This is a pretty intriguing historical-fantasy novel.

The first book by Dave Duncan that I've read, it was a pretty good introduction - I liked the way he writes, especially the dash of humour he injects into the story at opportune moments. His world-building is very good, and his characters are interesting. Sometimes the story didn't flow as smoothly as I might have liked, but I was nevertheless kept engaged throughout.

Recommended for fans of fantasy and also, perhaps, historical fiction (with a twist).

So good! I loved this Chinese fantasy! Combining epic martial arts, sword-fighting, and fantasy!

A very promising start

Cool concept for a science fiction story but I didn't like it as much as I wished.

DNF 10%

The story kind of dragged, though it didn't help that the characters were named ridiculous things like Jade Harmony and some other such nonsense. While things may have picked up after the first assassination, I stopped being really interested at what was going on, so I couldn't really finish this story.

I definitely will be rereading this book. I was too distracted with real life issues at the time and the book is long. However I do like this type book and only thing I didn't like was it was hard to follow all the characters.
It was challenging to keep track of all the name changes, most of the main characters seemed to have at least 3 or 4. But I really did like the ending My personal blog will be coming soon at Carolyn reads.com

A huge fan of science fiction and fantasy, I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed. I enjoyed the first part, but as more and more characters appeared, and different storylines intersected, I became confused. I couldn't remember who all these characters were and how they were related to each other. I continued on for awhile, enjoying the scenes independently within the plot, but getting increasingly lost, and eventually I resisted and had to force myself to continue. In the end I gave up at about the 30% mark. I have a lot of other books I need to be reading and I'm sure if I take a break and come back to it, I'll be hopelessly lost.
That said, I believe this author is very skilled and has interesting and unique ideas. His world building was quite good, and I will certainly be watching for future books from this author.
Wonderful cover!
Note: I don't post reviews of books that I don't finish.

I was not sure what to expect when I began to read this novel. The blurb sounded fairly interesting and the cover was decent enough not repel me.

What Mr. Duncan created was a delight. From the first chapter I wanted to know more about this world he had created. We are introduced to this mysterious order the "Gray Helpers" that seem to double as a guild of assassins. There are hints that they are much more involved in intrigue and economic dealings but we never see a broad view of the organization so we never know more than the characters. We see Tug/Silky following a grand plan to earn great wealth and status through his contract with a client. The novice Horse is brought into political intrigue far beyond anything he could have imagined. The Urfather, well honestly I'm not really sure much about him.

Dave spun out a story that I continuously needed to know what would happen next. It could have suffered from multiple POV's, but it did not. There were questions left unanswered, presumably intentionally so, but I am very glad to have added this to my list of books I've read. I will most likely seek out other books by Mr. Duncan in the future because of it.

I am a fan of everything Asian, so when was asked to review a book set in alternative nineteen century China, I said, "Heck yeah!". And for the most part, I loved the story. I have a few minor gripes that I will voice at the end of this review, but for the major part, this is a book I would recommend to my friends.

The Good Land is in trouble - the Bamboo Banner rebellion originated in the South and is slowly moving North towards the Heart of the World and the seat of the Empire. They claim that the young Emperor is dead, and that the Empress Mother hides that fact and rules in his name. And the natural disasters befalling the Good Land in the last years seem to corroborate their claim that the Eleventh Dynasty has lost the Mandate of Heaven - drought, then floods, then unusually cold winters threaten famine on a large portion of the Empire. Then an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude flattens cities and villages across the Good Land, killing millions and leaving even more homeless. The very foundations of the Empire are shaking, even though those living in the Inner Palace don't seem to notice it.

But scholars know that all those disasters are the portents of a bigger event - the opening of the Portal of Worlds, a mysterious carving in the cliffs of the great mountain range that guards the northern border of the Good Land. It is said that once a millennium, that carving becomes a real door. It is unclear what comes out of it, but every time it brings a time of great upheaval and suffering and the change of the ruling dynasty…

There isn't one single protagonist in this book. We follow the stories of several different characters instead. They come from different backgrounds and have different goals and aspirations.

