History Literature / ThePowerOfFive

** Evil Star has [[spoiler: Matt's Aunt Gwenda and her boyfriend Brian killed a the start. While the last book makes it very clear why you shouldn't grieve for them even Matt is taken aback by this and despite how awful she was to him even he knew this wasn't like her.]]

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: At the start of "Evil Star" Matt tries his best to wash his hands of his part in all of the dealing with the Old Ones and the Gates and tries to live a normal life as a school kid despite the Nexus' warnings. [[spoiler: While the regular School issues are enough for him to want back into the LEAF project's relocation he is quickly stopped from this when his attempts to stay under the radar go belly up after his Aunt, manipulated by his new enemies, crashes directly into his school in an attempt to kill him. While everyone survives he is outed by The Headmaster for pulling the alarm far before the danger arrived, causing rumors to spread further about him forcing him to leave the School and his "Normal Life" idea entirely and go back to the Nexus.]]

** Evil Star has Matt's Aunt and her Boyfriend Brian killed a the start. While the last book makes it very clear why you shouldn't grieve for them even Matt is taken aback by this and despite how awful she was to him even he knew this wasn't like her.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: At the start of "Evil Star" Matt tries his best to wash his hands of his part in all of the dealing with the Old Ones and the Gates and tries to live a normal life as a school kid despite the Nexus' warnings. [[spoiler: While the regular School issues are enough for him to want back into the LEAF project's relocation he he quickly stopped from this when his attempts to stay under the radar go belly up after his Aunt, manipulated by his new enemies, crashes directly into his school in an attempt to kill him. While everyone survives he is outed by The Headmaster for pulling the alarm far before the danger arrived, causing rumors to spread further about him forcing him to leave the School and his "Normal Life" idea entirely and go back to the Nexus.]]

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* SpiritualSuccessor: To Anthony Horowitz's unfinished ''Pentagram'' series from the 1980s.

''The Power of Five''[[note]][[MarketBasedTitle Gatekeepers in the US]][[/note]] is a supernatural thriller series by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz, author of the New York Times best-selling Literature/AlexRider series. This is in fact a rewrite of his unfinished ''Pentagram'' series from the 1980, consisting in [[ArcNumber five]] books:

** The series was pretty dark from the very start, but ''Oblivion'' is notably even [[UpToEleven moreso]].

''Ravens Gate'': Matt Freeman is sent to a [[TownWithADarkSecret nice village]] after being arrested for stealing from a warehouse as part of a government program. However, things are not as they seem as a series of strange events leave him in strange danger. He cannot escape, he cannot contact anyone, and [[EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace the roads out of the town loop]]. Along with a journalist called [[AgentScully Richard Cole]] he meets, he discovers the townspeople are trying to unleash the Old Ones. Oh, and Matt finds out [[ChosenOne he is destined to save the world]] with his newfound telekinetic powers. Eventually they win. The novel as a whole seems inspired by Lovecraft and is essentially a fantasy horror story.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Many gory examples.

* GoodShepherd: a rarity in the series, but one of the Nexus leaders is a Catholic Bishop, and seems dedicated to their cause, and Reverend Johnstone, one of the villages in ''Oblivion'', while a bit of a ditherer, is a kind-hearted man and votes against turning Jamie over to the DirtyCop.

* ImmuneToBullets: Holly's first reaction to seeing Chaos is to empty his pistol into him, though it does jack squat to the demon.

* LovableRogue: Zack Martins, in ''Oblivion'', an Australian smuggler who flew guns for at least one faction of freedom fighters, dreams of retiring in Alice Springs, and flies [[spoiler: Richard and Scarlett]] to Antartica with his pilot, Larry. Larry himself is mostly a subversion, being an UngratefulBastard, but he is impressed enough by [[spoiler: Scarlett's]]. powers to see the necessity of taking them there, and also says goodbye to the two later on.
* LovecraftLite: Powerful and incomprehensible as the Old Ones are, the Five and their allies can occasionally whoop dey asses.

