In early December in one of my Status Update posts, you may have caught a true hint regarding my feelings about City of Light after I finished it.

I understand the desire to leave things open for a follow-on series, but it’s frustrating when you think a plotline has been introduced to be a big dramatic twist and nothing happens.” It’s bad enough when one book in a series doesn’t have a complete plot arc, but it’s much more important for a trilogy to have one. It also suffers a bit from all of the main characters being too powerful – as we discovered in the Matrix sequels, watching invincible supermen punch each other to no effect gets boring after a while. Finally, I was irritated a bit by the fact that not everything was tied up by the end of the book. Sure it’s the climax, sure they’re at war, but still it felt like somebody was always fighting with someone else, with only brief interludes for plot and character development. John Munro of Wizard’s Blog states: “ Something that was an issue in the second book is worse in this one – it’s almost completely fight scenes. What this world needs is redemption and forgiveness. Surprisingly, in a world gone mad with power and thirst for vengeance, there is redemption to be had.” Everyone has had more justice than they can handle. And why the rebel city of Enosh was trying to free them. In the end, it turns out that many of the fateful decisions made had some justice behind them. And for that, I salute him. We also see a great many pieces fall into place, explaining why Elysia and Ragnarus are warring with one another, and why the Incarnations were trapped within the bloody trees of Ragnarus.

Thus, Wight has ended the story at the place where the story should be ended. Which also means that Simon has become a man, and the nature of the problems he faces will be different in the future. But Simon has completed the hero’s journey, and the cycle is now complete.

I admire his focus, there are clearly more stories in this world that can be told. It doesn’t help that Will Wight has given his book the same title as another novel released in 1999…īenjamin Espen of With Both Hands says: “ In City of Light, Will Wight finishes what he started. First, some reviews around the Web, which weren’t easy to find other than Amazon or Goodreads. So would City of Light return to form, stay the course, or fall flat? Read on to find out, but beware of spoilers. I liked the first book, House of Blades, but I thought the sequel, The Crimson Vault, suffered from some problems, and though it wasn’t bad, I didn’t think it was as good as the first book. One sentence synopsis: Simon, Leah, and Alin must battle Incarnations to protect the kingdom.Ĭity of Light is the third book in The Traveler’s Gate series. Format: oversized paperback, 1st edition, 2014

The traveler's gate trilogy