Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but not great
Review: Gave this 3 stars only because something compelled me to read even though I didn't always enjoy what I was reading. I had trouble with the major character being a priest (my issue) and the lack of interaction he had with the other characters (other that the archangel). Also at times I found the priest and his ideas rather annoying. Hey I still read it and will probably read the next one too.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down - but don't accept the theology
Review: I couldn't put this book down! The story linked with the history is a great read, although the Theology contained in it is all upside down and not very helpful for living. Pity about that.
Like Dan Brown's books, you read this one for the rip-roaring yarn, and ignore the theology.
Books 2 & 3 are even better.
Rating: 
Summary: review from an avid sara douglass reader...
Review: I found sara douglass' other books to be enchanting and full of pleasing complications and imagination...
This book, however, was completely awful! I read to page 240 (about halfway through the book) and still couldn't get into the story... I have read historical novels about the plague era that I enjoyed... but this is awful...
All that seemed to happen for 240 pages was that a monk with a bad attitude and no ability to think for himself goes from place to place looking for his predecessor Wynken's book to banish demons to hell... but as he searches, all that seems to happen is he calls women whores and thinks of most humans are evil... He experienced a tragedy that made him seek the church but rather than the tragedy tempering his heart with empathy and understanding, he becomes a misanthropic chauvanistic close-minded pig. I found that by the middle of the book, only one ending would satisfy... that some horror befall the horrid monk...
SARA DOUGLASS IS AN AMAZING AUTHOR... BUT READ THE WAYFARER REDEMPTION SERIES OR ENCHANTER...
Rating:
Summary: Tempting
Review: I have read the first 3 books of the Wayfarer series, waiting impatiently for them to come out, and then my husband finds this at the library for me. It is somewhat frustrating how slowly Douglass' books come to the US.
I found this book hard to put down, with so much going on that at the end I was looking for the other books! If she can pull this together as she did the Wayfarer, this series will make a fascinating and obviously contraversial story. Though she points out that this is fact mixed with fiction, it inspired me to read a little more into this time period and get a taste for the "real" characters.
There are some parts in the book which I did not like, but they were few.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed previous Douglass books or enjoys Lackeys books as well. They are both excellent writers!
Rating:
Summary: Ode to Hate
Review: I love historical fiction and have read many that were very good. In the best there is a blending of the authentic history with the modern so that modern audiences will enjoy the result. The idea is to show the hatreds and ignorance of the past, but not give them a fresh life in the modern world. Someone seems to have neglected to tell Sara Douglass this fact.
I actually imported the book from the UK to read because it was not published here. After reading it I assumed that it was good judgment that prevented US publishers from putting this dreck out on the market. Obviously I was too generous in my assessment of US publishers. TOR should be ashamed of itself, pedaling this filth for cash. It is also interesting that it is ok to hate and slander women in the name of historical accuracy - but would they have published the book if it accurately portrayed medieval attitudes towards Jewish people -- I don't think so. Why is it ok to hate women for fun and profit ?
The main character was filled with hate, for humans, for himself and for women in particular. There were pages and pages of misogyny. Even if this is a true reflection of attitudes at the time, it is not acceptable in a modern work. Especially when there are so many on the net who discuss this book (males) and don't even notice this element - as though it were acceptable, or just part of the warp and weft of entertainment. The real low point of the book is when one of God's angels comes to visit the main character and tells him not to waste time worrying over the pregnant woman he caused to have burned to death, because women should be used for procreation and pleasure and then flushed away like the excrement they are. Now obviously this gives you some pause about what kind of angel he is, but none the less to involve heaven directly in the hatred is repulsive and should never see the light of day. I have not read the other books and have no intention of doing so.
Rating: 
Summary: Her Wayfarer Redemption series is infinitely better
Review: I read Threshold and then the first book of her Wayfarer Redemption series, and instantly went out and bought 3 more of her books because I enjoyed her so much.
This book is very disappointing, especially in light of her other novels. It follows a priest of the Roman Catholic Church on his quest through England, France, and Germany in the 14th century to rid the world of 'evil' - demons and heretics.
The problem here is that the priest never becomes likeable, and it is very difficult to get through a book when you can't cheer on the main character. We're supposed to assume he's working for "good" (he is visited by the Archangel Michael and prays ALL the time), but the side of 'evil' doesn't seem all that evil at all. Instead, the 'heretics' believe that people should be able to "rise above their station" (i.e. change classes via hard work), which is how our society works today, but it was heresy back in the 14th century, when the nobles and the Church got everything and everyone else nothing.
