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The Lost Gate was my first experience with Orson Scott Card's fantasy writing. I didn't enjoy it as much as his Science Fiction universes - but I still found it a fun read and will probably keep an eye out for the next book when it comes out.

What I didn't know before I read The Lost Gate was that Mithermages is loosely based on mythology. I say loosely because I felt like they mythological references were a bit superfluous. Basically, the mithermages are from the world of Westil and their different families more-or-less inspire the mythologies of Earth. I felt that it was a very vague connection and I almost feel like it took away some of the originality of the book - I think the same universe could have been created without the use of Earth's Mythologies.

Danny's story runs concurrently with the story of Wad, a kitchen boy back on Westil. His story is more medieval fantasy while Danny's is more contemporary fantasy. He's also a more interesting and complex hero. These two stories were drastically different. While Danny's story felt more coming-of-age and young adult, Wad's story was darker and more mature - this difference made it a bit odd when going back and forth between the two stories.