Scott and Jamie are twins with a telepathic link. They perform in a private circus run by their foster parent, at least until he sells both of them to the Nightrise corporation. Although Scott gets caught, Jamie gets away, rescued by a Alicia, a woman who attended their last show. Alicia's son Danny had been kidnapped months before, and she offers to help Jamie any way she can. They trace Scott to a juvenile detention center owned by Nightrise, but when Jamie breaks in Scott is already gone. Jamie ends up on a journey stranger than he imagined, right back to the beginning of time, back to the first war with the Old Ones.This is a revision of The Silver Citadel, and at 365 pages is well over twice as long the original's 150 page count. So what changed? Surprisingly, not too much. At the same time, it felt like everything was different. Everyone but Don White had a name change, many people had their looks changed, and in a few the nationality changed as well. The location swapped coasts: New York's dingy alleys became Reno's kaleidoscope casino town, the island detention center became a desert prison, New York's Silver Citadel became Hong Kong's The Nail, the few good policemen became a helpful tribe of Native Americans. The relationships between characters were mostly the same, the plot was almost exactly the same (though yet again, the heroin was taken out), and the ending leaves them in the same place.So, differences. This is the tricky part. I think the main reason behind the location change was probably the fact that it deals with New York and a collapsing building, as well as having a few scenes in the actual World Trade Center. I still don't like it. The atmosphere of Reno is completely different than New York, and the book seems to go out of its way to avoid the city. Jamie spends most of his time in various smaller places around Reno; more of the original manuscript could have been kept if Horowitz had chosen to keep his setting in downtown Reno. Why does this matter? Atmosphere. The Silver Citadel created a great atmosphere of creepiness; in Nightrise I spent far more of the book wondering if Jamie was going to collapse from heat exhaustion.The characters were subtly different as well. Jamie (Nightrise) never gave off the same vibe of dependence that Nicholas (Citadel) did, nor did I feel the same desperation for Scott (Nightrise) as I did for Jeremy (Citadel). Perhaps because Jamie actually went out and did a few things on his own, whereas Nicholas was afraid of virtually everything. Alicia is much nicer than Linda, and unlike Linda, has a personal connection to the case with the kidnapping of her own son. Bob's equivalent seems to be the presidential candidate, John Trelawny, who is way too nice to be believable as a politician. Oh, and Will, the last of the Five, who was briefly mentioned in Silver Citadel, was changed to a girl. Different does not have to mean bad, but in this case I don't think it added enough to the story to replace what it took away.Susan Mortlake does a terrible job as a villain. Her name is an obvious reference to death, unlike the subtler (and funnier) Evelyn Carnitt. Susan's main bad points seem to be her ugliness and the fact that she doesn't mind ordering people to kill other people. She has nowhere near the role Evelyn did, and frankly, none of the power. Evelyn was an evil dark sorceress, possibly one of the lesser Old Ones. Susan was an old lady whose power lay in the fact that everyone was going to listen to her. And that took a lot of the fun out. Instead of running from undead horsemen and panther statues brought to life, Jamie is dodging one man with a gun and eventually the cops. Nightrise may have tension, but it lacks the distinctly supernatural element pervading The Silver Citadel.So with the heroin gone, Jamie gets his ride to the past (view spoiler)[through a bullet to the back (hide spoiler)]
NightriseBy Anthony HorowitzFantasy368 pagesFinished December 8, 2012.Nightrise is the story of two twins, and how one risks their life for another. Scott and Jamie are 14 year old twins who are part of a show in Reno, Nevada. After performing their act, Scott is kidnapped by Nightrise, a company trying to kidnap all of the Gatekeepers. Jamie is saved by Alicia Mcguire, a middle-aged woman who is trying to save her son Daniel, who was also kidnapped by Nightrise. Many bad things happen to Jamie, but all he can think about is saving Jamie. While trying to rescue Scott from a prison, he is shot in the back. He is transported back 10,000 years to when the Old Ones came to the world. There, he helps defeat the Old Ones and then is sent back to the normal world. Too late to save Scott, Jamie heads to Auburn to save John Trelawny, the candidate for president. Scott and Jamie are Gatekeepers and can read others mines, and force other people to do things they don't want to. Scott commands Warren Cornfield to kill John Trelawny, but Jamie stops Warren Cornfield. The book ends with Scarlett Adams, the fifth Gatekeeper, boarding a plane in London, and John Trelawny losing the presidential election because almost all the computers that counted the vote were all made by Nightrise.Some parts of this book made no sense at first, like Jamie was suddenly teleported back 10,000 years when he died. Later, it is explained that Sapling, Jamie's 10,000 year back version, died and Jamie was forced to go there in his place. Another part I don't get, is why would people want to serve the Old Ones if they would be killed by them? Another part I don't like is when John Trelawny almost gets assassinated. The book says "The security man was staring into space, unable to stop himself. Nobody else had seen him. Everyone was watching Trelawny and the mayor.". In real life, if someone was sticking a gun out, lots of people would have seen it. I really like this book because the main characters don't use their magic to fight all the time. For example, in the final battle 10,000 years ago, they use swords and shields to fight the Old Ones instead of using magic until the very end. This makes it less of a book where the main character thinks the enemy is dead and they are dead like Daniel X. Overall, this book was very good, but some details were over-exaggerated to make the story sound better.
