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The Wayfarer Redemption (The Axis Trilogy, Bk 1)

The Wayfarer Redemption (The Axis Trilogy, Bk 1)

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 10 stars if i could
Review: This is the best book ever, though not for a child, it's about 615 pages but it's worth it i think it's better then harry potter and iv'e read the first four six times! magic,love,hate,dark,and much much more! rent it of get it for yourself today!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Got Published!!??
Review: The blurb on the first page proclaims Douglass to be "at least as good as Eddings or Goodkind." Hardly. Eddings and Goodkind wrote books that are actually enjoyable to read, with interesting, well-drawn characters and compelling plots. Douglass wrote a boring, one-dimensional cheese-fest that I had to truly struggle through. Although I did not actually finish this book, I have to say I have a pretty fair idea of how it ends, thanks to Douglass' clumsy foreshadowing. The characters and plot were so stereotypical I actually felt that I was reading a parody of the high fantasy genre. The worst part of the book was that even the main characters are just plain unlikable. Faraday acts like a flighty twelve year old, and Axis is a bigot. The only one I felt any sympathy for was Duke Borneheld, due to his abandonment by his mother. And this is an "evil" character, someone you are not supposed to care about! The plot itself seems to be a mishmash of several different epics (WoT, Sword of Truth etc...) with nothing really original about it. The only really good thing about this book is that it is thick, and thus makes a nifty paperweight.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I would rather get kicked in the face--hard--than read this
Review: Before I get into this review, which will bash this book generously, I just want it to be known that I didn't actually finish it. Rather, I got about 250 pages into it before I couldn't force myself to go on. I have always resented people who pass judgement on a book before finishing it, but I really really couldn't finish this for the life of me. So, with this made clear I will continue...

This book is really, truly, one of the most horrendous works of fantasy writing that I have ever read, right up their with the the horrid Sword of Shannara. And I have read a lot, some excellent, some not so excellent, and some that I would rather burn on a camping trip than read (like this one).

This book was moronic in every way. The characters are not interesting, not in the slightest. Faraday is about as mature as an eleven-year-old and not nearly as intelligent. Tree-friend? Are you freakin' kidding me? She is like a throw-back of the hippie era...

And then of course you got Axis, the stereotypical perfect hero right up their with Richard Rahl from The Sword of Truth. Richard is a million times more entertaining to read about, however. There was a bunch of other idiotic characters, and those were even less memorable...I can't even remember their names.

I could go on and on about this book, but instead I will just sum it up for you: I would rather jam my finger into my eye, drive it into my head and twist it around than read this book.

It would have earned one star but I gave it an extra one for the excellent cover art. There is a lot better stuff out there in this genre; A Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, Lord of the Rings...stick to fantasy like this and stay away from this book.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I Can't Believe This Got Published in the States
Review: Poorly written, ridiculous plot, utterly unbelievable characters. As an Australian, I picked this series up and read the whole lot - only because they were the only books I had with me on a camping trip - because I wanted to see what Australian authors had to offer the fantasy genre.

What I got was a horrible mess of half formed ideas and crummy one dimensional characters. Sara Douglass' idea of 'gritty' is to make the characters heartless and amoral beyond any reason in one moment, and yet noble and true the next. All the while, every character speaks like an English professor, from the lowest horse-handler to the highest lord. The characters are all so similar and poorly conceived that they barely remain in the memory after the book is closed.

The plot is terrible. A baddie who can only be described as that: a baddie. He belongs in a child's cartoon - a bad one - not an epic fantasy series. Most of the decisions made make very little sense, nobody important dies, and Sara Douglass even manages to incorporate some flying saucers with shiny, flashy lights.

I cannot believe these books sell at all, and I really cannot believe they sell in America. If you want real fantasy, read George RR Martin, or Steven Erikson, or Robert Jordan. If you like easy-reading fantasy, even Eddings is better than Sara Douglass.

