Dragon Gate

The Third Jonathan Shade Novel

By: Gary Jonas

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

A RITUALISTIC MURDER

Stephen Noble, a board member of Dragon Gate Industries (DGI), is decapitated. DGI, a front company for wizards, decides to provide executive protection services for Noble's son, Graham, and daughter, Rayna. But Graham doesn't trust wizards and refuses their offer, so DGI hires Jonathan Shade and his team to keep the Noble family safe.

GUILTY CLIENTS

The Nobles are from the other side of the Dragon Gate, and in that dimension, they committed crimes against the Marshall Clan. And now the Clan has come through the Gate to exact their revenge. While Graham and Rayna were too young to have been a part of the death and mayhem in the other land, honor dictates that they must pay for the crimes of their family.

INHUMAN ATTACKERS

How can Jonathan protect clients who are willing to kneel and accept death at any moment? How can he and his team handle thirteen deadly warriors willing to die to accomplish their goal? And how can Jonathan defeat the deadly creatures the Marshall Clan has brought with them to our world? Creatures that will destroy anything in their path as they hunt their prey.

©2013 Gary Jonas (P)2016 Sky Warrior Book Publishing, LLC

Wow great story

What made the experience of listening to Dragon Gate the most enjoyable?

The narrator really brings the story to life. Makes each Character stand out.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dragon Gate?

When Brand gave up his power for Kelly

What about Joe Hempel’s performance did you like?

Gives life to each character. Makes them seem real.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. It was action packed all the way through

Any additional comments?

I received this book as a gift from the author/narrator/publisher for a honest review. I look forward to more in this series. This is the second i have read.

EXCELLENT. ACTION PACKED.

Most enjoyable. Going on to book four. I hope book five will be published soon. Gary Jonas writes fantastic books and the narrator joe Hempel brings the characters to life with his fantastic performance!
Excellent series.

Action, danger and revenge

The 3rd audiobook in the Jonathan Shade series continues his story from where the last book left off. We see a harder more serious side to Shade, the repercussions of his actions in book two are taking their toll and his friends are noticing the changes in him. Kelly, Brant and Jon are hired by Dragon Gate Industries (whom Slade owes a favour to) to protect the Noble family from the vengeful Marshall clan. Of course, these are not normal people and the challenges and dangers this job presents has effects on everyone on Slade's team. Slade himself is perhaps changed most by the occurrences in this story, changing him from the dark, pessimistic figure he had become, back into a person willing to take a chance on life. This book is somewhat lighter in nature than book two, but it still retains a hint of darkness. It also differs in that it is told from various POV's and I liked this change in format. I found it brought depth to the other characters and gave the reader more insight into their personalities. Joe Hempel's narration has grown along with the characters, infusing more depth and emotion into each one. I particularly like how Brant has been brought to life in this book, his character has developed and grown in the story and Mr Hempel has reflected that in his narration. This story rounds up many of the storyline threads from the previous two books and begins some engaging new ones that will be interesting to see how they develop. I received this audiobook at no cost in exchange for an honest review

Does not disappoint

All my favorite characters are back. Yes, Jonathan is still having issues with his past inability to protect his friends and his current guilt over not telling them. That is something he will have to deal with. Kelly and Brand notice that there is a hardness to Jonathan and do not understand it.

We have Kelly in a very near death condition over one of Jonathan's plan/not plan. Brand blows my mind over his love for Kelly. I did not see him as a person with any depth. His sacrifice gave him bonus points. The dynamics of the trio has changed.

So what is the Noble family? Where are they from? What is the connection between them and the Dragon Gate in the tunnels under DGI. There is still action, back stabbing, and knelling (yea knelling) going on. These questions set the series in a new direction, which presents an opportunity for character growth and more paranormal opportunities.

Book 3 doesn’t disappoint

Gary Jonas doesn’t disappoint with his third Jonathan Shade Novel!  After book two and the devastating turn of events was righted, we see a much changed Jonathan.  Gone is his whimsical almost careless sarcasm.  Instead we are given a man who is haunted by the past and future.  He no longer relies on his luck but rather plans everything out and refuses to endanger his friends.

Mike Bender of DGI brings Jonathan Shade a job.  Protect the family of the recently decaptitated Stephen Noble, a wealthy board member of DGI.  Jonathan, Kelly, Brant and Esther agree to provide protection for Graham and Rayna – grown children of Stephen Noble.

Graham and Rayna come from a dimension where honor is everything and is drilled into them from birth.  The Marshall family, also of their dimension arrives and begins to exact punishment for wrongs done before and during the Noble family crossing into the Dragon portal at DGI.

Not only are there dragons and healers, but there are hideous creatures that rip and shred their prey in mere seconds.  The Nobles have deadly family secrets; secrets that may get Kelly, Brant and Jonathan killed.

Jonas keeps getting darker with each book; this one has people nobly accepting death – one person commits the crime and the entire line is wiped out; whether all parties are guilty or not.

Jonas surprises his listeners with more twists and turns.  Resigned to a haunted Jonathan, we are instead given a growing Jonathan.  Kelly and Brant are growing as well.  I enjoyed the Kelly diary writing style to show her viewpoint.  It made the connection to her audience more complete.  She is no longer only the blood thirsty assassin/warrior; she is a more complete character.  Surprisingly Brant became much more as well.

