The Gatekeeper’s Descendants, by Johanna Frank

Characters

Throughout the story, five key characters stood out from the rest.

First, there was Megalos, head gatekeeper of The Kingdom, who plays an important guardian-like role in the story. Both cautious and wise, he takes his role as head gatekeeper seriously and does all he can to safely get new arrivals through The Kingdom’s gates. Megalos struck me as a character with a difficult past, one which allowed him to transcend negative emotions such as grief and hatred. He proved to be an interesting character that did all he could to protect the people closest to him, living by the very principles that make The Kingdom so grand and forgiving.

Second was Pipiera, a young girl who sees Megalos as a grandfatherly figure, has a treasured relationship with the old gatekeeper. From first meeting, Pipiera seems reluctant to embrace change of any kind in her life. A bubbly and spirited individual, she also has a more shadowy side, filled with self-doubt and a lack of purpose, which makes her feel inferior to others. The burden of her feelings of worthlessness continues to weigh on her, so much that despite having avoided risk all her ethereal life, she finally seeks to travel to Earth, to aid Matthew in his life tour. Pipiera went through a satisfying character transformation, from feeling worthless and being unable to forgive herself, to accepting herself as she is and finding a new sense of worth in the afterlife.

Next, we have Matthew, the lead protagonist, a thirteen year old boy (soon to turn fourteen) who lost his father five years prior to the start of the story. Matthew lives in Havensight and wants desperately to be normal, not to be considered a lovechild, and to finally enjoy life on his own terms. Matthew is in some ways your typical teenage boy, full of angst and feeling as though nobody understands him. However, as he embarks upon multiple ethereal journeys, Matt begins to see his world from the perspectives of those close to him and learns to forgive others, a true sign that he has accepted The King into his heart. His journey is one of daring courage and at times the stupidity and impulsiveness that adolescence naturally brings. Overall, I found that I liked Matt more as he progressed through his journey. I got to see him wrestle with the inner struggle we all experience at some point; whether to turn toward our darker side, or to stay true to a lighter path.

Fourth was Marnie, Matthew’s mother, who felt like a frazzled hurricane of a woman. Raising two kids and having a job is no easy feat and I imagine it was only more difficult back in the seventies when the story is set. Marnie rarely sleeps and is the worried type of parent, who despite leading a busy life, wants to do the best for her children at every turn. She seemed strong and resilient, considering all she had been through: losing her first husband, remarrying and divorcing her second, and coping with two children by herself. The way her community treats her could only add insult to injury, which made her even stronger in my eyes. Like Pipiera, believing she is inadequate is Marnie’s greatest flaw, one which causes her to push people away, amongst other actions which do her no good. It was refreshing to her own inner-struggle paralleled alongside Matthew’s, to see how each dealt with the numerous problems which came their way.

Finally, we come to Kasartha, an ethereal being from the dark side of the rebels. Kasartha has been watching Matt for years, helping to shape Matt in various ways by planting dark thoughts and suggestions in his subconscious. To me, Kasartha represented the darker side of human nature and the worst qualities living within Matthew. I never warmed to Kasartha as a character as I never knew whether I could trust him. He seemed deceptive and selfish, only ever looking out for himself so he could curry favour with his uncle, Lord of the darker ethereal realm. Toward the story’s end however, I was torn over how I felt about him. I finally came to understand his plight and so felt some measure of compassion for him, however, I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him as a reader.