Customer Reviews

Druid's Sword: Book Four of The Troy Game (Troy Game (Tor))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was massively disappointed in the conclusion of the Troy Game. Previous books in the series were fabulous with intrigueing characters, complex plotline, and excellent story development. The Druid's Sword, however, was very weak in comparison.

The characters that the readers have come to know and love (and hate) have been replaced cardboard cutouts of themselves. It is maddening to see characters that were so infused with emotion and spirit before to be turned into window dressing.
- Weyland Orr is now a insecure whining wimp of man (this was the terror of the 3 previous novels?).
- Noah is whiny and weak.
- Genvissa/Swanne/Jane/Stella is completely disengaged from the storyline, and just shows up occassionally, I guess just so we can remember that she once was a big part of the plot.
- Eaving Sisters are always in the background. I don't think Ecub and Eridth ever even speak in this novel.
- Coel/Lord of the Fairie whines and cries his way through the novel (my! there is a lot of whiners around suddenly!)
- Brutus/Jack is perfect now. This was one of the most unbelievable things in the novel. He now has the answer to everything and never gets angry or impatient.

The two new characters, Grace and the White Queen are actually pretty dull and uninteresting for main characters of the novel. They are supposed to both be tragic icons, one of purity and love, the other of hate and revenge, but they fall flat compared to the high drama that has gone on in the previous three novels.

All in all, I feel cheated somehow. While I did not have an idea about how the series was supposed to be end, I surely expected much better than this. With the previous novels so packed with drama, emotion and action, this novel sorely disappoints.

WARNING: Review may contain SPOILERS.

This was one of the most disappointing books I have ever read.

Douglass created one of the most original and enthralling series with the first three books of the Troy Game, but this concluding volume fell so far below par that I can't even believe it was written by the same person. Some of my major issues with the book:

Whereas the first three novels involved a whole cast of characters who interacted and contributed to the plot, this book was basically the story of Jack and Grace. All other characters were relegated to the sidelines. As some other reviewers pointed out, many of the pivotal characters from prior books didn't even have speaking roles! When certain characters died in the book, I couldn't seem to drudge up any emotion for them at all -- and their death had virtually no meaning to the overall story. It was sad, considering how central these characters had been prior to this book.

Some people may have preferred the shift away from Noah, but I did not. It always seemed to me that she was the central female character in the novel. Hades' Daughter, Gods' Concubine, and Darkwitch Rising were all titles that pertained to her. I expected Druid's Sword to be the same, and was disappointed to find that it was not. We've seen this character grow, mature, love, hate, win, lose, trust, betray, and eventually emerge as a strong female lead to respect and root for, but all of that was thrown away in this book. Noah was reduced to a smothering, sniveling, incapable, unreliable stranger. Many of the other characters were destroyed as well -- Coel and Weyland were shown to be just as useless as Noah. This book may just as well have been part of an entirely different series for all it used the characters' intricate histories and development.

Although Douglass' winding of history into the context of her story is as powerful as ever, the entire plot of this novel felt forced. Catling was too much of the typical unstoppable, all-powerful evil; the White Queen's appearance felt like a cop-out. Throughout the entire book, the characters spend so much of their time railing against how they can't do anything to stop the Troy Game or save Grace. And in the end, they really don't do anything. Their solution is handed to them by this mysterious White Queen, who also remains an un-fleshed-out, un-cared-for character. What happened to the Asterion who terrorized our heroes for two and a half volumes? What happened to the Genvissa who had the power to tie everyone to rebirth? What happened to Eaving, who was supposed to have the powers of the land, darkwitch, and mistress behind her? What happened to Coel's power of and in the Faerie? What happened to Ariadne who could destory the entire Aegean world? It just felt so fake that these characters could do nothing but sit and wring their hands through the entire novel.

The characters of Jack and Grace were too perfect. Jack, as Brutus-William-Louis, was one of the most interesting heroes of any novel I've read, because of his flaws. But all of that seemed to have been glossed over in Druid's Sword. Part of what I loved so much about him in the earlier books was his gradual character development. He went from being a loathsome character to an understandable one. But I didn't feel like his progression had completed yet. He still had some serious issues to deal with at the end of Darkwitch Rising, but suddenly now he's the picture of patience and understanding. It just didn't fit. And Grace felt far too MarySue-ish. I get that she's supposed to be this tragic character, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about her, especially when so many other great characters were tossed aside for her. It was like the author was specifically trying to force atention on Grace by highlighting how bad everyone else was in comparison.

