View source for The Traitor's Gate: The Nowhere Chronicles Book 2 by Sarah Silverwood

{{infobox1
|title=The Traitor's Gate: The Nowhere Chronicles Book 2
|sort= Traitor's Gate: The Nowhere Chronicles Book 2
|author=Sarah Silverwood
|reviewer=Nigethan Sathiyalingam
|genre=Teens
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781780620657
|pages=326
|publisher=Indigo
|date=March 2012
|website=http://sarahsilverwood.wordpress.com/
|summary=If you're looking for some edgy high action urban fantasy then you will love ''The Traitor's Gate''. 
|cover=1780620659
|aznuk=1780620659
|aznus=1780620659
}}
There is a storm coming, a storm of rage and fury and chaos.  The friendship between Fin, Christopher and Joe, which held strong through their last adventure, is breaking down as Joe, now a holder of two of the five stories that hold the worlds together, finds his mind being warped by the stories and their uncontrollable power. The Knights of Nowhere, inter-world peacekeepers with the ability to pass between the worlds of Somewhere and Nowhere, barely have time to initiate a few new members to their dwindling force before they find themselves pushed to their limits, simultaneously dealing with something that is attacking people at random and causing madness, and the implications of the Prophecy, which heralds a war to end all wars. All his life people have called Fin special, for some reason unknown to him, and perhaps unknown to them. However, when Fin finally learns the true nature of his parents, his very existence is shaken to the core, and he suddenly finds himself questioning everything he previously believed in.  

I reviewed the first book in the series, [[The Nowhere Chronicles: The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood|The Double-Edged Sword]], well over a year ago, so it took me a little while to regain my feel for the setting and the characters. However, almost from the first page I was caught up by the sense of impending doom. The conclusion to ''The Double-Edged Sword'' foreshadowed future troubles, and here in ''The Traitor's Gate'', everything is really coming to a head. The author really doesn't hold back with the violence and cruelty, caused by the Rage, a fury that rapidly spreads over both worlds as a precursor to the Storm that takes the worst in people and brings it to the forefront.  Sarah Silverwood's plotting is incredibly intricate, and when you combine this with a large cast of believable and interesting characters, and a vividly drawn setting, you have some really top-notch fantasy. There are some really stunning twists to the plot that you simply won't see coming. Especially in the second half of the novel, with revelations coming thick and fast, and the incredible escalation of tension, it is difficult to put the book down. I did feel overwhelmed at times by the pace of events and the lack of much explanation or a denouement at the end, which meant some of the revelations weren't quite as meaningful or satisfying as they might've been, but this is made up for by the pure thrill of the plot.  

The humorous banter between the younger characters, which I enjoyed so much with the previous book, is present once more, though I'm afraid I appreciated it less this time around, for it seemed to clash with the tone of the rest of the novel. Although the dialogue feels a little weak at times, the narrative itself flows really well, bringing out the characters with aplomb. 

The book ends on the mother of all cliffhangers, so I'm now drooling for the conclusion to the trilogy, which fortunately arrives in just a few months. 

A big thanks to the publishers for sending a copy to TheBookbag. We also have a review of [[The London Stone: The Nowhere Chronicles Book Three by Sarah Silverwood]].

If you like the sound of The Nowhere Chronicles, there's no better place to start than with the first book in the series [[The Nowhere Chronicles: The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood| The Double-Edged Sword]]. Teens who enjoy this sort of intense fantasy may well enjoy [[Incarceron by Catherine Fisher]] a fantasy novel that deals well with a lot of serious issues. If you liked the element of the strong relationship between the main characters, as well as the epic scale of the action, then I would definitely recommend [[Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy]] the first in a series that has yet to fail to entertain me with its witty, often hilarious, dialogue and smart plotting. 

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