Lol why even bother? The writer lets the reader know almost immediately that they can’t get invested in any character whatsoever and then proceeds to reinforce that repeatedly throughout the entire book. The reader has no one to root for, no one to care about, no one to connect with thanks either poor lazy writing or a writer thinking they’re going to be shockingly different. The book starts with action and then proceeds with the same action for the rest of the pages with no character development (which wouldn’t matter considering how fast he goes through them), no plot development, not even any backstory. It’s essentially just the same scene of group-fights-demon over and over just at a different location for a couple hundred pages. Even then, there’s no sense of urgency or heart pumping thrill. Every scene is so monotonous and pretty much identical that you could read the first few pages and the last few pages and still have a crystal clear understanding of the entire book. Also, this absolutely shouldn’t be a multi-part series. It could easily be a single book if written well but seems like the writer needs to hone their skills more and remember that quantity does not equal quality.

This is my first book by Mr. Wright and I must say I truly enjoyed it and have already placed my order for the next one. I had no trouble loving all the characters and really getting in their skin. The story moves along at a good clip but you are never left behind. This was a nice different read on the end of the world. This is story (very similar) my very religious Grandparents told me about. Makes you really consider is your soul safe...

I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5 because of the book and the Kindle edition. I have them both and when I read I like to read the actual book during daylight and then for night time reading I use my iPad. The physical book ends on page 337, the Kindle edition has a few more chapters introducing new characters to the story. The physicial book wasn't formatted correctly. I too am indie author and making sure your paperback looks professional is important. This did not. The justification and word wrap as well as font changes from top to bottoms of pages make it look elementary. The Kindle edition about 300 pages in is as if the editing stopped. Spelling errors, extra words, etc. were everywhere.

No doubt Mr. Wright is an AWESOME horror author, but I'm not thrilled with the publishing and differences between the two books. They were rushed and new editions were pushed out without edits only for one format.

This book was refreshing, in the sense that the market is saturated with Aliens, Zombies, etc. With this book, it is something altogether different and something we only thought about at certain times in our lives or in passing. The main characters could use some extra characterization. I recommend this book none the less.

The Gates has a very fresh concept for apocalyptic horror. No zombies or lethal diseases. The Gates first appear as strange large rocks that seem to materialize from nowhere. They appear all over the world in a short time period. The cannot be moved. Individuals who touch them die, horribly. Then the stones change, strange symbols are revealed by a glowing light from within. As people gather to watch this phenomenon, the stones become gates, allowing monsters to move from Hell onto the earth.

The book follows several different groups of people. There are civilians, soldiers, reporters, parents, and children. Each group has an encounter with the entities that come through the gates. While all are different, the commonality is that they want to survive. The action is fast paced. It is not predictable. For the most part the characters are likable, there is one in particular I disliked but I believe he was written to be disliked. My only problem with the book was at times I had trouble remembering which characters thread was being followed. That may be user error on my part and not on the part of the author The Gates is the first book in a series so the ending does not have complete closure. I am adding the next book to my "to read" list.

Nigel Patterson does an excellent job narrating. I have enjoyed other books narrated by him and this one was no exception. I hope he continues to narrate this series.

I received a copy of the audio book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm conflicted about posting a negative review here - the author made his books available for free during the COVID-19 quarantine, and that's very generous and awesome of him. So I'm posting this in the spirit of constructive criticism, I guess.

The positives: the premise is very interesting, and there was something in there that kept me reading to the end, so the bones of a good story are in there. The fact that I wanted to see what happened despite my criticism below is what I gave the second star for.

But other than that, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading all the glowing 5-star reviews here that declare it an amazing book. I found the characters to be one-dimensional, the dialogue to be absurdly unrealistic, and I definitely echo the reviewers below who complain that the "demons" are really just zombies with a different name.

Spoiler

Especially towards the end where we have bartenders and accountants fighting the hordes with kitchen knives. The same creatures that decimated the British Army earlier in the book? It was pure Walking Dead silliness at that point.

And the ending - come on. No resolution whatsoever. We just stopped after a POV chapter from a guy only briefly mentioned earlier in the book. Makes me think the series was written as one long story and then the author just broke it up every X number of pages.

Because of the reviews here and on Reddit, where I found the link to the giveaway, I may try a different book by the author outside of this series, but man, this one did not do it for me.

The Gates has a very fresh concept for apocalyptic horror. No zombies or lethal diseases. The Gates first appear as strange large rocks that seem to materialize from nowhere. They appear all over the world in a short time period. The cannot be moved. Individuals who touch them die, horribly. Then the stones change, strange symbols are revealed by a glowing light from within. As people gather to watch this phenomenon, the stones become gates, allowing monsters to move from Hell onto the earth.

The book follows several different groups of people. There are civilians, soldiers, reporters, parents, and children. Each group has an encounter with the entities that come through the gates. While all are different, the commonality is that they want to survive. The action is fast paced. It is not predictable. For the most part the characters are likable, there is one in particular I disliked but I believe he was written to be disliked. My only problem with the book was at times I had trouble remembering which characters thread was being followed. That may be user error on my part and not on the part of the author The Gates is the first book in a series so the ending does not have complete closure. I am adding the next book to my "to read" list.

Nigel Patterson does an excellent job narrating. I have enjoyed other books narrated by him and this one was no exception. I hope he continues to narrate this series.

I received a copy of the audio book in exchange for an honest review.