The Anubis Gates - What did you correctly predict? What surprised you? SPOILERS

[Brooke]

SPOILERS AHEAD: Nothing here is safe if you're still reading!



I made all sorts of predictions while reading The Anubis Gates. Some of them ended up being totally off base, and some ended up actually happening.

I thought the Master and Darrow would somehow be linked, but that didn't end up being the case.

I predicted that Doyle would be Ashbless, especially when he ended up in the cafe waiting for the poet and the poet never arrived. I threw out this prediction after I realized the physical description of Ashbless completely contrasted with Doyle's. And then I smacked my palm against my head when I saw how it all worked out.

I was completely surprised that Dog-Faced Joe was Fikee.

[Jonathan]

I was surprised about Joe as well, because Fikee has such a different personality, in the short time we know him, he is relatively kindly, where Joe is quite malicious. I can forgive this because of having his mind blasted away by Anubis.

But when Doyle becomes Ashbless his personality changes too, there is really more of Benner in the way he behaves, he is decisive, active and physically brave.

[Richard]

That personality change is one that I found irritating. In the early scenes, before the jump into the past, Doyle is quick witted (recall where he is tested by Darrow) and strong willed (he comes close to walking out on Darrow moments later).

That didn't jibe with him suddenly reduced to the pathetic figure on the Dickens Docks. I have to believe that a quick-witted and well-educated person from 1983 would quickly recognize some basic street smarts.

But to the topic first posted, I was pleasantly surprised by the twists introduced by both Fikee and the crazed Romany ka.

What I wasn't surprised by was the ending -- leaving the Doyle ka as a loose end as the book draws to a close with the need for a Doyle corpse at the end was just too obvious. I was a bit disappointed that Jacky wasn't there to wander off into the sunset with him, though.

[Cheri Howard]

Like Brooke, I knew from the moment Ashbless didn't show up at the tavern that Doyle was going to be Ashbless.

I also predicted that his ka would be the one to show up at the end and kill him. At first I thought it would be Romany (a future/past version of him) but obviously when he was killed I realized that wasn't the case!


I didn't mind the personality changes, I figure that when you switch bodies like that a little bit of the former inhabitant must linger behind. They even talked a little bit about that in terms of memories, so I just assumed the same would go for a few personality traits as well. It didn't distract me.

[Jon]

I started suspecting Ashbless was a 20th century person when Doyle detailed how difficult it was to find information about him. And then when no one in the 19th century seemed to know Ashbless, I felt Doyle was Ashbless.

The coffee shop definitely confirmed it for me.

[Brad]

I followed the same trail as Jon to the Ashbless realization.