For many sci fi fans, the ability to teleport – or instantly transport from one location to another – is one of the most envied super powers. You never have to worry about car insurance, lousy airline service, or rising gas prices – and then there’s always the thrill of being able to travel all over the world and sneak into restricted areas.
But as the teenagers in these YA books by Orson Scott Card and Steven Gould show, knowing how to teleport often creates more problems than even they can escape from.
The Lost Gate
Being the son of two mages descended from the Norse gods should have granted Danny North a respected place in his family – whose members can manipulate stone, plants, or animals with a thought. Yet when Danny fails to show any aptitude for magic, his clan brands him as a drekka – an awful symbol of their weakening magic.
Then Danny discovers he does have powerful magic – the ability to create invisible gates that heal injuries, teleport people, and amplify magic powers to god-like levels. Unfortunately this power carries its own taboo, for the last gatemage was none other than the Norse trickster god Loki who closed the gates between Earth and Westil, the home of the gods, and stranded the children of the gods in the human world.
Realizing he will be executed or manipulated by those who fear or covet his power, Danny teleports away and hides within an urban society of thieves, hustlers, and other magical exiles. But as Danny learns to use his powers, he is unaware that another gatemage has awoken in a distant place – and that the two are set on a collision course that may determine the future of both gods and humanity.
Conceptualized in 1977 by Orson Scott Card (author of the award-winning Ender’s Game), The Lost Gate is a suspenseful page-turning adventure, full of the wonder and excitement one would expect from the journey of a teleporting trickster. Card spends a lot of time working out the intricacies of Danny’s gate-creating abilities and the magical abilities of his people, and while the terms he uses to describe them can be confusing, most readers will easily understand the lexicon within a few chapters.
Character-wise, however, the story proves frustrating, for while Danny begins as a sympathetic pariah, he soon devolves into an arrogant brat who uses his power to insult, rob, and manipulate others (in two instances he tries to frame people for child molestation to get out of trouble with the law) while protesting that he’s just trying to survive and look out for his friends. At one point he even argues that he needs to harass others to sustain his magic, making him a character some readers may actually root against.
Far more intriguing is the second gatemage, known only as “Wad” who uses his own teleportation powers to survive in a strange castle and spy on its inhabitants. Just as Danny was despised by his family, Wad is hated by most of the castle’s residents, yet unlike Danny, he rarely uses his powers to show off or get revenge, and even performs acts of compassion toward a select few. Given that both Danny and Wad are the protagonists of their stories, it should be interesting to see which of these two tricksters will become the series’ hero in future volumes.
Jumper
When fifteen-year-old Davy Rice discovers he can teleport or "jump" to any place he has been, he uses his newfound gift to escape his abusive father’s beatings and travel to New York. There, his abilities allow him to survive in an environment full of predators – and eventually flourish after he executes a successful bank robbery that turns him into an instant millionaire.
Yet while wealth allows Davy to live a privileged life, his desires cannot be satisfied by money or power alone. He wants to find his mother, who abandoned her family years ago. He wants to have an honest relationship with Millie, a woman who knows nothing about her boyfriend’s unusual talents. And he wants to know if there are other people who know how to teleport – or if he is truly alone in the world.
But when a tragic accident claims the life of someone close to him, Davy decides to use his power to launch a one-man-war against the terrorist group responsible – a choice that attracts the attention of some unscrupulous government agencies and threatens the lives of everyone important to Davy.
Released to widespread acclaim when it was first released in 1992, Jumper was later turned into a lackluster 2008 movie that reimagined both the book’s plot and characters, turning Davy into a childish hedonist who has more in common with The Lost Gate’s Danny North. By contrast, while the book’s Davy Rice is not above using his powers for personal gain, he exhibits a more introspective personality that enables him to confront his past demons and achieve a level of emotional maturity and personal growth.
Both a genuine coming-of-age story and an exciting fantasy of personal wish fulfillment, Jumper continues to satisfy on many levels.
Find more books about teleportation and other amazing powers at Review of Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3, Fantasy Travel Books for Children, and Alien Book Series for Kids.
Sources:
- Card, Orson Scott. The Lost Gate. New York: Tor, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7653-2924-0
- Gould, Stephen. Jumper. New York: Tor, 1992. ISBN: 0-812-52237-0
Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
Join the Conversation