- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (1 Oct 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340995793
- ISBN-13: 978-0340995792
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 201,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Gates
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Review
'Brilliant. I loved every word of it. John has found a voice that compares favourably with Stephen King and Monty Python which is not an easy trick. The Gates is delightfully horrific and hilarious and will create legions of fans among the living and undead, who will be bloodthirsty for more.' (Eoin Colfer )
'Destined to be another runaway success appealing to both young adults and their parent alike.' (Sunday Independent )
'Incredibly enjoyable.' (FHM )
'A demonic, darkly comic tale . . . satisfyingly peppered with science, history and amusing footnotes on everything from St Thomas Aquinas to quantum theory, and will go down well with readers of Eoin Colfer and Lemony Snicket.' (Daily Telegraph )
'Destined to be another runaway success appealing to both young adults and their parent alike.' (Sunday Independent )
'Incredibly enjoyable.' (FHM )
'A demonic, darkly comic tale . . . satisfyingly peppered with science, history and amusing footnotes on everything from St Thomas Aquinas to quantum theory, and will go down well with readers of Eoin Colfer and Lemony Snicket.' (Daily Telegraph )
Review
'Brilliant. I loved every word of it. John has found a voice that compares favourably with Stephen King and Monty Python which is not an easy trick. The Gates is delightfully horrific and hilarious and will create legions of fans among the living and undead, who will be bloodthirsty for more.' -- Eoin Colfer Praise for THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS: 'John Connolly has a cult following for his crime novel and can clearly plot twists and turns. He has applied that talent to his own life by producing a very different book... a highly original novel' -- Times 'Engaging, magical, thoughtful' -- Independent 'The book is beautifully written ... It is obviously the product of someone with a very powerful imagination' -- Newbooks Magazine 'Charming, disturbing and outrageously imaginative. A tremendously exciting change of pace.' -- Lawrence Jackson, Producer of BBC Radio 4's adaptations of John Connolly's short stories
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I had never heard of John Connolly, but this books sounded a bit like something that Christopher Moore would write so I though I'd give it ago!
The basic story is as follows. Samuel Johnson decides to go trick or treating a few days early and finds one of the families who live down the road (at 666 Crowley Avenue) are not too impressed by his visit. After being shooed away he cathes his neighbour dressing in magical garb and he sees then enact a magical spell that opens a gateway to hell, the original energy for this comes from the Large Hadron Collider which opens a worm hole between there and here! From there we get a wonderfully tall tale about demons trying to take over the world and Samuel and his friends trying to stop them. It's all firmly tongue in cheek and is good clean fun. It is probably aimed at children 10+ but as the father of a 9 year old I also enjoyed it. There are a few scarey moments, but nothing that takes it into the realms of being a young adult book.
It really did remind me of a Chris Moore book (but with the adult scarey bits removed), if you are a bit older you may also enjoy the following books Practical Demonkeeping (Pine Cove Series) and The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror which run on similar themes but with more mayhem.
The basic story is as follows. Samuel Johnson decides to go trick or treating a few days early and finds one of the families who live down the road (at 666 Crowley Avenue) are not too impressed by his visit. After being shooed away he cathes his neighbour dressing in magical garb and he sees then enact a magical spell that opens a gateway to hell, the original energy for this comes from the Large Hadron Collider which opens a worm hole between there and here! From there we get a wonderfully tall tale about demons trying to take over the world and Samuel and his friends trying to stop them. It's all firmly tongue in cheek and is good clean fun. It is probably aimed at children 10+ but as the father of a 9 year old I also enjoyed it. There are a few scarey moments, but nothing that takes it into the realms of being a young adult book.
It really did remind me of a Chris Moore book (but with the adult scarey bits removed), if you are a bit older you may also enjoy the following books Practical Demonkeeping (Pine Cove Series) and The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror which run on similar themes but with more mayhem.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The first book in the 'Samuel Johnson vs. The Devil' series - the second being Hell's Bells (aka The Infernals).
