Rating: 
Summary: Series Improves After This First Book
Review: Many early books by wonderful authors show a certain lack of ability in the craft of writing. No one is born with an innate command of the English language, much less with the skill of creating a novel. Masterpieces only come about after years of work, of trial, error and perhaps a success or two along the way. The Wayfarer Redemption is Sara Douglass' first published novel. With this book, Sara Douglass established herself as a successful author. The Wayfarer Redemption, under its original title of Battleaxe: Book One of the Axis Trilogy, was on the short list for the Aurealis Award for best novel in Australia. (The two sequels, Enchanter and Starman, both won this award in a tie.) Locus, the science fiction equivalent of Publisher's Weekly, described The Wayfarer Redemption, as a powerfully complex fantasy. Booklist describes her writing as being as good as early works by Terry Goodkind or David Eddings. Despite these accolades, this book has inherent weaknesses that prevent it from capturing the imagination of readers as effectively as it could have. The characters suffer from a lack of motivation and unrealistic responses. The omniscient narrative is heavy handed. Instead of showing what the characters do and allowing the readers to interpret the feelings, the narrator frequently states what the characters feel while jumping from one point of view to another. The use of The Prophecy of the Destroyer as a plot device was, at best, clumsy. Sara Douglass' writing can only improve from here. As she continues to practice and hone her craft, she will undoubtedly acquire greater skill as Australia's most successful fantasy author. The Wayfarer Redemption exhibits many of the weaknesses seen in writing by inexperienced authors. Despite these drawbacks, though, Sara Douglass has received wide recognition for her writing in the fantasy genre. Currently, she is finishing up "Hades' Daughter, book one of The Troy Game, a series that will span several thousand years.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally Average
Review: I don't often have the time to read much fiction for fun, so I am usually very careful about what I invest myself in. I was convinced to read this one by several early reviews posted here as well as some buzz posted on other outlets. Unfortunately, this novel was an exceptionally average piece of work. The story was fairly standard "epic-fantasy" fare with few surprising plot twists or unexpected developments. The characters were for the most part bland and uninvolving. Douglass seems to be striving for great psychological depth in her characters but the attempt ends up reading like an exploration of layers and layers of the same basic thing with little fresh insight or development. The world shows some promise and has a bit more depth and texture than typical in the genre, but here too there are some grating stereotypes employed. I was able to finish the book, but I felt that my time had not been as well-spent as it might have been. Certainly better than many other recent, and inexplicably popular, pieces (e.g., Weiss and Hickman, Salvatore, etc.) but not even in the same neighborhood as work by such authors as George R. R. Martin, Kate Elliot, Robin Hobb, or J. V. Jones.
Rating: 
Summary: Luckily I found Book 1 with Book 2
Review: I bought The Wayfarer Redemption and Enchanter at the same time. Even though I can devour an average length book a day this gave me 3 plus days of steady reading or wishing I was reading. My tastes range through from Piers Anthony (Isle of Man and of Xanth stuff plus Florida's mound builders) to Robert Jordan. I waited years between George R. R. Martin's first two books in Fire and Ice and started Sara Douglass the day after I finished A Clash of Kings. So the grammer is a bit different. Douglass is an Aussie. Given what we've done in the USA to the Queen's English (or is it still the King's English?), who knows what the Aussies have done to it. The people who quit after 40 or 50 pages missed terrific writing. I was amazed at their comments. It reminds me of the reviewers who panned the movie from Jack Higgins' The Eagle Has Landed because Michael Caine was the villain. He was great. The movie was good. (The book was excellent.) I have pre-ordered the paperback of the next book and hope it comes soon. I put her nearly up there with Jordan, Martin, and Goodkind. The first two books gave a plot within the main story and brought that plot to a conclusion. Each book focuses plenty on the main characters, but the first two have also highlighted the lives of other characters. Even when reading whodunits I don't dismantle the books and watch for each inconsistancy. I ask a writer, whether of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, historical fiction, or thriller, to take me to a new world and lose me in it. Douglass suited me just fine. I strongly recommend her books. Besides, she even tells us in advance that it will be a six book series and bless her for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This book was so boring I quit after the first fifty pages. I probably should have stopped earlier, but I kept hoping something would redeem my decision to part with ($)plus tax. The really sad part is that I was debating between purchasing this book and another by Lynn Flewelling. Mea Culpa, Lynn. I'm not going to bother nitpicking the book's flaws, others have covered all of them before me. My only advice to anyone looking for a GOOD long read is to avoid this book.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly bad.
