Amph Sara Douglass's books

Sara Douglass is without a doubt one of my favorite fantasy authors. Her books inlude the Troy Game quartet, Behind the Hanging Wall, the two Wayfarer Redemption trilogies, the Thomas Neville books, and Threshhold.

Her books captivate me in a way not many others can. Does anyone else enjoy them?

 

I've read all of the 6 books in the Wafarer Redemption series. It's absolutley one of my favorites i loved it so much i havent read anything else from her but that series just enchanted me especially the first 3 books:The Wayfarer Redemption, Enchanter, Starman.

 

Lucky!! The last two aren't out in the US yet, and my mom got realy mad when I ordered some of her other books from Australia last year . . .

I recommend Threshhold. It's really good.

 

I find Douglass utterly unreadable. She makes Terry Goodkind's novels look like masterpieces. I really don't understand how she's achieved bestseller status anywhere. ugh.

 

Really? I quite enjoy both of them.

 

I did the same thing

 

They're REALLY expensive. What's you're favorite?

 

Well i havent read any other than the ones i mentioed in an earlier post which are my favorites but those were the ones i ordered on the internet

 

I ordered the Crucible trilogy. The Troy game books are good, but really confusing.

 

I absolutely love Sara Douglass!

The Wayfarer Redemption is my favorite out of that series. I love Faraday so much! Her courage is astounding, but I also like how kickbutt Azhure is. Axis is kind of a jerk though...I kind of hate how when you have a really good series and it just continues to drag on and on and then it starts talking about their kids and the parents, who were awesome, are rendered kind of obsolete. I kind of wish that Douglass had just ended it with Starman. Especially since she's mixing sci-fi with fantasy, which I've always kind of had an aversion to.

The Troy Game is a really interesting series in how it combines history and fantasy. Since I know a lot about history, I'm always really interested to see who is who in each new novel. Darkwitch Rising artfully played around with the reincarnation thing.

I haven't read the Crucible series yet because I'm a bit touchy with religion fiction. I'm sure it's good...it's just not my cup of tea.

Threshold was really good! I love that it has a happy ending! Beyond the Hanging Wall was good...it just ended kind of weird.

The only thing I don't like about Douglass is how she tortures her characters. They go through so much and it takes pages and pages until you actually read "the end" for them to have a happy ending! I know it's unreasonable and faerie-talish to always want a happy ending, but I just want Faraday to be at peace! I just want Cornelia and Brutus to either make up or move on once and for all!




Her sex scenes, while not exactly technical and explicit are still really good.

 

I liked the Axis Trilogy: BattleAxe, Enchanter, StarMan.

I could barely stand the Wayfarer Redemption. Pseduo-religious fantasy sci-fi is not my sort of thing at all. I found it fairly contrived, particularly the introduction of Earth.

I have enjoyed the Troy Game so far (only read first two).

 

The Wayfarer Redemption is Battleaxe. Same book, different title.

 

Not in Australia. The Wayfarer Redemption refers to the second trilogy...Sinner, Crusader and the other one.

 

Ah. So why'd they retitle Battleaxe to The Wayfarer Redemption in the states. I understand why they sometimes change titles, but why change a title to another title that's already being used by that author somewhere else? [head_explodes]

 

I think they did it because the American publisher (Tor, I think) wanted something more iconic of the series overall. Tor likes to put big blazing series indicators on their books, and be able to say "Sequel to WR" instead of "Book 4 of..." even though they end up doing both at different points in the series. Sometimes on the same book. Like they do for Wheel of Time. "Book 10 of the Wheel of Time." An inch higher: "Sequel to the New York Times #1 Bestseller Winter's Heart." Silly publisher things...

Out of curiousity, Mastadge, what about Douglass don't you care for?

- Keralys

 

What's considered her best written/storylined novel todate?

 

Well, BattleAxe is over 10 years old now, and the Axis trilogy was the first set of novels she had ever written. Also from the way that both that and the Wayfarer Redemption trilogy read I think that they are more aimed at the late teen/early adult demographic rather than general adult reading. The story at its core isn't too bad if you can live with the way in which it is presented (although I did find the way Crusader went a little disappointing after all the build-up in Pilgrim). Given that both Threshold and Beyond the Hanging Wall were written between the two trilogies, they also hold some of that style of writing.

While I only mildly enjoyed the Crucible trilogy, it was where she started to find a bit more of her voice, and I'm liking the Troy Game series because she is able to weave the story together a lot better.