Many parts of the book read like a cheesy romance novel. Jack has spent the last four thousand years in a complex, love-hate relationship with Noah, but that was also thrown aside in Druid's Sword because of this sudden, inexplicable connection to Grace. Jack simply declared he was "tired" of loving Noah and moved on. A pathetic ending to one of the most heart-wrenching relationships I've ever read about. There was no chemistry between Jack and Grace, and their entire relationship felt forced. Readers had to be constantly reminded that these two characters were made for each other -- literally, with Jack's revelation halfway through the book that Grace was his "perfect partner". There was a constant cheapening of Jack's prior relationships with Genvissa, Matilda, and Noah. I lost count of the number of times Douglass felt she had to point out that his prior experiences with these three women were merely a shadow of what he now has with Grace. It bothered me, especially becacuse these relationships were so pivotal to the prior books. Many sections of the book were spent on nothing more than Jack and Grace bolstering each others egos, drowning in each others power, etc. etc.

There are several other things I could nitpick about, but the above list covers most of what I felt was wrong with the book. To sum it up, it felt like the heart and creativity that made the first three novels so great was missing from this book. On the one hand, it's nice to finally have the conclusion to this epic, but on the other hand, the conclusion ruins the great build-up from the prior books. I ended up just trying to get through it as fast as I could so I could move on to something else. If you're like me and need closure to a series, then read it, but don't expect anything near the level you're used to from Douglass' Troy Game.

I have to first and foremost say that I am a big fan of Douglass having read pretty every series she has written. The book was good, it was good to see the twists that this story takes, but unfortunately after having read the rest of this series and her past work it seems that this came short. The problem that I felt, mostly, was that this book became far too easy! All the characters lost their layers, Noah Jack Weyland Matilda Coel etc etc and were horribly two dimensional. Their was no real human frailty in them that the other books did well to establish. They all become people with very specific problems. AND ONE OTHER THING-- when did I have to be told everything about 20 times? After awhile, yes, you know Harry loves the Faerie, Noah likes Jack but loves Weyland, Jack is confused/in love with Grace, Catling wants to be completed, and no one likes the troy game. It just really got annoying when each character either thinks, speaks, or yells the same thought over and over again! I GET IT!
Douglass once wrote on her website that the best thing to do as a writer is to trust your reader to figure some stuff out. When did she start forgetting her own advice and expositioning on every other page? Books are worse when all the plot development comes through all the characters meeting together in a room, one of them goes "Whats going on ___?" "well, let me tell you. ______ happenned" then another"Oh! Then that must mean _______! Now we have to ____!" and so on and so forth.

Whatever... but I did read it :) Its still the ending of a story and it always stinks to leave something unfinished. Besides, it was clear that Douglass had laid the groundwork for this story from the beginning. All the subtle clues back in Hades' daughter about the White Queen and stuff was there. And you still never really know how her books will end!

I've read all of Douglass's series and I usually am disappointed in the last books of the series, so I may be a little biased. But here, it seems like all of the character development from the other books was for naught. What happened to Noah? After having her serve as the central female protagonist for the first several books of the series, it was strange and disappointing to have her so easily supplanted by Grace. Nothing against Grace, but she is not the character who I have come to care about. There is no satisfying end to the tale of the characters we have come to know. Genvissa, Asterion, Brutus, Cornelia, Coel - all are left rather flat. This story could stand on its on without any of the backstory of the other books. That is hardly a compliment to what should be the cumulative final installment in what otherwise was an excellent series. Highly disappointing.

I generally enjoyed this series. I liked the first, loved the second, and though I was not fond of the Weyland/Noah twist of Darkwitch Rising, my disapointment did not deter from the reading experience. Though Druid's Sword plot-wise was not too drastic and I believe cleverly done, character development and roles seemed rather falt, and I could not truly care about them. Genvissa-reborn faded into obscurity, and as another poster said, Noah and Weyland's decline was also disappointing. It seemed like Douglass simply was tired of dealing with old or superfulous characters (Coel as Lord of the Faries is reduced to being sulky and ineffectual after all the development in Darkwitch Rising). However, even though the novel focused on Grace and Jack, their relationship still seemed rather stilted.

I'm sorry to say that towards the end I cared so little to know how it would be resolved I only read to finish it so I could read something else. It started out well but lost its steam too soon. If you read the first three I still think you should read it. In anycase I hope you like it more than I did.

I've been following this series for years, reading each new book avidly as the storyline and the relationships became deeper, richer, more complicated. I couldn't wait to see what sort of denouement Douglass had in store for the Troy Game.

I was particularly interested in what would become of Cornelia/Caela/Noah and her troubled bond with Brutus. I would have been satisfied with either of two possible endings:

(a) A redeemed Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness, and she forgives him.
(b) Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness, and she smacks him upside the head.

Instead, what do I get?

(c) Brutus decides he's "tired" of loving Cornelia and "can't be bothered" with it anymore, and falls head over heels for HER DAUGHTER.

