A strange story. The main arc is an adventure travelogue going through a gate and encountering strange worlds. Then the middle half takes place in a slave society thinly veiled the American peribellum south. On of the protagonist's companions then all but accidentally triggers a slave rebellion and runs off with a white "plantation" owner. It's hard to see point -- it's not the character's actions, deed, philosophy or anything that leads to rebellions success; it's not condemning slavery; it's not arguing for slavery. ( )

Abandoned December 28, 2010. I was very disappointed. This was another example of a gate (appearing very primitive, despite its power, compared with the gate in "Stargate") transporting people to other places in the universe. This was the first novel by Williamson I've read, so maybe it's just his style, but I was put off by this book's poor plot development. Important details were glossed over. Transitions from one scene or locale to another made it seem like the book itself was going through gates! I had to give up after the first 30 pages. To be fair, it appears that this novel, published a year before Williamson's death in 2006 at the age of 98, was his last. It is likely not representative of the work of this award-winning science fiction author.

I'm sorry to give this book such a bad rating, but the stereotyped characters, numerous technical errors and erratic plot just ruined it for me. Sadly, there were parts of the book that showed promise, but these were overwhelmed by the implausible action scenes and stilted dialogue. A good developmental edit would have flagged these issues. ( )

A Bit of Familiar Plot:

They call themselves The Four Horsemen! Four academics hang out at a poker game in Portales, New Mexico after some teaching/researching at the local university. Checking out some satellite images, they find a gate of sorts in the middle of the Sahara Desert and buried under a lot of sand. [Nope, we never go to England and see Stonehenge! Oh well!]

They decide to pool their resources and get there!

Comments:

Similar in some ways to Stargate in plot, except these four people are getting the ride of their lives without help from the military or anything like that. Its very unbelievability is its best protection.

Now, the first half of the book moves a bit slowly as the author develops the characters, mostly narrated from the view of Will Stone, teacher and researcher, who is not exactly prepared for a large adventure.

Yes, I’m getting to it: The gate they find is a teleportation device to other planets. It seems these builders built a great civilization and somehow died out in some forgotten war a few millennia ago.

The whole story feels quite familiar with the weak character, the reluctant hero, some light romance and a heavy aspect of racial tension and war between the Whites and the Blacks, who seem to reliving their gods’ myth: A black god and a white woman married and then warred.

Writing Style: The story does not really get to a final conclusion. We learn more about the builders but not much else. The racial storyline is not bad, but does not really get to a conclusion for me that resolves the war. I am happy to report that the slavery issue in that other world does eventually get resolved.

Also, the expression “he grabbed my arm” is used over and over again – kinda annoying!

Ram is the reluctant hero which Williamson builds up nicely. Really, he’s the only character you can really relate to!



Bottom Line: Jack Williamson is part of the Golden Age pulp fiction writers. He wrote The Stonehenge Gate at the tender age of 97. He passed away in 2006, so this was his last novel! A pulpy adventure with aliens, robots and heroes who don’t realize they actually are. Recommended for pulp readers!
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A Bit of Familiar Plot:

They call themselves The Four Horsemen! Four academics hang out at a poker game in Portales, New Mexico after some teaching/researching at the local university. Checking out some satellite images, they find a gate of sorts in the middle of the Sahara Desert and buried under a lot of sand. [Nope, we never go to England and see Stonehenge! Oh well!]

They decide to pool their resources and get there!

Comments:

Similar in some ways to Stargate in plot, except these four people are getting the ride of their lives without help from the military or anything like that. Its very unbelievability is its best protection.

Now, the first half of the book moves a bit slowly as the author develops the characters, mostly narrated from the view of Will Stone, teacher and researcher, who is not exactly prepared for a large adventure.

Yes, I’m getting to it: The gate they find is a teleportation device to other planets. It seems these builders built a great civilization and somehow died out in some forgotten war a few millennia ago.

The whole story feels quite familiar with the weak character, the reluctant hero, some light romance and a heavy aspect of racial tension and war between the Whites and the Blacks, who seem to reliving their gods’ myth: A black god and a white woman married and then warred.

Writing Style: The story does not really get to a final conclusion. We learn more about the builders but not much else. The racial storyline is not bad, but does not really get to a conclusion for me that resolves the war. I am happy to report that the slavery issue in that other world does eventually get resolved.

Also, the expression “he grabbed my arm” is used over and over again – kinda annoying!

Ram is the reluctant hero which Williamson builds up nicely. Really, he’s the only character you can really relate to!



Bottom Line: Jack Williamson is part of the Golden Age pulp fiction writers. He wrote The Stonehenge Gate at the tender age of 97. He passed away in 2006, so this was his last novel! A pulpy adventure with aliens, robots and heroes who don’t realize they actually are. Recommended for pulp readers!
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