What do You think about Nightrise (2007)?
Bk 3 in the Gatekeepers series, this book introduces 2 new characters--14 y.o. psychic twins Jamie and Scott. They get caught up in a chase to stay alive after they escape the sleazy mindreading act they were forced to perform in--thugs from the evil Nightrise Corporation kidnap Scott, and Jamie is determined to find him, even if it means going to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Nonstop action. Eventually they meet up with Matt from books 1 and 2, as they travel to an alternate world in the middle of a war.
—Christina
I always find it interesting to see what foreign authors think of the United States. We’ve done a lot of bad things in our past, and arguably in our present, too, so it’s interesting how these things look from an outside perspective. I’d be pleased to see that Anthony Horowitz’s interpretation of the United States is almost spot on – if the interpretation wasn’t dark to the max. Nightrise is a pre-dystopian story, from that point in society where the dark empire is just being set up and can, potentially, be taken down. Unfortunately, while there are fantasy elements to this story, a larger chunk of it than I’d prefer is depressingly realistic. Obviously, what’s not realistic is the ability that the main character, Jamie Tyler has. He’s a telepath and is forced, along with his twin brother Scott, who has the same powers, into performing in a glorified circus act by his sadistic “Uncle” Don. His life takes a turn for the deadlier when he’s attacked by the evil Nightrise Corporation, who kidnap Scott, kill Don, and frame Jamie for the crime. Jamie has to team up with some new, surprising allies in order to rescue Scott, because the stakes are higher than he thinks: both boys are Gatekeepers, destined to defeat the malevolent Old Ones. This is sort of a prequel novel, in that it takes place around the exact same time as the second one. Hence, anyone hoping to get a resolution to the major cliffhanger from Evil Star will be more or less disappointed. I particularly admire the way that Horowitz makes his horror realistic in this volume. Previous narratives have involved sinister witches, dark magic spells, and other instances of horror from the fantasy realm. But the true horrors of this book exist in the real world. Immoral corporations exist in the real world (even if they’re not in league with cosmic horrors – that we know of). Privatized prisons where prisoners receive ill treatment in the real world. And so on. Even if the state of the United States today is slightly exaggerated, enough of it is true to make Nightrise a particularly dark tale. Horowitz also deserves credit for creating interesting, extremely intimidating antagonists, even if their motivations are a smidgeon nebulous. Nightrise agents, especially the pitiless Susan Mortlake, seem to be able to strike anywhere at any time. They wield vast levels of influence and seem to have nearly unlimited resources. This is an enemy that people can relate to, unlike evil spirits and cabals of sorcerers. Nightrise is a fine, if terrifying look, at a world that is about to explode. And what’s even more terrifying is the fact that it is more or less our own. Horowitz, one of the undisputed masters of the thriller genre, does an amazing job of showing one boy’s journey to defeat the forces of evil and rescue his brother. And the story benefits immensely from the smaller, but no less terrifying focus.
—Joshua
tRew WolowicttNightrisetAnthony HorowitztI rate this book a 5 out of 5 this was a great book. I rated this a 5 because this book was an adventure, suspense, and action and it gives great detail about the setting. The book is about two extraordinary kids named Jamie, and Scott that can read minds and perform in a act. They see two people that look suspicious at there shows then later that night they two people captured Scott but a girl named Alicia saved Jamie from being captured. So Jamie and Alicia go on a hunt to save Scott and Alicia’s son who was captured by the same people. Then the Nightrise Corporation who captured Scott and Alicia’s son put a warrant on Jamie for the Murder of two people he did not kill. Jamie went into the Nightrise Corporation to get into the head of one of the guys that took Scott Then he thinks he found out where Scott is. Alicia and Jamie get help to find Scott and her son from a guy running for president. They put Jamie in a prison to help and find out where Scott and Alicia’s son are if they are in that prison. The prison has two sides to it one for the prisoners and one for the “psycho” people which seems to be another name for the kids with extraordinary talents like Scott, Jamie and Alicia’s son. So will Jamie and Scott get out will they survive or will they die?
—Rew
