw him attack someone with a sword in a fit of childish idiocy (seriously, even if the attack had succeeded, there's no way Bane could have been crowned as he wanted considering everyone saw him do it, and he announced his motive as he did. Sinistrad's spell was no longer in effect, so there's no reason the nation shouldn't turn on him, and there were multiple people who knew the truth that he wasn't the true Prince...).
With her magic, Iridal could have just stopped him, contained him, something like that. Yeah, he's a messed up (terrible) child who's been influenced by some powerful and not very nice people, but... it just doesn't make sense. It's so stupid.
Yeah, you lost an entire star just for Iridal, book.
I'm sort of ambivalent about the return of Hugh the Hand from the dead. On the one hand, what he turns out to be is pretty interesting, and... I like the guy. I also really, really appreciate that his relationship with Iridal doesn't go anywhere beyond –– his admiration of her. He cares about her but is intentionally keeping her at a distance, and it works well that way.
I do not like Iridal. Iridal is really sort of terrible. Instead of having proper strengths and weaknesses, she just seems to go from being swooning and helpless to massively powerful. Her abilities are just never USEFUL in a sensible way; they're either worthless, or a quick deus ex machina. Iridal is also evidently a complete idiot.
- spoilers follow -
She spends the whole book being completely, nay willfully blind to the fact that her son is not a sweet, innocent little boy. Despite OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE. She even knows enough to hide the fact that she has a means of talking to him because she knows everyone would suspect Bane of being up to something terrible. That is DEDICATED denial. Up until the last gosh darned minute, she throws herself blindly upon his mercies and envisions a peaceful family life for the two of them in the High Realms. This is after he has led her, personally, into a trap, had her drugged and imprisoned, and used her as leverage to convince Hugh to kill the King and Queen. All that she thought was just fine.
But then at the eleventh hour when she appears just as Hugh (intentionally) blows the assassination, and Bane picks up a sword and attacks the King himself... she just outright murders the little bastard. Suffocates him to death, in fact, and says it's "fitting" because the real prince that Bane was swapped for as an infant suffocated in the poor atmosphere of the High Realms.
I mean... really? After all that? A complete turnaround in a matter of seconds. Because she saw him attack someone with a sword in a fit of childish idiocy (seriously, even if the attack had succeeded, there's no way Bane could have been crowned as he wanted considering everyone saw him do it, and he announced his motive as he did. Sinistrad's spell was no longer in effect, so there's no reason the nation shouldn't turn on him, and there were multiple people who knew the truth that he wasn't the true Prince...).
With her magic, Iridal could have just stopped him, contained him, something like that. Yeah, he's a messed up (terrible) child who's been influenced by some powerful and not very nice people, but... it just doesn't make sense. It's so stupid.
Yeah, you lost an entire star just for Iridal, book.
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