This has been on my 'to-be-read' shelf for the better part of three years, despite being a fan of John Connolly's Charlie Parker series (which is totally different) and despite enjoying his last foray into the world of fantasy with 'The Book of Lost Things'. The Gates is suitable material for young and old alike but probably best suited to 11-16 year olds. Roughly. My guess is that the author read something about the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and its potential to suck the whole planet into a 'black hole' and figured he could turn that into a story of sorts. The tale opens up in lateral, non-fiction style with a highly simplified account of the birth of the universe, and some tongue-in-cheek digs at religion and those who believe God created the earth in seven days. As Connolly puts it, God would have had to have stopped for a sandwich every now and then, and since each day was 'in fact' more like a billion years (give or take another billion), he would have had to make a lot of sandwiches.
Most of The Gates is fiction however, about an eleven-year-old boy called Samuel Boswell, his faithful but highly intelligent dachschund Boswell, and some strangely-behaving neighbours down the street who he discovers a few days before Halloween. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with Satanism, but it just happens to coincide with a malfunction in the Large Hadron Collider that creates a gap in the universe - a gap in which there is a pair of enormous gates: The gates to Hell. There are some rather scary beings just itching to get out, and the task facing Samuel is to persuade anyone to take him seriously so that he can save the world.
Overall it's funny and page-turning with some dashes of dark fantasy. Personally I prefer his Parker series to the Samuel Johnson one, but the two can hardly be compared given their very different genres and target audiences. One thing's for sure though: Connolly is a gifted and versatile writer who has the ability to entertain all ages and genders.
This has been on my 'to-be-read' shelf for the better part of three years, despite being a fan of John Connolly's Charlie Parker series (which is totally different) and despite enjoying his last foray into the world of fantasy with 'The Book of Lost Things'. The Gates is suitable material for young and old alike but probably best suited to 11-16 year olds. Roughly. My guess is that the author read something about the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and its potential to suck the whole planet into a 'black hole' and figured he could turn that into a story of sorts. The tale opens up in lateral, non-fiction style with a highly simplified account of the birth of the universe, and some tongue-in-cheek digs at religion and those who believe God created the earth in seven days. As Connolly puts it, God would have had to have stopped for a sandwich every now and then, and since each day was 'in fact' more like a billion years (give or take another billion), he would have had to make a lot of sandwiches.
Most of The Gates is fiction however, about an eleven-year-old boy called Samuel Boswell, his faithful but highly intelligent dachschund Boswell, and some strangely-behaving neighbours down the street who he discovers a few days before Halloween. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with Satanism, but it just happens to coincide with a malfunction in the Large Hadron Collider that creates a gap in the universe - a gap in which there is a pair of enormous gates: The gates to Hell. There are some rather scary beings just itching to get out, and the task facing Samuel is to persuade anyone to take him seriously so that he can save the world.
Overall it's funny and page-turning with some dashes of dark fantasy. Personally I prefer his Parker series to the Samuel Johnson one, but the two can hardly be compared given their very different genres and target audiences. One thing's for sure though: Connolly is a gifted and versatile writer who has the ability to entertain all ages and genders.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
John Connolly was born in Dublin in 1968 and spent five years working as a freelance journalist with the Irish Times. He's best known for his series of novels starring Charlie Parker, a private eye based in Maine. "The Gates" was first published in 2009 and - given that it's aimed at the teen market - is a step away from the norm for Connolly.
The book's hero is Samuel Johnson, a very intelligent - if slightly odd - eleven year old boy. Samuel lives with his mum and his dog - a dachshund called Boswell - on Crowley Avenue in Biddlecombe. (Samuel's parents have recently split up, something that's still a little raw : the only thing of his dad that remains is a very flash car in the garage). Despite his oddness, Samuel is popular at school and his two best friends are called Maria and Tom...in fact, the scariest thing he's had to deal with so far is his babysitter. However, things are about to get a lot scarier. Samuel has a new set of neighbours - the Abernathys, who have just moved into number 666. Unsurprisingly, with that house number, they're Satanists - and, when we first meet them, they're halfway through a secret ceremony with the Renfields. Thanks to a combination of their Satanic chants and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, a portal has been opened between our world and Hell...and in no time at all, four demons have taken over the Abernathys' and the Renfields' bodies. Their mission is to prepare the way for the Great Malevolence and the arrival of Hell on Earth. Unfortunately for the demons, Samuel's onto them...