* NebulousEvilOrganisation: [[spoiler:Nightrise]].

* PoliceAreUseless: Zigzagged. David Tarrant is a senior member of Scotland Yard who sits on the Nexus council and is a a competent ally, and Superintendent Mallory from ''Raven's Gate'' is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure with a good head on his shoulders, but most of the other cops who appear (especially outside of England) are loyal to Chaos.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Some characters come across less pleasantly than they did in the ''Pentagram'' series. For instance Matt is bullied at the beginning of the second book of ''The Power of Five'', while he didn't have any problem with his classmates before they were frightened by his visions in ''Pentagram'' book 2, and in that same book, David Goodage (the original counterpart of William Morton) was far less mercenary, spending a great deal of his own money buying the diary for the purpose of destroying it, rather than picking it up for next to nothing in an old bookstore and then forcing The Nexus to pay for it (although he still wanted them to get it instead of Chaos).

* _Susan Ashwood, the BigGood, of the ISeeDeadPeople variety.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler: Mrs. Deverill. Her skin is ''eaten away by acid'']].

** [[spoiler:Sir Michael]] in ''Raven's Gate''.

** Jonas Mortlake and the new Chairman are CoDragons to [[GodOfEvil Chaos]] in ''Oblivion''.

''The Power of Five''[[note]][[MarketBasedTitle Gatekeepers in the US]][[/note]] is a supernatural thriller series by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz, author of the New York Times best-selling Literature/AlexRider series'; there are [[ArcNumber five]] books:

The story focuses on five 14-year-olds (Matt Freeman, Pedro, Jamie and Scott Tyler, and Scarlett) who are the {{reincarnation}}s of five beings who saved the world from the Old Ones, evil spirits who once ruled the world using demons to instill fear on the people by sealing them away into certain parts of the world. Unfortunately, an [[NebulousEvilOrganisation evil organization]] wishes to unlock those parts to release the Old Ones onto the world once more and become rulers of the world. Now it is up to Matt, Pedro, Jamie, Scott and Scarlet to prevent the world from falling into darkness once more.

''Ravens Gate'': Matt Freeman is sent to a [[TownWithADarkSecret nice village]] after being arrested for stealing from a warehouse as part of a government program. However, things are not as they seem as a series of strange events leave him in strange danger. He cannot escape, he cannot contact anyone, and [[EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace the roads out of the town loop]]. Along with a journalist called [[AgentScully Richard]] he meets, he discovers the townspeople are trying to unleash the Old Ones that once ruled the world. Oh, and Matt finds out [[ChosenOne he is destined to save the world]] with his newfound telekinetic powers. Eventually they win. The novel as a whole seems inspired by Lovecraft and is essentially a fantasy horror story.

''Evil Star'': Matt and Richard travel to Peru to find the next of the Five. Richard is kidnapped. Matt meets a boy called Pedro who winds up being one of the Five. They find a lost city and try to foil a [[GambitRoulette convoluted plot to resurrect the Old Ones using a satellite]]. This book has a more fantasy themed plot.

''Nightrise'': This book focuses on Jamie and Scott, telepathic twins who work at Reno Playhouse in Nevada. One night, they are attacked by mysterious assailants. Jamie manages to get away, but Scott isn't so lucky. The former is saved by Alicia, an aid for a presidential candidate named Trelawney, who needs Jamie to help her get her son back from prison. With a common goal, the two go to free their lost loved ones from prison, while the reader begins to learn about what life was like when the Old Ones ruled. This is the first book not to focus on Matt, although he does cameo in the ending.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Some characters come across less pleasantly than they did in the ''Pentagram'' series. For instance Matt is bullied at the beginning of the second book of ''The Power of Five'', while he didn't have any problems with his classmates before they were frightened by his visions in ''Pentagram'' book 2, and in that same book, David Goodage (the original counterpart of Burgess) was far less mercenary, spending a great deal of his own money buying the diary for the purpose of destroying it rather than picking it up for next to nothing in an old bookstore and then forcing The Nexus to pay for it (although he still wanted them to get it instead of Chaos).

