Demon's Gate
Stephen White
Baen, Jan 2004, $24.00, 277 pp.
ISBN: 0743471768

As the heir to the Dhulon throne, Valdar, accompanied by warrior Khaavorn, is sent to Schaerisa to diplomatically pass on good wishes to Tarhynda on his ascension to Emperor. However, inside the city, the elderly sorcerer Nyrthim accosts the visiting duo. Valdar knows Nyrthim as a wise teacher so he and his companion follow his former mentor to a hidden locale where they cans safely talk. Nyrthim warns the pair that demons threaten mankind's existence due to the machinations of a demon-worshipping cult headed by the Empress and includes Khaavorn's half sister married to the top general. His final revelation is that the newly crowned Emperor is a demon leading the genocide scheme.

Demons once ruled the world before being exiled into a nether realm. Now they are coming back to regain what they lost. Only Valdar and his compatriots stand in their way, but can they shut the DEMON'S GATE when the original sorcery that locked these beasts away has been lost for millennia. Failure means the demise of humanity.

DEMON'S GATE is a delightful merging of horror elements inside a classic style sorcery fantasy tale that hooks the audience from the moment the wizened old man intercepts his former student. The plot moves at a fast-pace with action and adventure at every turn of the page. Stephen White makes his key players including a demon or two seem genuine so that fans receive a terrific story starring epic heroes and vile villains that never slow down until the final confrontational adventure occurs.

Harriet Klausner