A funny book overall, and I enjoyed the book's scientific element too. Connolly has also come up with two great characters - Nurd, the likeable, car-loving, banished demon who's on "our" side, and Boswell, Samuel's loyal, brave and intelligent dog. However, I'd have found the book an awful lot more enjoyable if I hadn't already read "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - which, between the two, was the better book. There were just too many similarities - all Hell breaking loose, the eleven year old boy with the dog, the gags, the Pratchett-style humourous footnotes, even the nods to Crowley...
The book's hero is Samuel Johnson, a very intelligent - if slightly odd - eleven year old boy. Samuel lives with his mum and his dog - a dachshund called Boswell - on Crowley Avenue in Biddlecombe. (Samuel's parents have recently split up, something that's still a little raw : the only thing of his dad that remains is a very flash car in the garage). Despite his oddness, Samuel is popular at school and his two best friends are called Maria and Tom...in fact, the scariest thing he's had to deal with so far is his babysitter. However, things are about to get a lot scarier. Samuel has a new set of neighbours - the Abernathys, who have just moved into number 666. Unsurprisingly, with that house number, they're Satanists - and, when we first meet them, they're halfway through a secret ceremony with the Renfields. Thanks to a combination of their Satanic chants and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, a portal has been opened between our world and Hell...and in no time at all, four demons have taken over the Abernathys' and the Renfields' bodies. Their mission is to prepare the way for the Great Malevolence and the arrival of Hell on Earth. Unfortunately for the demons, Samuel's onto them...
A funny book overall, and I enjoyed the book's scientific element too. Connolly has also come up with two great characters - Nurd, the likeable, car-loving, banished demon who's on "our" side, and Boswell, Samuel's loyal, brave and intelligent dog. However, I'd have found the book an awful lot more enjoyable if I hadn't already read "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - which, between the two, was the better book. There were just too many similarities - all Hell breaking loose, the eleven year old boy with the dog, the gags, the Pratchett-style humourous footnotes, even the nods to Crowley...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Fun For Children Aged 11+
I am a huge fan of John Connolly's Charlie Parker books and enjoyed his 'twisted' fairytale 'The Book of Lost Things' so I was happy to try this work for a younger audience. Read more
Published 2 months ago by G. J. Oxley
John Connolly - The Gates
Great fun! Superbly written book which will appeal to children from 8 to 80. Darkly funny and with a moral lurking in the undergrowth
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. Philippa Hogan
Hysterical
Totally different to Connelly's normal books, more a kids book for adults. Absolutley histerical! his little footnotes are as funny as the main writing, its a must have as is the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Janey
Awesome
Love John Connolly's Parker series so gave the kids book a try. Brilliant writing style an characters, would recommend it to big kids and young ones too. Nurd is my fav.
Published 9 months ago by Sarah
What a pleasant surprise - a brilliant book!
I was attracted to this delightful novel both by positive reviews & recommendations and the hope it might be as entertaining as the early Christopher Moore novels. Read more
Published 11 months ago by MaskedMarauder
dissapointed
not as good as I thought it would be. Book is aimed more at teenagers rather than adults. Dissapointed as previously read the whisperers and found that quite interesting. Read more
Published 11 months ago by lilly
Funny but arrggh the footnotes
I only have a couple of problems with this cute story about Samuel Johnson and his efforts to steam the tides of Hell pouring into Biddlecombe. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Clever Spud
How to fight demons
I came across John Connolly when I read The Book of Lost Things, which I thought was fantastic. This is probably for a younger audience and a bit lighter. (Well, sort of. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Suroor Alikhan
my new favourite book!
this book is incredibly well written, the lead character samuel is extremely funny and engaging, with an amazing imagination-the only downside to having a good imagination is that... Read more
Published 14 months ago by kat
Great fun from a master
Having read and enjoyed a number of John's adult titles, I was interested to see how his writing style would translate to the younger market. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
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