Cover of At the Gates of Darkness

At the Gates of Darkness

core novel 2010 Riftwar Cycle

Record

First published2010
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating4.01 (9,781 ratings, collected 2026-09-12)
Page count302
First-edition ISBN978-0-00-729021-5
First-edition date2010-03
First-edition publisherVoyager (HarperCollins UK)
First-edition countryUK
Internal chronology27

Synopsis

At the Gates of Darkness concludes the Demonwar Saga as the demon horde that followed the Taredhel elves to Midkemia continues its advance, even as enemies elsewhere work to summon an even more powerful Demon Prince into the world. Pug and the Conclave of Shadows are forced to reconsider their strategy as the invaders press closer, while on the continent of Triagia a separate crisis unfolds: internal rebellion begins to fracture the region's stability just as it most needs unity against the external threat. The novel weaves together the supernatural danger of the demon incursion with the political collapse spreading through Triagia, leaving the Conclave to fight a war on two fronts, one against an otherworldly enemy and one against the unraveling of the very kingdoms it is trying to protect.

Where it sits

Notes

  • First-edition precedence corrected 2026-08-18: the earlier first_edition.date (2009-12-08) recorded the UK ebook release, which predates the print edition by a few months; per the rule, the print edition is used as the canonical first edition whenever one exists, with an ebook date used only when no print edition exists at all. The UK Voyager (HarperCollins) hardcover, March 2010, is the earliest confirmed print edition (day-level precision not independently confirmed; ISBN 9780007264711). A near-simultaneous US Eos/HarperVoyager hardcover followed in April 2010 (ISBN 9780061468377). The 2009-12-08 ebook predates both prints by design (a same-imprint early digital release, the same pattern HarperCollins used for other Feist titles) but is no longer registered as this book's first_edition, since a print edition is now on file and this project always prefers the print edition as the canonical first edition when one exists.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

Sources

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