Please, don't waste your money.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Long does not equal good - Stilted and Stereotypical
Review: I bought the book a couple of months ago and tried to read it. It seemed pretty formulatic but I thought, "maybe I'm just groucy". I put it aside and read Robin Hobb's fantastic new "Tawny Man". Then I came back to try again. It is like eating fast food after a five star restuarant, pretty disappointing. The second try got me to about page 70 before I gave up. By then I'd pretty much figured out what the characters were supposed to be and was tired of the stilted language and inanities uttered by the main ones. (I considered and discarded the possibility that Ms Douglass was deliberately trying for campyness - like the first Star Wars) There is just no one believable to an adult in the book but I do understand the 5 star review by the 12 year old reader and I wish him great reading as he grows. As he matures he can look forward to reading George R. R. Martin who is good and to Robin who is wonderful. Martha Wells is also very good, but above that, he can go out and find any of C.J.Cherryh's really fine fantasy (start with Fortress in the Eye of Time, young friend). These are not the names I generally see in the reviews on line and as a result I have tempered my expectations and forced myself to consider the source of any recommendation. Fantasy is a very hard genre to write well. You must be able to create a consistent and believable world and allow the reader to slowly uncover the thoughts and motivations of the creatures in that world. You must also give the reader some discretion and leave him with some ambiguity. Douglass doesn't do that. Neither do J.V. Jones or Robert Jordan (who my sons loved in their early teens)so there is no reason she won't be enourmously successful. Should it have meaning beyond the story? George Martin doesn't seem to (yet) and I enjoy him but there is a reason Tolkien survives the test of time. There is also a reason he spent most of the second half of his life working on Middle Earth. Everyone follows him but only a very few deserve comparison.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not completely baked
Review: The Pros: The book is an easy read and there are some good ideas in it.

the cons: The shift in character perspective is lousy. It is not relegated to chapters or even paragraphs, but can happen within the next sentence! There are areas that need a little fine-tuning. For example, it is not clear to me the "limits" of Axis' powers (book 2). Can he read minds? Can he heal? Can he "resurrect"? What is tiring to him and what is not?

That being said, it is worth reading if you have no really great books in mind (George RR Martin's books, etc.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise
Review: I've gotten wary of fantasy lately. I buy a book that sounds like is has great characters and plot, only to find it muddied by unneccesary graphic sex and graphic language. I took a chance with "A Wayfarer Redemption" partly because the author wasn't from the United States, and had such a good rep in Australia.
I really enjoyed the story, and found it hard to put down. Sara successfully weaves several points of view together to tell her story, only taking a misstep into author's voice once or twice. Most of the characters are well-drawn and multi-level.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the books in the set.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A definite page turner
Review: Over the years I have begun to become a bit more picky with my authors. Sara did not disappoint me with this book. I'll agree with another reviewer that she did not come out as strong as Jordan or Martin, but she brought to light a quality story. The action wasn't always as hot as it could be, but in the beginning of a story of this size an author needs to slow down some to bring in as much initial background as possible.
That said... I loved the book. I gave it 4 stars only because book 2 was definitely a 5. I took away enough of what I wanted in this book to make me want to buy the next book in the series.
I find Sara's writing to have enough originality, emotion, and inspiration to recommend her writing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A pleasure to read...
Review: The Sara Dougless triology is by far one of the best series of books I have read. It is a series of Norse fantacy filled with magic, revenge, love, rebirth, and good against evil!

Sara Dougless, now one of my most favorite authors, takes fantacy to another level. It has superior characterization, great imagery, and lovely short chapters. You feel for every character, and in a sense the book makes everything feel so real! I recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a great read and memorable an adventure that you will never forget.

The Wayfarer Redemption, Enchanter, Starman... pure and simply AWESOME!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful fantasy read!
Review: I had never heard of Sara Douglass or her novels when I found this book in the bookstore. I was browsing the fantasy aisles, looking for something new to read after finishing the last book I had picked up.

The prologue creeped me out, but also intrigued me. I had to read the rest of the book to figure out who these people were and what happened after the prologue's end. The answers to those questions aren't revealed until later, but that is the magic of Douglass's writing. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat with questions swirling in your head. Everything is a mystery and you must continue reading to find the answers.

The characters grow and change within the story, as they should. One-dimensional characters are tiring and achingly dull. Axis, Faraday, Azhure, Timozel, and many of the minor characters all grow with their experiences, pushing you further into their story.


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