And the alteration of titles was stupid marketing decisions yet again. Each of the novels in both trilogies are named so for the position in Tencendor that the main protaginists (Axis and Drago/DragonStar) hold in each of the books.


Excellence, it's a bit of horses for courses I guess. For me it's the Troy Game, but others prefer her earlier work.

 

I ought to read at least one of her books some day. I know a cheap place to get them.

Women aren't so good in the action dept, more focused on emotion. Are her books generally exciting? I need action to get me to a back cover.

 

The book Wayfarer Redemption/Battle Axe was my favorite ofthose six, but I haven't read the last two yet (not out in the States). I like Faraday, don't really like Azhure because Faraday should have gotten Axis, and xis is a jerk.

Troy Game was okay, but it gets really confusing, espexcally since it seemed that she changed her kind halfway through. From what I can tell, she suddenly decided that she liked Asterion when her original intention was Brutus/Cornelia.

Crucible trilogy was okay, the first one was best. Threshhold is AMAZING!!!

Oh, and on her website it says that she's planning a 'darkover' novel or series after the Axis trilogies and including a desendent of the Threshhold characters. Sounds fun!!

 

I would have been content with just Wayfarer, Enchanter, and Starman, honestly. The second half feels really weird sometimes.

Sara Douglass is just one of those authors who like to toy with their creations. Why can't she just leave the people alone with a "happy ever after" and let the reader imagine what they want the fate of the characters to be?!

As for the Troy Game, I want a Coel/Cornelia! Coel was the only one who genuinely treated her the way she should have been treated the entire time.

I don't think that Faraday deserved Axis. So, I am glad that he didn't get her since he wasn't loyal to her. Also, since he's of SunSoar blood, they would have fallen out of love eventually...just like Rivkah and StarDrifter. Or maybe Douglass will pull a twist and say that Faraday is actually SunSoar, lolz. I really like StarDrifter as the series continues on, though. He's becoming a really good character, even if he is a bit of a womanizer. Also, why can't Douglass just have Zenith decide already if she loves StarDrifter and can overcome her repulsion?

Excuse me? I think that's a bit of a stereotype.

But to answer your question...well, they have battle scenes and stuff and Azhure totally kicks butt with her bow and arrow. *I* think they're exciting. There's also quite a bit of gore. Lots of skewed limbs...mashed body parts...blood dripping everywhere....people seem to have a habit of getting torn up and murdered and such.

I love how she "plays" the Troy Game. It keeps me guessing. I'm a bit interested to see how she weaves in WWII with the last book since it'll be wayy more modern than the other books have been. I wish she had chosen to play with another, older part of history...like maybe the American Revolution? I dunno. I wonder if Asterion will be Hitler? lolz

 

Oh, come on, my Handmaiden, it's not like I would say that without heaps of reading to see it, and it goes without saying I've found some exceptions, like Carol Berg, who blends emotion with exciting sword and socery commendably. But too few, alas.

On the other wink, there's a lot of men who can't do emotion well.

 

I'm mollified, Excellence. I just have a bit of feminist in me, that's all.

 

Hambly had two snap action scenes with Luke aboard the supership. Fast paced and exciting. Pity it ended in a page. And while 3/4 of Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody was walking talking boredom, what pitifully few battles she showed was exciting, I admit.

Feminism is good. Now go and obliterate all the fantastists who subclass their women, forcing me to buy a tenth of what I could read!

 

Rhapsody??!?!? Boring!?!??

Elizabeth Haydon is amazing! I love her! Have you read all of her books? The story she spins is amazing! The plot twists! oh em gee! How everything fits in...oh, goodness...it's lovely! And the battles get better! There's one with a FREAKING DRAGON!

Anyway...! In some ways, I like Haydon better than Douglass because at least everything is happier over all.

woohoo Sara Douglass!

 

I've got her first boxed set. But the second half, after exiting the underground tunnels, all I was reading was walking and talking. I made it through a third of the second book before I had to put it down. Nothing exciting is happening, just conversations. And I'm telling myself her constant denial of her crowd attention to the absolute beauty is the benefit of the doubt. That there is a reason for the constant humility, that it will be revealed in time. I hope, it better, at least.

Don't worry, I have to finish the trilogy sooner or later. But it's hard. I liked her Legends 2 story. Good ending, with the fire phantoms. I won't judge the entire trilogy on the basis of a single book, but I am armoured now against glittering publisher reviews inside a book flap.