Worth buying second-hand if you can stomach the dreadful cover-art - Rated 
I got this as an electronic freebie from Tor - and if it was on paper I'd have never even considered picking it up. The cover art is just terrible, almost as if it's designed to make people not read it - it's a badly drawn (and I mean *really* badly drawn picture of someone strapped to an eagle with some faux-tribal ... thing in the background. Frankly, I'd be embarrassed to be seen with it. The story itself, however, isn't too bad. There's rather too many loose ends and a few concepts and events that are merely mentioned in passing yet are apparently terribly important to the characters. Maybe they'll get cleared up in the sequel, but it seems to me that a good book should stand alone. Also the geography is somewhat confused, making it hard to keep track of how one place is related to another, and the broad sweep of the story is hardly original. On the other hand, it's easy to read in small chunks on the train. Don't buy it at full price, get it second hand and if you don't like it, leave it on a train for someone else to read.
A reasonable debut, but with some problems. - Rated
Kate Elliott is the author of the highly successful Crown of Stars series. Crossroads is her new series, a seven-volume series which is divided into two trilogies with a linking book between them. Spirit Gate is the first book of the first trilogy (to be followed by Shadow Gate and Traitor's Gate).
For centuries the land of the Hundred was ruled by the Guardians, powerful beings to dispense justice, aided by their reeves, effectively a police force riding giant eagles. The Guardians have disappeared and are feared dead, but the reevers remain, overstretched and in increasingly few numbers as chaos and barbarism spreads across the land. Reeve Joss is given the difficult task of restoring order to an area in the south ravaged by bandit attacks, threatening trade between the Hundred and the Sirniakan Empire to the south-west.
Meanwhile, in lands far beyond the Hundred and the Empire, a Qin warrior named Anji marries a local woman, Mai, and finds himself and his troop of 200 soldiers drawn into danger and adventure, forcing them to flee their lands and journey into the Hundred, where they find the land on the brink of full-scale war.
Spirit Gate is a compelling story set in an interesting and well-realised world. Whilst Crown of Stars was deliberately set in a very rigid society highly reminiscent of medieval Europe, Crossroads is far more original and fantastical, although the two works share some character tropes and ideas. The book opens with a nice piece of misdirection that holds the attention and directs the reader into the story. However, the pacing is mismatched and key characters, most notably Joss, disappear for long stretches. In other places the timeline is a bit confused, with Elliott not being afraid to revisit the events of several chapters past from another POV, although once you get used to it this plot device does start yielding useful information. There is also a rather odd tendency for central characters to engage in frivolous discussions and banter in the middle of mortal danger, which defuses tension from the book, and after a very impressive build-up to a major confrontation at the end of the book, the actual final battle is resolved in perhaps two pages at best, which is very disappointing.
On the plus side, the relationship between the reeves and their eagles is well-defined. Those fearing that the giant eagles were going to be reduced to cuddly sidekicks can rest assured that these animals are depicted as the dangerous creatures they are. The idea that the reeves are policemen and not soldiers is also nicely done and leads to some interesting exploration of the roles of the police and the military in a fantasy world.
Unfortunately, the central threat in the book is left rather vauge and undefined. Is chaos and lawlessness returning in general because the Guardians are gone and some people are taking advantage of it, or is there a much darker master plan at work? Elliott hints at both possibilities but never really gives us enough information to come to a conclusion.
Spirit Gate (***) is an enjoyable and solid fantasy novel with some very nice ideas which doesn't entirely come together satisfyingly. Still, the novel leaves me intrigued to read the sequel, which I suppose is its main objective.
A fine piece of fantasy - Rated 
I havent been a great fan of Kate Elliott's previous work, but I loved this book. The several storylines, the nature of which can be gleaned from the publisher's blurb, intersect some way into this lengthy read, but the writing is intelligent and the story refreshingly different, though drawing on actual historical cultures for inspiration. The main characters are complex, rather than instantly likeable or stereotypical, and are gradually revealed such that not too much is predictably anticipated. It is the introductory volume in what promises to be an intriguing and satisfying series. If you've enjoyed The Empire Trilogy by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurtz, Melanie Rawn's first books or Elizabeth Lynn's works, try this. You won't be disappointed.
What? I have to wait? - Rated
I really want book 2 right now, I feel a great need to continue the story.
It's not *quite* a 5* book but close, very close. There are moments when I found myself wondering what perspective I was reading from but once I got my bearings I couldn't stop reading. I was disgusted by intrusions from real life that got in the way of the story.
The story starts with a shocker, a character introduced as important is killed. However this does explain why her partner and lover does some of the things he does later (including trying to drown his sorrows regularly). Then it moves to a young woman in a different country and what happens when a handsome captain of an occupying force falls for her and offers for her hand in marriage.
There are some leaps in time here and the concept of people riding eagles has been done before. The eagle riders are called Reeves and are entrusted with the justice of the land (yes a select group with special mounts who serve justice, again done again) and they're losing the battle for power. Someone, somewhere is gathering power and some unsavory types and undermining the Reeves. The other mystery is where the Guardians of the land are. Old folk remember them, but they haven't been seen in generations, have they forgotten their covenant to the land and it's people? Have the Gods?
It's interesting how the different people interact and how different cultural differences are drawn, the characters became quite vivid in my mind by the end and I was left feeling annoyed that I couldn't immediately continue with the story. There are places where it falters I found it interesting and exciting. Others may not find it so but Kate Elliott has found a fan.
Wish it lived up to early premise - Rated 
When looking at the other reviews of this book I feel somewhat put out. They obviously loved this book. I, on the other hand, have found it to be one of the most boring novels I've read in a long while. The premise on the cover and book club reviews makes a big issue of there being Reeves (a sort of peacekeeper I guess) flying around on big Eagles. Great I thought, that sounds cracking.
Its not. The action quickly moves to the dull and tedious adventure of a young woman being married off (I think) to a dashing Captain and then going on a jounrey with him to establish for themselves a new life somewhere.
Now, I'm all for character development but not at the cost of a good story to keep me interested. The main character (Mai) is so simpering that you just wish she'd shut up and the story move on to more interesting characters. It doesn't in my opinion. This is the first Kate Elliot book I've read so maybe this is similiar to her others and thus would appeal to her fanbase. I meanwhile consider it absolute tosh and once more regret having forked out good money for a book I only intend to finish out of sheer bloody mindedness.
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