Conhecido pelo seu sucesso, Alex Rider, que depois de sucesso em livro passou a sucesso no grande ecrã, Anthony Horowitz tornou-se um dos nomes da literatura YA. Mais tarde decidiu alterar o seu tipo de livro e, de adolescentes formados em espiões, decidiu dedicar-se a adolescentes envolvidos com Males maiores em que rituais satânicos e a caça às bruxas se tornam uma realidade. Num registo mais obscuro, em que o medo pode assaltar o leitor em cada página, o autor criou a série The Gatekeepers, sendo este o seu primeiro volume e que repetiu o sucesso da sua série anterior.Este é o tipo de livro que não habita a minha estante pelo simples motivo que não tem nada a ver comigo e, o facto de este estar, é uma simples coincidência, ou melhor, uma promoção aproveitada de forma nada pensada. Desde aí, o livro tem estado a espera que eu ganhasse coragem para ler estas míseras 240 páginas e tirasse a dúvida se gosto ou não deste género porque apesar de eu fugir dos filmes de terror, os livros são diferentes. E cheguei à conclusão que eu fujo do terror sim mas também fujo dos clichés como “o diabo da cruz”.A verdade é que este livro não é outra coisa senão uma reunião de clichés bastante rasca e, ainda por cima, daqueles que eu já não posso mesmo ver à frente, o que fez com que esta fosse uma leitura hostil que me ensinou a evitar aquilo que sei que não gosto porque, às vezes, não vale a pena dar segundas oportunidades e estar a torturar-nos com algo que não gostámos nem nunca vamos gostar. Pelo menos enquanto me lembrar deste.O Portão do Corvo é um livro pequeno e inicia uma trilogia, logo à partida, já não é um livro com muita informação e tem uma data de mistérios que só vão ser resolvidos nos próximos volumes, mas o autor podia ter tido o cuidado de nos dar pequenas linhas de conhecimento para nos orientar ao longo da trama e isso ao acontece. Somos atirados para algo sem sentido, sem explicações, detalhes, profecias bem feitas, ou o que quer que seja. A história está aí e se quiserem deslindem-na porque apesar da escrita até rápida e fácil de Horowitz, temos praticamente diálogos e descrições que pretendem ser assustadoras e que nos deixam com um grande sentimento de “eu já li/vi isto em algum lado”. O enredo em si é conjugação de clichés como por exemplo, uma aldeia inteira que afinal são um bando de satânicos e precisam de fazer um sacrifício de sangue para acordar um Mal maior e temos também uma sociedade secreta que é suposto impedi-los mas acaba por não fazer nada. Chato, repetitivo e enervou-me até a ponta dos cabelos. Contudo, acaba por ser a informação inoportuna ou não aproveitada que nos tira do sério pois não faz qualquer sentido na história que estamos a ler. Continuo sem perceber para que passar o livro todo a falar de uma coisa que não é explicada, nos deixa perdidos e a espera que algo aconteça quando nada acontece.No meio de tanta coisa “má” houve uma que me despertou a curiosidade: a união entra a ciência e a religião que o escritor implica nos rituais, ambas expressas no seu suposto lado mau, dão algo de inovador e que devia ter sido melhor explorada e teria contribuído muito para o livro.Sem ser isso, é um livro com uma história igual a de todos outros sem uma qualidade por aí além. Definitivamente, não fiquei fã nem do género, nem da série nem do autor. http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.pt...
Reviewed by Spreeha for TeensReadToo.comDo you believe in witches or the Old Ones? Matt has been accused of committing a crime which actually he really didn't do. So now he has a choice to either go to jail or stay with an old lady named Mrs. Deverill in a remote area called Lesser Malling because of the government's new law called the LEAF Project. Matt should have chosen jail because he will soon find out that someone is planning something there at Lesser Malling, and Matt is in the middle of all the commotion. Matt's past hasn't been the best. His parents died in a car crash six years ago and he has been living with his mom's stepsister, who doesn't necessarily treat him very well. But Matt has discovered that he has some kind of weird magical power--but doesn't know what it is. When he gets to Mrs. Deverill's house he isn't treated in the best way possible. Even though he thinks the food is good he has to do chores and basically clean up all of Mrs. Deverill's property. After a while he has had enough of this bizarre nonsense and wants to leave, because this was supposed to be a volunteer act. But when he tries to take a bike out to the main road back to Greater Malling and then back to London, every road he takes just brings him back to the place he started from. Well, he went home after that, and thought that he'd try the next day. When coming back to the same spot, a guy named Tom Burgess appears and says he wants to help Matt out because this isn't a safe place to be. He also says that he will explain everything tomorrow at his farm, but what Matt doesn't know is that he will find Tom dead the next day. After Tom's death things got even worse. Mrs. Deverill starts to come out more strongly and everyone that tries to help him get out of this creepy place just ends up dead. Is Matt's new helper bound to turn up dead, too? Find out! Read the book. I think this book is incredible!! Once you start reading you can't stop! This book has a twist at every turn. I recommend this book to anybody interested in books like the Harry Potter series--it's just so magnificent!!