In short, the priest appears to be working for the wrong side, or at least fairly obtuse in what is good and bad. There's a lot of woman-bashing, which to me just makes the priest look like a jerk, but back then women were only seen as temptresses and breeding stock. This book is frustratingly slow-paced, and I only finished it because I kept hoping the priest would get a clue and the book would improve. No such luck.
Rating:
Summary: A change of style for this author
Review: I think previous reviewers of this book are missing the point of the novel. The protagonist Neville is NOT supposed to be likeable, at least not in this first installment. The author has made Neville's beliefs and behaviours reprehensible to make a point. The author is trying to get us to think. Who are the "religious good guys", anyway? Maybe they are not who you think. Are "angel" and "demon" interchangeable terms?
That being said, if you are used to Douglass' style in her other books, you will surely be disappointed here. Frankly, none of her other books are this provocative or thoughtful. Douglass is taking a risk by writing about people who really existed and about situations that actually occurred, and then creating a "what if" scenario that tosses our ingrained religious priciples askew. I have no problem with that, but I admit there are other major writers who have done a better job of it. What lacks in this book is the same thing that lacks in her other novels: believable characters who act consistently and develop at a believable rate.
Don't overlook this book or the Crucible series; it's an interesting read. But don't expect what you're used to from Sara Douglass.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I won't go into to much detail, because the some of the other reviews are fairly detailed so here is a sum up -
I have always enjoyed Sara Douglass's books, and this one is no exception. One of the challenges here is to stay involved with the story even though the main character is extremely unlikable. You are pulled through the story by the plot, to see what happens, not because you actually care about what happens to the main guy. He's quite nasty and unlikable, as opposed to her other books in which you care about the travels and interactions of the main characters.
The history aspect is interesting, and if you find medieval Europe tweaks your interest, it'll add to the lure of this book.
So -- hooking plot, interesting history lessons, unlikeable main character, and a good story overall.
Rating:
Summary: Really horrible writing
Review: Sara Douglass has a somewhat interesting plot here, but her terrible writing makes it almost impossible to follow. While there's been a slight improvement since the horrific Wayfarer Redemption, in which points of view changed within the same paragraphs, the clunking prose and the simpering dialog is still abundant, and the constant taint of amateurish style is never far away. Perhaps it would behoove Ms. Douglass to find a collaborator with whom to write. She could provide her insight and plot ideas, based on whatever scholarship she has attained, to a genuine wordsmith. Maybe then the work would be readable.
Rating:
Summary: Major flaws but somehow kept me going
Review: The Nameless Day is a difficult book to review as there was so much I didn't like about it. To begin with, the main character is extremely unlikable, which isn't an automatic mark against a book, but when the character stays so consistently unlikable for such a long time, it does get a bit wearying. We see some slight glimpses of a better man here and there more towards the end, but following Thomas Neville through several hundred pages can seem a bit of a chore. Worse for me were the many inconsistencies within the book of plot and character. Just to give one example, at one point Thomas is berated and mocked by a small group for having traipsed around much of Europe due to some visions from St. Michael. Then only a few pages later, the same group listens as Thomas tells them of demons and his visions and they all believe him wholeheartedly because according to the author, they had been trained from birth to do so. The two seem pretty mutually exclusive to me and I still can't reconcile the disparate actions beyond the author's need to have the plot go in certain directions so she has characters act any way necessary. One more example--once this group does wholeheartedly believe in the demons and Thomas' vision, they seem surprisingly passive with regard to them. This sort of inconsistency runs throughout the book and is infuriating in places.
Yet somehow, once I got past the first 100 pages, during which I several times considered just stopping, the book did get hold of me somehow, even though I kept marking its flaws. Part of it was an interest in whether Thomas would grow in character. Another was an interest in the God/Angels vs. Demons and which was good which was bad plot. And to be honest, much, if not even most, was when characters I've always been interested in such as Prince Hal and Hotspur and Richard etc. started to make regular appearance. I can't say if those not in the English teacher-Shakespeare reader mold that I come from would find the book as interesting.
The strengths of the book, besides picking some interesting historical/dramatic characters, are its historical setting/detail and its ability to keep the reader guessing a bit with regard to character motivations, with a lot of unclear or shifting alliances and desires. The weaknesses are the aforementioned inconsistencies, the almost unrelenting negativity of the main character, and some hard to swallow plot points/premises.
I'll read the second book, as it continues to move into a period of history I enjoy, but I hope it's better constructed. As for this one, recommended but barely, with a lot of misgiving.
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