Review: I can't claim to have read the whole book, because I only read the first forty pages, but based on that sample of the book, I'm choosing not to read another page. First there are the cosmetic problems. Douglass often uses parenthesis when a comma is the appropriate divider. This seriously disturbs the flow of the reading, and she uses it often, sometimes as often as three times a page. Then there is the bizarre capitalization. While this is a personal preference, I really dislike stupid capitalization. You don't have to go further than the opening prophetic poetry to see an example of this, "Wing and Horn" "StarMan" and "Lover." And let us not forget Axis, BattleAxe. While I'm on the subject of prophetic poetry, I have read many, many fantasy books in my time, and thus I've seen plenty examples of prophetic poetry. I honestly believe this is the single worst prophecy I've ever read. If the simple grammatical and writing style problems weren't enough to put me off this book, the actual plot and characters finished the job. As I was reading the opening chapters, all I could think was that I'd seen almost every scene she chose to do, every situation, done before and done better than she did it. I was almost gagging at the opening banquet scene. First, we're just supposed to accept that Axis is so hot that there's not a woman at court not ready to bed him. Then, Douglass chooses to introduce his illegitimacy in the most inane, tired way imaginable. I can't imagine reading another 600 pages of this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Magical Mystery Tour
Review: Sara Douglass is sinfully good. Reading her first installment of The Wayfarer Redemption is not unlike savoring for the first time the likes of A Game of Thrones, Wizard's First Rule, The Eye of the World, or The Magic of Recluse. Sara Douglass weaves a tale that will span six volumes in total. The first book launches the epic with The Prophecy of the Destroyer and a tale of two births. The Prophecy is the backbone of the six-volume epic, but it possesses the vagueness and intrigue of a Nostradamus quatrain. The two births establish a tragic and macabre tone that hints at dark times to follow. Characters are extremely vivid with the exception of Gorgrael and Borneheld. Apparently, these two forces for naughtiness and the ways of evil will be portrayed at greater length in future volumes. How Douglass decides to deal with these characters in future pages will be rather fascinating. Most evil characters become one-dimensional cardboard puppets. One intuits that Douglass will not allow that fate for these two baddies. Axis, the central hub about which the Prophecy revolves, is one of the better fantasy heroes since the creation of Rand al'Thor. As for the book's setting, Douglass has more than successfully created a believable world that is inhabited with diverse races and plenty of menace. Geography plays an important part in the epic's twists and turns, and becomes totally meshed within the plot's web. Trees and lakes become other than what they appear. Yet, nothing becomes too complicated or ridiculous as to damage the reader's willing suspension of belief. Not since Robert Jordan's first foray into The Wheel of Time has a book possessed such addictive qualities. The Wayfarer Redemption is a true page turner that will keep most fantasy lovers up well past his or her bedtime. To reveal any of the actual plot should have one confined within the walls of Gorkenfort, waiting for the eventual ghoulish attack of the spectral Skraelings.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Fantasy w/ Wonderful Characters -- Worth the Read!
Review: The prologue to this novel was exceedingly icky; it gave me the creeps to such an extent that I almost gave up on it! But the prologue was also extremely well-written, so I kept reading -- and I'm so glad I did! I love this book. While the plot was fascinating and engrossing, other reviewers on this page have described it in great detail, so I won't go into that. Besides, for me it was the characters that really made the book. The characters, the characters: Axis, Faraday, GoldFeather, Azhure, even Timozel and Borneheld -- they're all so wonderful, well-drawn and exquisitly real. I felt like they were real people, people I knew and loved (or hated, in the villains' case). Axis and Faraday, the two main characters, are both seemingly ordinary people with hidden, extraordinary gifts; they are caught up in the drama and conflict of the Prophecy, and are simply doing the best they can. They are honorable, good people who try to do the right thing, even though they don't always know what the right thing is. And, most refreshing of all, this book shows actual character development! Axis and Faraday grow and change over the course of the novel; as their intellectual and cultural worlds grow and expand, so do they. They are not the same people at the end of the book as they are in the beginning. Even the villains had depth and complexity to their characters. Borneheld, Axis's half-brother and Faraday's husband, would be very easy to turn into a one-dimentional stick figure of a character, instead of the fully-developed, complicated man that he is. And even though we don't know much about Gorgrael, the main villain, monsterous and hideously evil as he is -- we still sense that he has a little humanity left in him. The way he turned the wraiths into his family, albeit an evil and twisted family, is fascinating to me -- they're both his parents and his children. This is wonderful stuff. If you're looking for an epic fantasy with well-rounded, memorable characters; complex societies and religions; new ideas to mull over; and plenty of straightforward action, then this is the book for you! Be forewarned, however: this is the first book of a six-book series, and only the first three have been released in the United States. And once you start to read, you'll want to keep going! I just finished the first book myself, and I can hardly wait until tomorrow to get my hands on the second one!