What do You think about Raven's Gate (2006)?
What possessed me to read this book?Well, a couple years back i saw a couple of episodes of a series called Foyle's War.The screenwriter was (is) Horowitz.I was so impressed with it, that i took advantage of a Huge promotion to buy this book!*Facepalm*I now understand why it, and the following books are for sale at such low prices....Imagine a mesh of all the fantasy and horror clichés you've ever read or heard about...yes?That's what Raven's Gate is.Characters with no depth. A story less than original and written without the slight finesse. The words and (basic) descriptions are just dumped on the paper.Basically this reads as a draft, or a screenplay ( i imagine..).Ideas perpetuated with this book: Witches are evil. Witchcraft is the same as Satanism...He probably never heard of Wicca....Oh, and reaching the end there's this pearl:The medieval witch splits throats. The twenty-first century witch splits atoms. Tonight we shall do both.”Really?Idiot me. My idea was that women who were considered witches in the medieval times were slaughtered by a number of methods: Fire, drowning...Oh, and is the author calling witches to women scientists? O_OHere's an excerpt of an interview that the author gave to Teenreads: TRC: You've stated that The Gatekeepers series is your answer to Narnia, Lord of the Rings and other fantasy heavyweights. How much have these other works inspired you?AH: I loved these books when I was growing up and always wanted to write an epic fantasy series...but one set in the real world. There are elements of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis in The Gatekeepers, perhaps because I'm using some of the same sources (mythology, religion, ancient history). Writing battle scenes, it's very hard to do better than Tolkien --- particularly with Peter Jackson's wonderful films in mind."better than Tolkien"...right...NO!! Read more here: TeenreadsRecommended to: No oneImagination.We love to hear from you :)Author Official Site
—Susana
I am very disappointed that this is considered a Young adult book. My children discovered this book in their Elementary library. I have read a few Alex Rider Books because my children were interested in reading them. As I read the Alex Rider series, I felt the issues were too mature for children. I felt they were extremely disturbing based on the violent themes and imagery.I found my 9 year old son reading Raven's Gate and decided I needed to review it before he was allowed to read it. He only made it through 2 chapters before I got a hold of the book. How grateful I am that I decided to start reading this book. The book starts off glorifying crime and giving into peer pressure related to stealing. It appears to be OK to steal if you want something or need money.But that was only the beginning. This book dealt a great deal with witchcraft and Satanic worship. I often had a very sick feeling when bad things were going to happen. I found it disturbing how it described someone waking up after being tranquilized and how it felt to be unable to move or cry out. Not to mention a pool of blood & horrific circumstances.The main character, a teenager, is given to a "woman" who is more like a demon than a woman, full of power so strong she can convince people to kill themselves or scare you so bad you wished you were dead.This book is about witches and witchcraft, devil worship and demons. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILDREN TO READ IT.I strongly suggest this book be removed from children's reading and be categorized under horror and demon worship. I will Never allow another one of my 5 children to read an Anthony Horowitz book again. I am disgusted and sickened by his writing style and desire to introduce children to such disturbing imagery.
—Aaron
First off, i want to say that i read first Necropolis which is the book 4 in this fabulous series. The gatekeepers is sooo awesome!!, it has supernatural events, suspense, action, it's thrilling, it's so wonderful, i love it.Even though i first read the book 4 in the series, i could perfectly get into the story, Anthony Horowitz, explains there some things that happened in the previous books, so that if someone like me happened to commit the mistake of reading the 4th book first instead of starting since the beginning could understand the idea of the series. Also, even though he explains things from the previous books, when i decided to read the first three books i didn't feel like i was totally spoiled, i enjoyed each and every one of them because the plot is just so unexpected in every book.The story in this particular book, Raven's gate, takes place in London, where you get to know Matt, a normal kid who gets involved in some trouble and ends up arrested. so he has to decide whether he wants to go to jail or take part in what they call the LEAF project. After he makes his decision he started to get aware of some things that were happening there, and he gets to know that he's special, that he's not just a normal kid, but he's part of something else, something bigger.The story is fantastic, i think everyone should give it a try, this is a series i absolutely adore, and i wish more people knew about.
—Erika
