Rating: 
Summary: Even better than Book 1
Review: Sara Douglass's first book of The Wayfarer Redemption series, BattleAxe, hooked me into the story of the characters. Book two, Enchanter, drew me further into Douglass's magic.Enchanter is powerful and, true to its name, enchanting. The characters have grown so much since the beginning of BattleAxe, their stories and emotions are complex. I read this book faster than book one and was even late coming back from lunch during work because I got so caught up in the story. I've recommended the series to friends, telling them that book two is almost impossible to put down. When I reached the end, I felt as if I had spent time visiting old friends and I felt sad about reading the last page. I can't wait to get book three and complete the tale of Axis's transformation into the StarMan. Azhure is, by far, my favorite of the people of Tencendor and I eagerly await learning about her history in book three. Axis is, for lack of other words, a jerk at times, but he is struggling with accepting and fulfilling his role as StarMan in the prophecy he was thrust into. The characters come alive in my head and I feel as if I've known them all my life, they are people I can easily hate and love, loathe and befriend.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as the first...
Review: The 1st book in the Wayfarer Redemption series started out excellently, but this book was not up to my expectations. Some of the characters are pretty well-developed, like Axis, who seems to be both tender and violent, and Azhure, whom we only met briefly in the first book, has some mysterious side to her which is revealed at the end of this book.
However, Faraday, which I did not particularly liked, failed to make me sympathise with her even though she was somehow betrayed by Axis. She displayed more of the childish side of her when in one scene she asked why Azhure got the role of...when it should have been her role..., and she would make a better...than Azhure, like some spoilt brat who had not gotten her way. Even what she did for Azhure at the end did not redeem herself in my eyes.
One reason I did not particularly liked this book was because the character of Borneheld deserved a greater development. He was not purely evil, merely a pawn in the Prophecy, and he definitely did not deserve the horrible ending he got. Borneheld is a character to be pitied, but apparently Ms Douglass doesn't feel that way.
Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to reading Starman, and hope that this series can have a good conclusion. Read on!
Rating: 
Summary: Typical fantasy, nothing particularly interesting.
Review: The books aren't horrible, but I didn't finish the second one without skimming. I may order the next from the library, just to complete the story, but I'm in no hurry to do so. The problem? Cliche. It seems like every fantasy novel published today has to fall into this heroes-must-save-the-world theme, a tedious story spanning a minimum of three books. While this series is certainly readable, none of the protagonists are particularly interesting or even credible. Faraday is too naive given her new found wisdom. Azhure? Too vulnerable and sulky for a woman of her talents. And Axis, blech. I think the author should have spent more time studying military leaders from history. Axis isn't very believable. Even given his supposedly charismatic bloodline, I had trouble seeing him as an officer capable of gathering the forces necessary for his coup. Too wishy washy and self-involved. If I finish the trilogy at all, it will be out of curiosity to find what the guy pulling the strings in the background is all about. I don't feel compelled to pick up anything else by this author though. In short, if you liked the first book, I guess odds are good for liking this one. But if you were expecting the series to get better, don't count on it.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong and Unique Voice
Review: The Enchanter is the second book in the "Wayfarer Redemption" series by Sara Douglass. The first book, BattleAxe, impressed and excited me so much that I signed up to buy the Enchanter pre-release (American release, anyway, since it seems she is a widely published and respected author in Australia). Having devoured the book as soon as it arrived, I can safely say that I am not disappointed. Sara Douglass has a strong and unique voice; she creates a totally believable world, with well drawn characters. Each of these books is strong enough to stand on its own, and my only quibble with the quality of her writing is the sometimes clumsy and heavy hints, as events unfold, of what they portend in the next volume. Since she did concieve this as a series, prehaps we can forgive her for linking the books together in this fashion. This is very good, almost great fantasy, and I would compare her favorably with icons like Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong and Unique Voice
Review: The Enchanter is the second book in the "Wayfarer Redemption" series by Sara Douglass. The first book, BattleAxe, impressed and excited me so much that I signed up to buy the Enchanter pre-release (American release, anyway, since it seems she is a widely published and respected author in Australia). Having devoured the book as soon as it arrived, I can safely say that I am not disappointed. Sara Douglass has a strong and unique voice; she creates a totally believable world, with well drawn characters. Each of these books is strong enough to stand on its own, and my only quibble with the quality of her writing is the sometimes clumsy and heavy hints, as events unfold, of what they portend in the next volume. Since she did concieve this as a series, prehaps we can forgive her for linking the books together in this fashion. This is very good, almost great fantasy, and I would compare her favorably with icons like Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: The first book in the series created a wonderful fantasy world and characters that you could care about and love.