We have several Gray Brothers, the Order officially in charge of all the funerary rites in the Good Land… and unofficially, the only sanctioned guild of assassins and spies in the Empire. Brother Silky is in charge of making a wealthy merchant even wealthier, even though he is also trying to advance a more personal cause of making a name for himself and founding his own family. Brother Butterfly Sword doesn't want anything to do with assassinations, but ends up on a mission in the most dangerous place in the entire Empire - the Inner Palace itself.

We have several members of the Bamboo Banner, from the lowest of henchmen to the nephew of Bamboo himself.

And finally, we have the Firstborn and his small retinue, who are travelling towards the Portal of Worlds in the hopes that maybe, for the first time in thousands of years, the Firstborn will live long enough to see it open…

I loved all the characters, the good ones, the bad ones, the in-between ones. Because they were exactly like people around me - not entirely good or bad, but both at different times. They were flawed and petty, ambitious and self-serving, but capable of compassion and sacrifice at times as well. I am glad that at least some of them managed to accomplish their dreams in this time of turmoil, and I am sad that others didn't survive the upheaval. This says a lot about the author's writing skill that he managed to keep me invested in so many different characters, each with their own small story, all of which wove into one big tapestry that is this book. I enjoyed every minute I spent with them, and even though the book is 389 pages long, I never felt like it dragged.

In fact, I would have loved it to be a bit longer, which brings me to my first gripe with this book - the ending feels rushed and anticlimactic for the build-up we had during the rest of the story. I won't put any details to avoid spoilers, but it basically goes like this: Portal opens. A certain character goes through. The rebels and the Imperial army don't even meet in confrontation, even though they've been chasing each other for the best part of the story. Everybody goes home. The End.

This ending left more questions than it gave answers. Who was the Firstborn? Why was he stuck in the Fourth World for so long? It's implied that it was a punishment, but for what? And why is that punishment suddenly over now instead of say a thousand years ago or a thousand years later? We get no answer to those questions.

My second gripe is with Bamboo, the leader of the Bamboo Banner. What was his ultimate goal, apart from toppling the existing dynasty? He had to know that an army of addicts would never stand a chance against trained soldiers with guns and cannons. Or was he so crazy that he didn't care? Was all this just the ravings of a delusional megalomaniac or was he guided by greater forces? In any case, it seems suspicious that he would manage to gather such a big following in the first place, because he didn't strike me as a very charismatic leader. I think that this whole storyline would have benefited from a bit more focus.

But despite those minor details, I really enjoyed this story and I would recommend it to my friends. If you are tired of the usual Western-based worlds and want to try something new and unique, this is definitely a book for you.

PS: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating premise of an alternate history China with a mild fantasy twist, but it's tough going as a read. There's a lot of great material--assassins, imposters, corruption, betrayal--and what could be a great cast of characters. The trouble is a lot of is that some of the emotional heft is missing, so it can be more difficult to truly engage with the many plots and characters, but I still found myself intrigued enough to continue. The writing style is smooth and polished, which makes it an easy read nonetheless. This makes "Thousand Worlds" a fun beach/vacation read with a novel premise--I'm always a big fan of non-European-centric fantasy settings.

This book was interesting, I suppose. It kind of reminded me of an shorter version of Game of Thrones, set in ancient China. It was billed as a fantasy, and while there are fantastical elements, it didn’t come across to me as mainly fantasy, if that makes sense. The novel follows multiple viewpoints across ancient China over a period of years, during which all portents point to the Portal of a Thousand Worlds opening, which only happens every thousand of years or so, meaning no one actually knows if the Portal opens, or what happens when it does. Under this mystical uncertainty, the country also faces a number of upheavals, from the growing rebel army of the Bamboo Banner to massive natural disasters. Against this backdrop, the reader is treated to characters entrenched in the politics and machinations of the world.

