The Gates of Night

Eberron: Dreaming Dark, Book 3

By: Keith Baker

Narrated by: Brett Barry

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A band of war-weary soldiers have uncovered a plot that may tear the very fabric of reality forever. To save their own lives and to prevent a long-banished race of monsters from unleashing an army of horrors upon the waking world, they must reach the very heart of Dal Quor. To stop the cataclysm in time, they must fight their way to.

©2006 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Not All It Could Have Been

While I feel like this one has a more cohesive story than the second book in the series, it still ultimately falls quite a bit short of its potential. The first book in the series was quite good, especially up until the end, because it did a great job of introducing you to the world. This one stayed back in the land of more dime-a-dozen series tie-in novels.

I really like the world of Eberron, because of its blend of fantasy and sci-fi. But I think in order to truly capitalize on that you would have to have a, epic fantasy series set in the world to establish a "main" plot-line. These kind of books that are turned out by the franchise are really just popcorn fantasies, and I'm sure they satisfy a big part of the market. But what I really want to find is a series like this that is truly written with the art of the story in mind. It doesn't have to be epic and the stakes don't have to be huge. That was what worked in the first book - we were just concerned with the fates of the four main character. By the end of this book, our heroes are trying to save the entire world just like every other cliche genre fantasy series out there. And it doesn't even sell it to the readers. As other reviewers have stated, the ending just falls apart because it doesn't really have much backbone to it.

If it had been kept toned down, with a focus on characters and world-building, I would have been a lot more satisfied by this series.

Ok but found the dream setting annoying

I found the dream setting annoying. When your setting is in dreams the author can do whatever they want to make the story work but it all feels completely random/inconsequential from a readers perspective.

Great book and series but...

Narrator was changed from the first two books, which makes it difficult to stay connected - especially when words are pronounced differently than previously. Otherwise a great finish to the series.

The other narrator is best for this

The only reason I finished the book is because of what the other narrator from the previous two in the trilogy started. The change of voices brought a personality to the character and he was having fun with this which made us have fun. This narrator of this book it seems was just collecting a paycheck. He had no passion and mispronounced stuff. Please have people who care about the material narrate they books.

Narration Disappointing

Alex Hyde-White is a hard act to follow. His narration of the first two books of the series, involving a dozen or so voices and accents makes it easy and delightful to follow the story.

By contrast, Brett Barry's reading is adequate but no more. It's also disruptive that Barry did not take the time to investigate prior pronunciation of place names -- the change is disruptive.

great story... but.

story was great didn't like the narration.... I need a nother one! why didn't he listen to the first 2 books for the names though...

really wish they hadn't changed the narrator

Keith Baker third book of this installment of the dreaming dark was okay wasn't as strong as his first two novels. the real criticism comes in that they change the narrator in the narrator's pronunciations as well as characterizations of voices is a lot worse in my opinion. if you liked the first two novels of the dreaming dark Trilogy I would recommend slogging through this one to know the end of the story. after about an hour or 3 into the novel I was able to adjust at this pace of the novel pick pick up. mr. Colville did a great job talking about the different planes.

If your expecting an ending that's satisfying dont

Other than the narrator change which is very disappointing, the book is a solid meh. Compared to the other 2 books this one is definitely sad conclusion. This series seemed to be going a lot of places and it really feels like the final thrid is very rushed.

Good, but...

Marred by a change in narrator, the story is good, but much is left to be desired in the conclusion. It's a real shame that a second trilogy to tie up the loose ends was never picked up.

Wasn’t as bad as folks say

I found the narrator to be fine. It was the somewhat weak ending and all the loose threads that bothered me. However, I made it through three books so it was at least interesting enough to keep going.