In Enchanter and on into Starman, Sara spends her time destroying the characters you have come to care about and leaves you cheering for Gorgrael as everyone else, except possibly Faraday, have degenerated into vile individuals with little or no redeeming qualities. This leaves the reader with little desire to read on and no emotional attachment to the characters other then general disgust.
I am an avid fantasy fan and can forgive a great deal but Sara's own assassination of her characters makes this by far the poorest fantasy series I have read. I dont normally write reviews of the many fantasy books I read (and mostly love) but the last two books in this series were so bad it made me throw them out in hopes I might spare someone the misfortune of picking them up.
Rating:
Summary: A definite improvement on Book 1
Review: The first book in this series, "The Wayfarer Redemption", was something of a puzzle, but a very good book nonetheless. There were many questions that were asked in that book that were left unanswered.
Some of those questions are answered in the second book in Douglass' series, "Enchanter". We learn more about the mysterious Azhure, one of the two loves of Axis' life. We learn (or guess, at least) who the Dark Man has to be - Douglass doesn't come right out and say so, but I would be very surprised if my guess is wrong.
But there are still plenty of unanswered questions in this series, and Douglass still has a third and final book in which to answer them. For example, is the hint she gave about the traitor in Axis' camp that glaringly obvious, or is this just a red herring? And now that Faraday has given up her pursuit of (but not her love for) Axis, what exactly is her role in the prophecy?
Douglass has a lot of balls juggling in this series. So far she hasn't dropped any of them, and I hope she can catch all of them in the final book of her trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Quite a Step Up
Review: The first installment of this series was not quite on par with some the great fantasy that is out there. However, this book showed a much greater sophistication to Ms. Douglass' writing. The story really gains depth and sophistication. This book is filled with terrific characters, and their world becomes increasingly fascinating. I must say that I am a bit envious of the people of Australia for already having the next book in the series.
Rating:
Summary: I'm not going to finish this book.
Review: The title says it.
I bought the first book because I was looking for something different in the fantasy genre. It looked interesting and I hadn't read a fantasy book by a woman author before. So I read the first book and I thought "gosh, everything sure seems to come easily to these people."
But the setting was kind of interesting and I was sort of wondering if it would get better. So i checked the second book out of the library. I was about 2/5 of the way through when I got bored. Everything came so easily to the heroes. They were all so smart and so good looking and decent and there weren't any real struggles. In Enchanter there's no struggle. The characters walk the prophecy, everything comes to them, they don't have to make any real effort or choices to get to their goals. If everything is easy, then anyone could be a hero. This book is what fantasy writing has become--clear BAD GUY/GOOD GUY stuff. No gray. In Tolkein, where the BAD GUY was the baddest guy of all time, we have Boromir, a good man tempted by power and Saruman, who proposes to defeat Sauron by leading his own foul army against the Lord of Evil. Even Robert Jordan's characters had to struggle [although not in the last 5,000 pages or so]. Here, we have Gorgrael + Bornehold = BAD and Axis + Faraday = GOOD.
Needless to say, this book is boring.
So I checked out A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. And I read 500 pages in two days. And I want more. I'm returning Enchanter to the library today.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to par
Review: There are a lot of epic fantasists out there these days. It takes something unique to make it worthwhile buying them in hardcover. Sara Douglass is NOT unique, or even good, really. I might think her worth it in paperback, and if I feel the need to read any more of this dull and uninspired series, I will get them in that form. But there is not enough talent or story here to warrant a cover price of $25. Check out the work of Melanie Rawn, who did this sort of thing early, Elizabeth Haydon, who does it exceptionally well, or Robert Jordan, who while stringing it out, does understand scope better than anyone. Save your money on this one.
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