* AnimalisticAbomination: Most of the Old Ones are described as being vaguely similar to real animals, rather than being truly incomprehensible. [[spoiler:That's why the Nazca Lines look so weird.]]

* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler: Planet Earth]] starts off in ''Oblivion'' as a [[{{ApocalypseHow/Class1}} Class 1]] then then later becomes [[{{ApocalypseHow/Class2}} Class 2]]. However [[spoiler:it is implied that humanity will eventually recover.]]
* ArcNumber: Five, of course, corresponding with the number of sides of a pentagram and the number of main characters

* BenevolentConspiracy: The Nexus is a secret gathering of immensely wealthy and influential people, who pull all the strings they can to ensure that the Five Gatekeepers are protected and given the means to save the world.
* BigGood: Susan Ashwood, the de facto leader of Nexus.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Fabian, Michael Marsh and Anne Keyland]].
* BurnTheWitch: Pulled off at the end of ''Raven's Gate'' in a dramatic fashion: [[spoiler:with nukes!]]

--->'''Master of the Mountain:''' I do not recall how many men I have killed to be where I am now, but I would hazard a guess at 25.
--->'''Master of the Mountain:''' I mentioned that I had killed 25 men to attain my position. The man who asked me [if he would be willing to work for the Old Ones] was number 25.
* BadassBystander: Richard Cole. [[spoiler: He rescues Matt from a bog and sets an EldritchAbomination on fire.]]

** Mr Chairman in ''Night Rise'' (with Susan Mortlake as TheDragon) and ''Necropolis''.
** Finally Chaos himself in ''Oblivion'' (with Jonas Mortlake and the new Chairman as CoDragons and Commander Strake and Field Marshall Akkad as {{Mook Lieutenant}}s).
* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: The final book, "Oblivion", ends like this: the Old Ones have finally been defeated for good, but half the world's population has been wiped out in the process, including Matt and Scott, and it'll probably take humanity a long time to recover from the destruction the Old Ones caused. Also, all Five Gatekeepers decide to leave the world behind for the dream world.]]

* TheChessmaster: The Chairman of the Nightrise Corporation is a pretty impressive example of this - he rigs a US presidential election, manages to capture two of the Five, takes over Hong Kong and already has a business empire that controls most of South East Asia.

* {{Chosen One}}s: The Gatekeepers

* CoolOldLady: Professor Chambers. As it turns out, however, [[spoiler:the cool factor isn't quite enough to fend off the Old Ones.]]

* CrapsackWorld: In ''Oblivion'', we get to see what the world looks like under the Old Ones. It's an endless string of natural disasters, wars, terrorist attacks, plagues, refugees, crazed despots, dystopian police states and, of course, the occasional EldritchAbomination attack.
* CreepyChangingPainting: There's one in Jane Deverill's house in ''Raven's Gate''. It's supposedly of her [[IdenticalGrandson distant ancestor]]...

* DarkerAndEdgier: The series was pretty dark from the very start, but ''Oblivion'' is notably even [[UpToEleven moreso]].

** Jayne Dervill in ''Raven's Gate''.
** Captain Roberts in ''Evil Star''.
** Susan Mortlake and Colton Banes in ''Nightrise''.
** The Chairman ([[GreaterScopeVillain to the Old Ones]]) in ''Necropolis.
** Jonas Mortlake [[CoDragons and]] the new Chairman in ''Oblivion''.
* EldritchAbomination: The main antagonists are the Old Ones, godlike creatures clearly inspired by Lovecraft that used to rule Earth before the humans defeated them ten thousand years ago and sealed them in another universe. [[spoiler: The Nazca Lines were created as the seal, and the animal shapes drawn into the Earth were actually representative of each of the Old Ones. The familiar animals being the closest approximation the human mind could come to the Old Ones' horrifying appearance.]]
** Chaos takes the cake, being a mountain-tall, vaguely humanoid being of pure darkness, too gigantic to fully see and too Eldritch to fully concieve, whose few features described may be how the character can grasp his appearance. He does like to appear as a HumanoidAbomination, but that does not make it any better.

