"Card is a formidable storyteller."
- The Miami Herald
A family of poor mages in exile in our world, existing in uneasy truce with other Families of Westil, the North clan lives in a rambling family complex, isolated in the hills of western Virginia.
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, were-wolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent. Everyone thought that he was a drowther, child of the mages born without magic.
But Danny is not a drowther. Danny is a gatemage. And when he figures that out, he knows that he'll have to run for his life. There is only one thing that all the Families agree on: that no single clan can be allowed to open a gate back to their homeworld. To prevent that, they have all agreed that any child who shows signs of being a gatemage will be killed, instantly.
"Mr. Card is giving a kind of tour of fantasy, possibilities while integrating them into his intricately imagined system of magic.... The hints of real history behind the families are especially enticing: I look forward to learning more."
- The Wall Street Journal