I didn’t love this book. It was okay. The story was interesting, though a bit slow to unfold. The differing viewpoints, however, were interesting. I got to follow assassins, clothed as an order of monks who bury the dead, and the Empress Mother, as well as merchants and concubines who got caught in their webs. There are small love stories here, there’s intrigue, there’s politics, there’s rebellion, there’s unrest, and there’s some fantastical elements, such as a wise teenager who is the reincarnation of a man who’s constantly being killed by emperors and reborn years later. It was good, though sometimes the chapters read like loosely connected short stories, but maybe that was just because I read this in short bursts. Like Game of Thrones, it was interesting to know everything, when the characters didn’t. Just like in Westeros, rumors abound here. I love political fantasies, so I did like this, even if the fantasy elements were sorely lacking (there was a dragon for like 5 seconds, and some magic, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting).

I also felt like just as the story was getting going and at its most intriguing when it ended. As I watched the percentage on my Kindle near the end, I was sad because I felt like the ending would be rushed, because all of the threads were JUST starting to come together, and this is a standalone novel as far as I could tell (and I was correct). The story reaches a climax of sorts, and then everything is very quickly wrapped up and we are given a short prologue to explain how the rest of our characters’ lives played out. I feel like the building that was happening near the end could have led to another book and more story, and I would have been happy to read it. Instead, I felt like it petered out just as it was really getting good. However, wanting more of something isn’t a bad criticism, as criticisms go.

Overall, I had some things I liked about the book, and some I did not. The stories and characters were interesting, and I got some good political machinations with violence and love, which I kind of adore. The ending, however, was rushed, and I wish the author would have built into a longer, more epic and fulfilling story. This book is good to check out, though, if you like stories of political maneuvering and intrigue.

Note: I received a free e-galley of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

4.5/5 STARS

“I helped him advance on the staircase of worlds.”

A pretty euphemism for assassination, no?

About : The Good Land lives for centuries at a time without serious threat to its traditions. Each dynastic emperor rules from The Heart of the World, unseen by the masses and advised by his eunuchs. Periodically, rebellions protest the power of the emperor’s “usurper” mother, who appears to rule the throne; fortunately for the ruling class, the only real competing power lies with “The Grey Helpers” of “The Houses of Joyful Departure”—you guessed it, an assassin’s guild ;)

But the emperor takes fearful notice when the Man of a Thousand Lives reappears, a man who is reincarnated cyclically through the ages to share the wisdom of the prophets about the Portal of a Thousand Worlds. This time, the Man of a Thousand Lives prophesies the opening of the Portal. As the auguries pile up, the powerful grow nervous, for the Portal always brings great changes to the Good Land. Dynasties end and natural disasters rock the land.

The changes rarely favor the powerful. The Portal of a Thousand Worlds is adult epic fantasy/alternate history authored by Dave Duncan and published February 14th 2017 by Open Road Media Science & Fantasy. Duncan also authored The King’s Blades and The Seventh Sword series.

Thoughts : Portal of a Thousand Worlds feels like the sort of book that might take a lifetime to write—tightly plotted and cast, fully-developed in setting and characterized by the sort of raucous, racy and word-perfect humor that enlivens what might otherwise be considered a grim Chinese political fantasy.

The conflict between Emperor’s family and the rebels is the main focus of the book. Every so often, the focus slides back to the Man of a Thousand Lives (also known as the “Firstborn” or the “Urfather”) and his mysterious agenda; but basically every other narrator (and there are many) focuses on the palace intrigue. Most of the narrators are either nobility or Grey Helpers, and from them we learn delicious details of both palace life and the inner workings of the assassin’s guild. It’s like a very (very! Wonderfully! Atmospherically!!) Chinese Game of Thrones.

The story builds to address the climactic mystery of The Portal. Only rumors survive about its opening in centuries past, and nobody knows why. But everyone wants to know, of course—so they ask the Firstborn, who currently resides in the body of a fourteen year old peasant boy named “Sunlight.” But even he doesn’t know much—he always gets assassinated before the Portal itself opens.

So everybody watches and waits, anxious about the opening of the great portal.