* EvilVsEvil: In ''Oblivion'', the cannibalistic villagers of Little Moulsford attack the Chaos-following policeman. Holly is left wondering it was because they'd heard about the massacre said policemen had carried out and either wanted revenge or feared a similar fate, or if “they saw a year’s supply of prime steak inside those blue uniforms”.

** [[spoiler:Sir Michael Marsh]] is crushed to death by the King of the Old Ones.

* FauxAffablyEvil:[[spoiler: Sir Michael Marsh and both Nightrise Chairmen.]].

* GodOfEvil: Chaos. It is said that every iteration of the trope in religions are unknowingly based on him.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Matt]].

* LovableRogue: Zack Martins, in ''Oblivion'', an Australian smuggler who flew guns for at least one faction of freedom fighters, dreams of retiring in Alice Springs, and flies [[spoiler: Richard and Scarlett]] to Antartica with his pilot, Larry. Larry himself is mostly a subversion, being an UngratefulBastard, but he is impressed enough by [spoiler: Scarlett's]]. powers to see the necessity of taking them there, and also says goodbye to the two later on.

* MadeOfEvil: Chaos, King of the Old Ones.

* TheRemake: ''The Power of Five'' is actually a rewrite of Horowitz's earlier series ''The Pentagram Chronicles'', originally published in the late eighties; specifically, ''Raven's Gate'' was a rewrite of ''The Devil's Doorbell'', ''Evil Star'' of ''The Night of the Scorpion'', ''Nightrise'' of ''The Silver Citadel'' and ''Necropolis'' of ''Day of the Dragon''. (''The Pentagram Chronicles'' ended prematurely without the final book being released, so ''Oblivion'' has no original counterpart.)
* {{Reincarnation}}

* VoluntaryShapeShifting: Some Old Ones are able to disguise themselves as humans.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: Jamie, at least, feels this way about [[spoiler: Scott's death]].

* EldritchAbomination: The main antagonists are the Old Ones, godlike creatures clearly inspired by Lovecraft that used to rule Earth before the humans defeated them ten thousand years ago and sealed them in another universe. [[spoiler: The Nazca Lines were created as the seal, and the animal shapes drawn into the Earth were actually representative of each of the Old Ones, the familiar animals being the closest approximation the human mind could come to the Old Ones' horrifying appearance.]]
** Asmodeus, Mrs Deverill's cat, is implied to be one as well. It not only perfectly understands English, it apparently survives being shot with a shotgun, is implied to have killed Tom Burgess, and follows Matt around. It is also unaccounted for at the end of ''Raven's Gate''...
** Whilst they don't necessarily fit this trope ''per se'', the people of Lesser Malling are at least inhuman to some degree. Both [[spoiler: Sir Michael]] and Claire Deverill are noted to be incredibly fast and strong for people of their age. Mrs Deverill also seems to enjoy eating uncooked meat and looks exactly like a portrait of her "ancestor".

** Lesser Malling and the surrounding countryside.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: [[spoiler: Jones Mortlake makes this argument in ''Oblivion''.]]

* IconicSequelCharacter: Quite a few, given the nature of the series, including Pedro, Jamie, Scott, Scarlet, Professor Chambers, the Nightrise chairman, certain members of The Nexus, the Incas, Lohan, Holly, The Traveller, and Commander Cain.