So let me see if I have this straight. If you rape, abuse, and ignore your wife, then proceed to judge and condemn her for the next few lives for the horrible sin of being human, your reward is a younger, prettier version of her who doesn't carry the baggage of your lives together. (Yes, Grace has troubles as well, but hers only serve to show what a Noble, Virtuous, Tragic Heroine she is.) Along the way, the Jack/Grace romance is also used to cheapen the hard-won bond between Cornelia and Asterion.

The plot plods as well; it seems to consist of umpteen characters sitting around talking about how they've all been brought back together and hemming and hawing about what to do. I did sort of like the ending, but it was too little, too late, and with the wrong heroine.

The Troy Game Series has always made me feel a variety of emotions while I was reading the books and leaving a lasting impression on me after each one. Though I mostly felt anger towards the characters, it was Douglass' writing that made me feel that way, which is always a good thing for the author. However, while reading through this final conclusion of a 4,000 year old struggle, I barely felt anything. In fact, I read it just as fast as I had the others, only this time just because I wanted to get it over as soon as possible. What happened?

Well, the first thing that I was disappointed about was the shift from Cornelia/Caela/Noah's point of view to her daughter's, Grace. That immediately indicated a red flag to me as Grace had no history with the other characters, no background whatsoever on how I was supposed to view her. Yes, she does go through a rather dramatic transformation throughout the book, but it felt so rushed. If Douglass started out her character more in the third installment, it would have been a lot better with the development of her character. The other new character in this book also would have benefited if Douglass introduced or at least gave readers a glimpse of the character in the second or third books.

Another thing is that the book only centered on Jack and Grace. What happened to the great character interactions that I read about in the first three books? The interactions that ignited all the drama and emotion that were in turn reflected to me? Sure, everybody is on the same side now, but the other major players could have done something else than just lie in the background. Stella spends more time caroling in the book than she speaks, Harry just goes on and on about the Faerie Realm, Weyland shuts himself from everybody else, and Noah fusses too much and is embarrassed over and over again. And Eaving's Sisters? They did absolutely nothing, let alone speak. Everybody was basically helpless. All the power that each one developed in the first three books was tossed aside in this one. Turning the once vibrant and strong characters from the other books into flat stationary characters was just a bad idea.

As with any of her books, there were some rather good plot twists and surprises, yet it's either that I picked up on her pattern of plots or just paid better attention this time around, but some of them were so predicable. And not to mention the plot was rather repetitive with just the main goal of stalling the completion of the Troy Game while trying some way to save the land and Grace. Time and time again Douglass has to remind us of each character and what they were up to, even though anything rarely changed, just to make sure they still existed and played some sort of role in the plotline.

After reading this final volume and the one to her Wayfarer Redemption Series, I don't think Douglass can conclude very well. But this is the end of the epic four volume series, so one star there and another just because she did manage to catch me off guard.

I loved the first book, liked the second and fell in love when I read the third. So maybe my problem was I had to wait a year and got my hopes too high. It felt rushed, thrown together and like the author didn't atually know how she was going to finish this and pulled something out of thin air to fix that. The only thing that does save this book is Jacks character devolopment. To see Jack grow was amazing. But to see Noah and Weyland shrink after their amazing growth in the last book... I admit it was refreshing to see someone other than Noah in the front lines. Also Harry seemed very unbelievable at the end. And I would have liked a little more closure at the end with the characters. But, even after all this, the book is still worth the read, just if you have been waiting this long and got your hopes up, you might be a little disapointed.

I love fantasy books especially those written by women in the genre like Laura Resnick, Jennifer Fallon, or Trudi Canavan. I was really excited to discover Sara Douglass's The Troy Game series. I had never read her work before and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. The first book in the series was really enjoyable (although it took awhile for me to become engrossed in it) then book 2 and book 3 developed so well I would have to call them amazing. I eagerly jumped into book 4 to read the conclusion. I should have just pretended book 3 was the end. Druid's Sword is probably the most disappointed in a book I have ever been. There is no character development like we saw in books 2 and 3, in fact; the characters either regressed or basically disappeared from the plot. The book began to revolve around Jack and Grace, the two least interesting people in the book. This book took me so far from the first few books that I began to skim it simply to get to the end. I actually have no idea what the fate of Coel, Swann, Loth, or John Thorton even was because I never saw them mentioned in my skimming of the last 100 pages- that's how little such pivotal characters were mentioned! I now have Sara Douglass's Crucible series on my shelf ready to read but I'm not sure if I should even bother.

In this last book all the characters became flat and one dimensional. They lost their passion and interest. And several of them did a 180 in the views and loves with no explanation or information leading up to their changes. I was really shocked and disappointed at how bad this last book was, considering how good the rest were. I was looking forward to rereading this series many times in the future, now it will go to the thrift shop.