My favorite part of Portal is the delightfully wicked and ever-present humor. Clever verbal gymnastics, situations that lurch sideways and riotous personality humor kept me giggling throughout the book. The Firstborn himself trademarks his own running joke, sharing hilarious anecdotes or reprimands about the confusion surrounding past philosophical teachings.

On top of the humor, surprises show up on every page. Tensions run high with conflicting character agendas, sudden tips in power, deaths, magics and all kinds of other ingenious plot twists. I was never bored. Certain portions could have probably been trimmed to shorten the book—I didn’t expect to take two weeks to read this ARC; but every page was honestly a pleasure to read.

The ending may disappoint readers who enjoy the concrete answers often found in a hard-fantasy like Brandon Sanderson’s stories; nevertheless, I found it to be profoundly touching and everything I didn’t know I wanted. I love the theme about how the passage of time can affect religion and public perception of religion. The religion also serves justice in a rather unique way…

The limitations of the female sex may also bother some readers. Life is unapologetically rough for all but noblemen (emphasis on the “men”), in this early 1800s-like Chinese fantasy. Women can gain only a little power, and only by birthing sons; as such, every female with a modicum of power spends or has spent time as a prostitute or concubine. If feminism is a touchy issue for you, you might consider the female situation anything from boring to grating; I took off half a star for the disturbingly obvious lack of strong, unique female heroines. But thankfully despite the limits on female power, I enjoyed the female characters as much as the heroes in this one. The range of personalities is both vast and entertaining. (My favorite character, Horse, grew up in a House of Joyful Departure where females get just as much opportunity and have just as much success as men. He is one of the few males who respects women outside the bedroom…and you might like where his arc leads, and what it promises for the future of the Good Land.)

Overall : I thoroughly enjoyed Portal. The humor and inventiveness far outweigh any negative considerations. It’s billed as a Chinese Game of Thrones, which seems like a fair description. (You might take this with a grain of salt, as I’m only familiar with book 1 + season 1 of GoT.) Occasional short action scenes pop up, but mostly as humorous or dramatic beats. The book is much more about politics and power than about the magic or even the Portal, really.

Recommended To : Anyone looking for a hilarious and political epic fantasy with a Chinese twist. Not recommended to feminists. Slight content warning for younger readers, there’s some violence and a loooooot of sex, haha. I don’t recall anything too dramatic, but sex is probably mentioned on every other page, in some form or another (often as a device of humor).

Blog Review: https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/portal-of-a-thousand-worlds-by-dave-duncan/

Unfortunately, this was not a book I was able to finish.

The story confused me to no end as it never seemed to actually begin and I got annoyed with people's names (seriously; if you write a story about a place akin to China I expect some Chinese in there). In the end I just could not continue attempting to read this.

I might pick this up again at some point, if people convince me to do so, but right now I just could not finish it.

I ended up stopping at about 35% of the way through because I was so uninterested in the story. I may come back to it later, depending on what else I hear about the book.
The concept is really cool and the world Duncan created had the potential to be really awesome. In fact, this could honestly just be a case of "it's not you, it's me." Because this has all the elements of a great story. I loved the elements of medieval China, the plethora of strong characters, and the unique world. But there was just so much happening and so many different character perspectives...I just couldn't keep everything straight and so I eventually stopped caring about anything that was happening. The plot jumped around so much that I just had no idea what was going on. I found myself just skimming the book, trying to get through it without much enjoyment. So, I've decided to just stop. Maybe it gets better later on in the story and I'll regret this eventually, but right now I just can't keep reading this book.

I will say, if you're on the fence about this book, I'd suggest giving it a try. I know that might seem weird, since I couldn't get through it. But like I said, it might just have been my own personal issues and other people could really love this book. So if it looks like a book you'd enjoy, give it a go!

