New Stuff

I started 2 new series today- despite my claims that I am not going to start any new series.  Why?  Because I get into these series and then I go crazy waiting for the next book to be released.  It speaks well of the authors that can get me to countdown to release dates.  Anyway, onto the review...
Wither- Chapters 1-4
   New characters met/ mentioned:
Rhine, main character, 16 years old, female;
Rowan, Rhine's twin brother;
Gatherers, groups of men who kidnap young girls;
Governor Linden, 21 years old, wealthy
Gabriel, teenage boy working in Governor Linden's house;
Deirdre, young girl working in Governor Linden's house, Rhine's domestic;
Rose, 25 years old, Linden's first wife;
Jenna, older than Rhine, sister wife to Rhine and Cecily;
Cecily, 13 years old, sister wife to Rhine and Jenna;
Housemaster Vaughn, Linden's father, doctor;
Adair, Jenna's domestic
Elle, Cecily's domestic
   Summary (may contain spoilers):
Rhine is kidnapped by Gatherers and sold to Linden, along with Jenna and Cecily to come to his home and marry him.  This is a common occurrence as there is a virus that causes all women to die at age 20 and all men die at age 25.  Women are kidnapped to have children with wealthy men for experimentation purposes- trying to find an antidote to the virus.  Rhine immediately begins plotting a way to escape so she can return to her brother.  Rhine meets and takes a liking to Gabriel and Deirdre, workers in the house.  Rhine also meets Linden's childhood sweetheart and first wife, Rose.  Rose is 20 and dying; which is why Linden has found new wives.  Rose likes Rhine and spends lot of time talking to her.  Linden is married to Rhine, Jenna and Cecily, but basically ignores them to spend all of his time with Rose.  We see through Rhine's memories that her and Rowan lived a cautious life in NY before Rhine was kidnapped.  They depended on each other for everything and constantly had to fight for survival.

The Lost Gate- Chapter 1
   New characters met/ mentioned:
Danny North, main character;
Alf, Danny's father, metalmage, ruler of the North family (Odin);
Gerd, Danny's mother, lightmage;
Zog, Danny's great-uncle, hates drekkas;
Gyish, Danny's grandpa, hates drekkas;
Uck, Danny's aunt, protects Danny from Zog & Gyish;
Tweng, Danny's aunt, protects Danny from Zog & Gyish;
Poot, Danny's uncle, is fair with Danny;
Mook, Danny's uncle, stands up for him;
Lummy, Danny's aunt, stands up for him;
   Summary (may contain spoilers):
The North's are a family of mages, with verying talents, living on a compound in Virginia; Danny is a drekka- a member of the mage family with no apparent talent.  Danny is disliked by other kids because he is a drekka and because he is so much more advanced in school then everyone else.  He is seen as weak and useless by most of the adults.  Danny spends much time alone; he loves to study and learn, he enjoys running outside the compound (which he is not supposed to do), and likes watching Drowthers (humans).  Danny does not believe the mages have a right to feel so superior to the Drowthers.  Danny mentions Westil, a world that was shut off to the mages when Loki closed the Great Gates; and he also mentions centuries of war with other mage families.  Danny is put in charge of supervising some younger childrens' clants, out of body copies of a person that can be controlled by the person who it belongs to.  Danny, in trying to teach the children to focus, ties two of the clants in a tree.  He gets into serious trouble for this because the children cannot awaken when their clants are captured.  Upon climbing back up the tree to release the girls, Danny realizes he made a gate to get there; he is a rare and powerful gatemage.  Gatemages are so powerful they are feared, and there are treaties in place between all the mage families that states if a gatemage is born, they are to be killed.