Raven's Gate
 |
|
| Author | Anthony Horowitz |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Power of Five (Originally The Gatekeepers) |
| Genre | Horror, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Walker Books |
|
Publication date
|
1 August 2005 (UK) 1 June 2005 (US) |
| Media type | Print Paperback |
| Pages | 283pp |
| ISBN | (Paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 224729113 |
| Followed by | Evil Star |
Raven's Gate is the first book in The Power of Five series, written by Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the United Kingdom on 1 August 2005, by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States (1 June 2005) by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title The Gatekeepers. It is followed by Evil Star, released in 2006, Nightrise in 2007, and Necropolis in 2008, with the final book Oblivion in 2012.
A graphic novel adaptation, written for Walker Books by UK writer Tony Lee and drawn by artist Dom Reardon was released on 3 August 2010.
Fourteen years of age, Matthew Freeman and his friend, Kelvin break into a warehouse late at night to steal electrical equipment but are caught by the one security guard in the building. Matt is shocked and confesses, but Kelvin sneaks up behind the guard and stabs him in the back, leaving him to die. Matt tries to get help but the police come, arrest Matt and Kelvin and take the wounded man to the hospital.
In the station, Kelvin blames Matt for the man's stabbing and Matt is taken by police. A young black policeman, Stephen Mallory, comes up and interviews him, and finds Matt to be likable. Then Mallory meets Matt's aunt, Gwenda, who has been summoned by the police to talk about Matt. Matt wakes up in the hospital dying of thirst.
In a sudden trance, Matt stares hard at a glass of water, smells burning, and stares in amazement when the water and the glass explode even though he is ten feet away. He is amazed for a while but then he goes back to sleep thinking it is just an odd dream.
In the next few weeks, Matt is given a role in the Liberty and Education Achieved through Fostering project, aka the LEAF project. It is for delinquents who are being reassimilated into society. Mallory is in charge of the project and he introduces Matt to his new guardian, Jayne Deverill, an old, strict woman who Matt immediately dislikes.
Matt and Jayne Deverill move to Yorkshire, Deverill's home, and she gets him to fit in. But she seems attracted to him in a sinister way when she sees his blood fall on the floor after her cat bites his hand. Matt faints become ill with pneumonia and sees Jayne Deverill and her sister cure him with dark magic. Matt doesn't know what to believe but he feels different and more confident. Jayne Deverill gets him enslaved on her farm with her evil farmhand Noah, who is threatening and silent as well as mentally damaged. Matt is sent one day to Lesser Malling, the local village, to get something from the chemist, and he meets Jayne Deverill's sister Claire, who is disfigured with a birthmark. Claire and the other villagers come out and they are revealed to be all either disfigured or insane. A seemingly normal man, Tom Burgess, comes up and tries to be friendly with Matt, but he warns him to leave the village and the area before harm happens to him.
...
Wikipedia