. I’m a long-time and unabashed Dave Duncan fan. I love his literate, compassionate, exciting fantasy novels. He always comes up with fascinating twists and insights into standard themes, and his handling of the material seems effortless. My only quibble is that much of his work is in series forms, three or four volume (or longer) tales, so if I find a book from the middle, I pretty much have to hold on to it until I complete the set. So I was delighted to find this stand-alone, set it Duncan’s inimitably original version of a magical alternate China. Such stories go through cycles of popularity. Barry Hughart published a series (Bridge of Birds, etc.) back in the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings and its sequels have attracted much attention. But Duncan’s vision is all his own, and with smooth mastery of his craft, he draws the reader into his marvelous world. His characters, from a starving orphan to a reincarnated god to the scheming, ruthless mother of the imbecile emperor, are vivid and engaging. While the story lines initially share little except a common culture and time, I had no doubt that Duncan would bring them together in the end; I was not disappointed, for the plot twists and thorny decisions resolved beautifully and with Duncan’s signature gracefulness. A treat for Duncan fans and a great introduction to his work, particularly if you are looking for non-Western settings.

3.5 stars - <a href="http://magazine.metaphorosis.com/review/2017/Portal-of-a-Thousand-Worlds-Dave-Duncan">Metaphorosis Reviews</a><br /><br />In an alternate China, destiny and sly characters bring great events to a head. The mysterious Portal, the secretive Grey Helpers, invulernable rebels, a reincarnated mystic, and a troubled Emperor all play their parts in a complex, puzzle that has taken millenia to reach this point.<br /><br />I've started to worry about Dave Duncan recently. He's put out a fair number of new books, and a number of them haven't been very good. I worried that either he was cleaning out the closet, or losing his touch. Happily, <em>Portal of a Thousand Worlds</em> is more of a return to form, though not perfect.

I didn't really buy the alternate Chinese setting, but when I accepted it as simply a fantasy universe, it went down better. Duncan has a lot of characters in play. That's fair, in an epic novel that covers a vast landscape, but I found it easy to lose track of which was which, and what they were doing, especially since many of them had similarities, and they changed names at the drop of a hat. Still, aside from that occasional confusion, the plot moved smoothly and quickly. As is usual for Duncan, the tone was relatively light, and the characters (whatever their names) engaging. Women don't come off very well; it's a very male-centric world. That works better in an alternate historical China than in a modern fantasy, but that's not how I was looking at it. Every now and then even Duncan seems to lose track of his setting, introducing tennis metaphors, and a few other oddities.

While Duncan's characters and their machinations kept me interested, the book is steadfastly pointed at the opening of the Portal and the revelation of its mysteries. Here, Duncan lets us down, with a fairly thin ending that leaves very many things unexplained. The book works reasonably well despite that, because of the strength of the characters' interactions, but it would have been much stronger if it had either focused on that to begin with and left off the teasers, or put more energy into the finale.

It's an enjoyable, rapid read despite its size and complexity, and mostly satisfying. Duncan's still got it, when he puts his mind to it.

This was a very well written story but I never felt connected... I think it just wasn't for me.

This is a well-conceived, well written alternate history of nineteenth century Imperial China. Mr. Duncan captures the essence of the decaying Qing dynasty and the effects this decline has on the empire. Though not an exact duplicate of the historical figures involved (Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping rebellion and Empress Dowager Cixi, among others), there is always the presence of Chinese culture and history.

This is a long novel, and requires patience. The reader is rewarded with entry into a fascinating and evocative fantasy world, just like Marco Polo entering China for the first time.

A very enjoyable book, though it requires attention to truly appreciate it. Excellent job, Mr. Duncan.

The multidimensional plot line is revealed slowly with a host of characters. Let me start with two small points. The story is slow burning, it does not hasten to uncover, but it is not without action. So many things happen that you, at some points, are unsure where the story is going. It is always moving forwards, but is not an epic in the sense that there is a united purpose. Additionally, there are a ton of characters that have multiple names! I read in the reviews that some people could not adapt to the amount of named or their uncharacteristic aspect, like sunlight or firstborn. The characters also undergo name changes, so I can definitely empathize there. The names can get very confusing. However, this does not detract from the story, as each chapter is a different person, so there is little fear of being confused for long.