* IgnoredExpert: Zigzagged in ''Oblivion'', when The Traveller [[spoiler: whose also a ember of Nexus, and therefore not only far more knowledgable about the situation than they realize, but also invested in keeping Jamie safe]]. gives a speech about what it's like outside the village and why they shouldn't remind the outside world that they exist by contacting anyone. Sir Ian Ingram reluctantly agrees and casts the deciding vote in Jamie's favor, but one of the other council members contacts Eleanor Strake anyway, bringing the Chaos-Following policemen to the village.

* KidnappedByAnAlly: Richard in [[spoiler: Evil Star]]. although to Matt, it looks like a straight-up kidnapping.

* MuggingTheMonster: Occurs early in ''Raven's Gate'',when someone tries to mug Mrs. Deverill, Matt's new foster parent. [[spoiler: She's an EldritchAbomination. She [[MindRape mind rapes]] him into committing suicide with his knife. One inch at a time.]]

** Susan Ashwood, a BlindSeer and member of the OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness featured in the previous books, leads a group of people living in a bunker, hiding from the Old Ones and their servants.
** Fifty-ish Major Michael Higham is the leader of a village eking out an existence several miles downriver from Holly's village. It turns out that they've survived by becoming a CannibalClan.

* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: They show up from ''Necropolis'' onward as allies helping the protagonists fight the Old Ones.

** The treacherous [[spoiler: Fabian]]. objects to Salamanda's men wanting to kill Matt in ''Evil Star''. It gets him killed faster than you can say RewardedAsATraitorDeserves, or NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.

* PoliceAreUseless: zigzagged. David Tarrant is a senior member of Scotland Yard who sits on the Nexus council and is and a competent ally, and Superintendent Mallory from ''Raven's Gate'' is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure with a good head on his shoulders, but most of the other cops who appear (especially outside of England) are loyal to Chaos.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Nexus members, who do whatever they can to help The Five, and also come up with some plans and strategies of their own. Commander Cain tries to be this in ''Oblivion'' but has limited success. Reverend Johnstone and the Flint's for the village council. The Native American shaman, Han Shan Tung and the Inca elder also qualify.

* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive:'' Several such characters appear in the fifth book, after a TimeSkip and ten years of war, famine, and ApocalypseAnarchy.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: IN ''Raven's Gate'' [[spoiler: right before the Chaos followers kill Professor David and capture Richard]]. the one museum guard on duty flees in terror upon seeing several supernatural signs, which probably saves his life.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In ''Raven's Gate'' [[spoiler: Superintendent Mallory and Mr. Burgess the neighboring farmers]]. both help Matt against the villagers of Less Malling but die for it. Also, several members of the Nexus throughout the series.

* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive:'' Downplayed with the Nexus (who become the backers of the heroes). In ''Raven's Gate,'' they meet to discuss the signs that the Old Ones are returning. Their conversation, goals, and allegiance are initially cryptic but are established by the end of the scene and are fully explained by the end of the book.

* LovableRogue: Zack Martins, in ''Oblivion'', an Australian smuggler who flew guns for at least one faction of freedom fighters, dreams of retiring in Alice Springs, and flies [[spoiler: Richard and Scarlett]]. too Antartica with his pilot, Larry. Larry himself is mostly a subversion, being an UngratefulBastard, but he is impressed enough by [spoiler: Scarlett's]]. powers to see the necessity of taking them there, and also says goodbye to the two later on.

* WackyWaysideTribe: Several of the villains who impede the collective progress of the Five in ''Oblivion'' aren't even working for the Old Ones; they're just taking advantage of the [[CrapsackWorld chaos they cause]]. Examples include the Sheik who tries to marry Scarlett, the slave-drivers who capture Matt and Lohan, and the priest who tries to kill Pedro.

** Michael Marsh ''claims'' he doesn't like hurting children unnecessarily. This is fifteen minutes before he tries to cut Matt's heart out.
** Lohan has this reaction when he sees a vivisected child being prepared for use as a 'drug mule'.