Rating: 
Summary: The Wayfarer Redemption - Four Stars
Review: This is a great book for anyone who loves adventure, romance, and fantasy. Who is the Starman? Will Faraday ever see Axis again? What of her marriage to his half-brother Borneheld? After you finish this book, go right on to the second one: Enchanter. You'll like it more than the first!
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting.
Review: This is the first book of the Axis Trilogy (followed by Enchanter and StarMan). The story takes place in Achar, a land ruled by the Seneshal, a powerful religious organisation teaching the Way of the Plough and the fear of the god Artor. For centuries, the Seneshal has also been teaching that two other races living in Achar, the Icarii and the Avar, are evil magical creatures. They are called the Forbidden. Our hero, Axis, is the BattleAxe, the chief commander of the Axe-Wielders, the army of the Seneshal. He's also the illegimate son of the Princess Rivkah, King Priam's late sister, and his half-brother Borneheld is the Duke of Ichtar and heir to the throne. A strong enmity lies between the both of them, as Borneheld has always been jealous of Axis's achievements and success with women, and hated him bitterly because of the shame Axis's birth is causing him. With Ice Creatures appearing at the border, a sign that the evil Gorgrael is stirring, the Acharites are preparing for war. But when Axis is asked to escort Faraday, the beautiful young noblewoman bethroted against her will to Borneheld, to the stronghold of Gorkenfort where his brother lives, they can't help falling in love with each other. However, when stopping at the Keep in the Silent Woman Woods to seek help and answers, Axis reads the Prophecy of the Destroyer: to survive this war, the Acharites have to unite with the people they call the Forbidden, and Faraday has to wed Borneheld to prevent him from killing Axis out of sheer jealousy, as he is the only person who can save the world from Gorgrael. The time has come for them to bring their beliefs into question. The reason why I didn't give this book five stars is that I found Gorgrael and his minions a bit grotesque at times, and were it not for the strong and extremely loveable (or loathable) characters such as the Sentinels, or Belial and Azhure, as well as for the enchanting descriptions of the beautiful relationship the Avar and Icarii have with Nature, maybe I wouldn't have liked this series. But even though the pace of the book can be irregular, the battles scenes are most suspenseful too. In the end I liked BattleAxe (or The Wayfarer Redemption as it's called in the US) a lot, and I admit I can't wait to read the next book, so it mustn't be that bad, must it?
Rating: 
Summary: uggh..
Review: some people could like this book, but im not one of those people. i admit, i dont absolutly dispise it, but im not going to run around and tell u that 'u have to read this book.' i dont like it for several reasons, all of which should be obvious to anyone reading it. first, the plot is totally and completly typical fantasy. 'its ur destany to go off and save the world from the horrible bad guy' i mean come on. u'd think that someone could be a little more origonal. theres always the 'good-guy' the 'bad-guy' the 'evil-guy' the 'damsel' the 'side-kick' and so on.. next, the characters. i didnt like any of the main ones. faraday acts like a second grader chasing her crush. and axis is the every fantasy hero. the other characters were slightly better, the only improvement being that i didnt absoulotly hate them. there was also gorgal (or whatever his name is). he is the 'evil-guy' for no apparent reason. he's bad, ok, but why? there is no evidence as to why he is so terrible. he just is. another thing that bugged me was that there ws no middle ground. the characters were either bad or good. there was no reason why they were one or the other, they just were. honestly! shortly, this book is not un-readable. a lot of people would probably like it. but with its flat characters and sad story-line i can scarecly see how. good luck getting through it.
| 