Joe Hempel again does not disappoint.  I am constantly surprised at how well he integrates himself with the characters making them more real than not.  His ability to inject just the right amount of energy and emotion is stunning.  He makes narration sound much easier than it is. Hempel gets Jonas; together as narrator and author this series is top notch.

I cannot wait for book 4!  I am sure it will be as fast paced, action filled and exciting as these three.

There were no issues with production; everything was smooth.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Epic!!!!

I fricking love this entire series!!!! seriously, from pterodactyls in heat to any other crazy scenarios you could possibly contrive, I'm a HUGE fan! This series just keeps getting better! Poor J. S. keeps getting thwarted by his love interests! Hopefully he can keep this one alive
...lol! my favorite part of this series so far, is the paranormal aspect. Especially Clara. LOVED IT!!!

Action, danger and revenge

Would you consider the audio edition of Dragon Gate to be better than the print version?

Did not read the printed version

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dragon Gate?

When Brand gave up his power for Kelly

What does Joe Hempel bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Joe's performance was great and he really delivered on this story. Each character had their own voice and he used the right amount of tone and inflection to convey the different emotions throughout the story

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Enjoyed the whole book

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

Another exciting book in the series

Another very exciting book in this series. I listened to the Audible version, and it was well-paced and hard to stop listening to. There is lots of action and interesting characters abound. The pictures the author paints with the story are very vivid. This is definitely not a story for those averse to blood, guts, and gore in a story, but if you like supernatural fantasy, I recommend giving this one a try.

definitely a must listen

Any additional comments?

(I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Noticeably missing from this story is Jonathan’s almost non-stop smart-ass remarks and continuous pop culture references. Yes, they are there. But…if you’ve made it this far through the devastating climax of the second Jonathan Shade novel, you’ll understand that he hasn’t just bounced back.

Even his friends have noticed.

Even the new girl in his life notices.

This, the third in the series is also different in that it jumps perspectives. Now this can be a tricky thing, and apparently turned off a tiny bit of reviewers.

Personally, I thought Mr. Jonas did a rather good job, adding the depth to Kelly I’d looked forward to.

Reviewers are still comparing this series to Dresden. Yet, while most Dresden reviewers agree that the series doesn’t get teeth until the third book, I think Mr. Jonas gave Shade teeth in the last one and this one shows us how a character deals with a world-rocking aftermath in a very smooth manner. Plus, Jonathan still carries on with a slightly harder edge.

And how can you complain about the third book that hasn’t lost its momentum, still drags you kicking and screaming until the very end wondering where the hell the day went, and leaves you begging for more.

Plus, all fangirl aside, I think that Mr. Hempel has found his character. With each installment of Jonathan Shade, he gets better and better, adding more and more depth to the MC while still managing to add flair to every other character in the series.

I have so much enjoyed listening that even though I really want to know what happens next, I will stubbornly wait for Anubis Nights to be available in an audio format.

Third in the Series, Best Yet

This is the third in the Johnathan Shade series, and I have to say, it's the best yet. The story was more cohesive with few side plots to distract from the main storyline. I enjoyed (almost) all of the characters, and Mr. Hempel's performance--as always--breathes life into them. It's very easy to tell one character apart from the other merely by the sound of his voice and the way he acts them out.

The plot itself is relatively simple: Johnathan is hired for a protection job. It seems there is a family of immigrants from beyond the Dragon Gate (Yes, THAT Dragon Gate, in the basement of DGI) who have lived among us for many years. They were fleeing from another family/clan in an alternate dimension who wants them all dead to satisfy their honor, according to their customs. Johnathan, Kelly, Brand, & Esther are hired to after the parents have been killed. The father of the family had arranged via Mike Ender to keep his kids safe in the event of his death by beheading. The rest of the plot follows from there.

In this book, Johnathan doesn't kid around so much... which I liked. His jokes? Not really that good anyway, so I was happy to hear less of them. However, since the events of the last book, he's a LOT gloomier. I'm not sure if the trade off was worth it. Towards the end of the book, it seems a lot of the character development had been mostly wiped away. Kelly was awesome, and I liked the main new character introduced, Raina, but the star of the show for me was Brand. He understood self-sacrifice in a way that was realistic and very moving. That one particular scene (you'll know it when you hear it) really brought tears to my eyes.

There are a couple things which bear mentioning. First, this is the first book in the series which was not all told from Johnathan's POV. I'm not sure how I feel about the series suddenly shifting gears like that... BUT we got to be in Kelly's head, that I really loved that. We also got to be in other character's heads... but they were new and I didn't know them. So until we had more to go on, I spent much of Raina's POV going "I don't get it. Why do I need to hear from her? I don't know her!" In addition to that, the narrative FOR Raina's POV switches from first person to third person limited, which is VERY odd, and it helps for mistakes to be made. At one point, though we know Raina cannot see Esther, the text states she pops into view... but it was 3rd person from Raina's POV, so it became kind of confusing. I'm not sure if the multiple POVs were really necessary, and then again, major characters were omitted from that POV shift! We didn't see Esther or Brand's POV, both of which have been around since the first book and are important supporting characters.

So, while I quite liked this offering, due to the weird changes in format and storytelling narrative, I just can't give it a five out of five. It's still a really great story, and the best I've listened to yet from Mr. Jonas. Joe Hempel's narration for the series remains spot on and perfect. Even though I don't quite like Johnthan Shade, I can't imagine anyone else narrating him.