Review: The Gatepost - Tim Weed

Genre: Sci-fi, adventure

Published: Podium Publishing, May 26th 2026

My Rating: 2.5/5 stars

What would you get if you mixed an Indiana-Jones-style plot with a female protagonist, Mesoamerican Shamanism and a liberal helping of hallucinogenic mushrooms? If you said “an intriguing premise for a novel”, then you and I were on the same page, which is exactly why I requested The Gatepost for early review. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my expectations, and I was left with a 2.5/5-star experience.

The Story:

We follow Esme Weatherhead, a 32 year old woman on a mission to write a biography about her father, an amateur scientist who disappeared 20-years ago into a rural Vermont forest. Her “biography-research” is only a thinly veiled excuse for her personal desire for answers about his ultimate fate. When she finds an old research-journal referencing a cave on the, a series of experiments with hallucinogenic mushrooms undertaken by her father, she decided to do some field research herself. With the help of a local geologist embarks on a journey to the caves of Vermont and the depths of her own mind.

What I liked:

With a premise like that, there’s clearly a lot of room for adventure, intrigue and thematic resonance alike. The author makes good use of all these avenues. The novel casts a fairly wide net, and although none of it is exceptional, all of it is decent enough. The plot and characters are a little thin but functional to carry the story, the intrigue and mystery keep you going and there are just enough answers to be satisfying at the end, but leave some room to ponder for yourself. When it comes to themes, plenty is touched upon; from spiritualism to love, to greed and themes of nature and eco-conservatism. Again, none of these are explored in real depth, but for a fairly simple story, it manages to tie in a lot to think about.

What I didn’t like:

The root of my disappointment can be split up into two categories: the actual quality of the writing, and the mismarketing (the latter obviously not being the authors fault).

Whenever you take a course in (creative)writing of any kind, one of the first pieces of advice you’re given is to “show, don’t tell”. There’s something to be said for not taking any of these “writing-rules”, as gospel, but in general this decent advice. This novel clearly missed that fundamental first lesson, as it opens up with full first chapter that is nothing but exposition, that reads almost like a “previously on X-“segment. It’s jarring and sets the tone for what’s to come. The writing doesn’t improve in quality from there. The plot - on an event-by-event-level – is very simple and fairly little happens, and although there are interesting themes and ideas in it, the writing doesn’t have the heft to carry those across meaningfully.

Now, I don’t expect every book to be a literary masterpiece, but this is where the mismarketing comes in. Comparing this book to the likes of Susanna Clarke, Emily St. John Mandel and Richard Powers, creates a certain expectation. These are some of the most eloquent literary talents of a generation, and this book just doesn’t match any of theirs in style nor substance.

Had this been sold to me as a mystery-adventure, Indiana-Jones-style, I’d have given it a solid 3-star rating. Because I was promised a more literary speculative fiction work, I’m left with a 2.5, rounding down for disappointment-reasons.

Thanks to Podium Entertainment and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

You can find this book here on Goodreads.