Customer Reviews

Starman

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

The first book, Wayfarer Redemption or Battleaxe, was really good (judging by how entertaining it was). The second one, Enchanter, was slightly above average (but still entertaining). The third one, Starman, is so bad words cannot begin to describe it.

I agree with another reviewer, the second and third book should have been called Enchantress part I & II.

I am convinced that the author projected all her desires as a woman into this character.

The author picks her favorite character Ahzure and gives her everything (yup, you read it right, everything). Suddenly she's the smartest, wisest, fastest, strongest, most powerful sorceress, most beautiful, all men lust for her and all women envies her. She can talk to the trees, can travel anywhere at will, and did I mention she can't die?

All characters become useless without her, and that includes Axis (the main character). Nothing can be done without her; no decision is possible if she's not around; they can't win any battle if not for her. Whereas before the battles were epic, Ahzure can now defeat an army of thousands all by herself. Whereas everyone required extreme concentration to use magic, Ahzure can wield as much as she likes without a problem. The fights are won so easily it's not even funny. And of course, after every fight everyone cheers for their savior Ahzure.

I am so disappointed with the third book. It's no longer fantasy, it's just absurd.

The first book in the series isn't bad..in fact I loved it. However, by the third book Sara has destroyed the one character who you have bonded with from the very beginning....Faraday, the heroine. It seemes as through while writing the trilogy, the author thought to herself "Hey, Faraday is just not the heroine I wanted when I started the series...Let's add another woman who can take over," which is the case in the second book. Faraday becomes a second rate female character whose actions mirror that of a slave's. I know there are three more books after this and that Faraday comes back a bitter woman...well wouldn't you be too? But that fact alone does not save Starman from turning out to be the worst book in Douglass's career. In fact, after Starman I swore to myself that I would never buy another Sara Douglass book. If I could've given this a review a negative star I would have.
/rant off

I really did not like Axis. He betrayed Faraday, and didn't take responsiblity for it. He was really lucky that she decided Tendesor was worth her sacrifice, because Axis definitely wasn't. He was soooooooo stupid. I don't understand how both Azhure and Faraday fell in love with him. Also, I thought Azhure became too powerful too quickly. They defeated the Skraelings and Gryphons way too easily.
I think that Faraday desearves more recognition for what she did. She suffered a lot more than Azhure did, and got a lot less. I think most people in her position would hate Axis, and try to make him suffer. I really wanted him to lose to Gorgrael after being such a [jerk] to her.

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.

Sara Douglas has outdone herself in this sweeping conclusion to her Axis trilogy.In Starman, you will watch in awe as Axis and Azhure fulfill the prophecy of destroying axis half-brother, the evil monster Gorgrael.Douglas's skills as a world-builder are more evident in this novel as she describes the beauty of her world. The battle scenes in this book are a wonder to behold as you see Axis and his army with the sorcerous help of his wife,Azhure decimate Gorgrael's army of Skaelings and gryphons.Plot twists in this novel are also great as Wolfstar, the cunning iscaii sorcerer manipulates Axis and Gorgrael and twists the prophecy for his own ends. Axis must not only contend with his nemesis, Gorgrael but also with his ruthless baby son, dragonstar who seeks to kill his own brother Caelum to become firstborn and treachery from Timozel who now leads Gorgrael's army! Douglass's unforgettable series with all of it's magic, color, wonder and spectacle pales in comparison to the heart-tugging conclusion as one character will sacrifice herself so Axis can defeat Gorgrael. I look forward to Sara Douglass's next series because I prophecy to make: She will be a force to reckon with in the fantasy genre!

The Wayfarer Redemption series started out with a bang but, very sadly, it fizzled out in the end. What started out to be so promising at first did not meet up to my expectations falling far short of it.

What I didn't like about the book was that Axis and Azhure, who seemed a tad believable initially, turned out to be gods in the end. Somehow, it just seemed like Ms Douglass was really unable to let the Axis and Azhure go, making them godly,and immortal and not age even though they were already Icarii - somehow magical in its own way. In fact, it kind of ruined the book for me.

The hatred and hostility DragonStar has for his parents was not well-explained, and it didn't seem possible that Drago seem to be more scheming and evil than Gorgrael, even though he was just a baby.

Besides, the battles leading up to the big one with Gorgrael seemed to be more action-packed than Axis's final battle with Gorgrael, which was sadly one-sided and with no real punch at all. We could tell immediately what was going to happen even before the final show-down, and I think that is really a disappointment.

The love-triangle between Axis, Azhure and Faraday came to an end with Faraday sacrificing herself out of love for Axis. Again, another unbelievable, selfless act.

From what I know, there appears to be another 3 books in the Wayfarer Redemption series, which continues the story of Caelum, the StarSon and Drago. I'm willing to continue with the series, and hope that maybe it'll not be such a disappointment as this one.

The first two books, while not great literature, were entertaining enough. The 3rd story takes a turn towards ludicrious. Some of the "it's so dumb I can't take it any more" points:

- Two of the main characters turn into gods or immortals. Axis literally cannot die, but can be killed by his brother.
- The prophecy tells you everything you need to know about the series.
- A newborn baby plots, 2nd male in line for the throne, to get his brother kidnapped, so he can be named hier. The baby has a woman carry him around to carry out the plot.
- The bridge guardian that challenges everyone can be fooled by saying "trust me", and it's a female guardian no less ;-)
- Faraday and Azhure fight off a god by holding on and telling him to go.
- You know the outcome of every battle before the author writes it which leaves no suspence.

I didn't know the author intended the series to be a comedy.

Wow. Sara Douglass apparently missed the lesson in writing class that taught that synonyms are your friends. She really liked the word "cuddled," for some reason. People never hugged, babies were rarely cradled, and bodies were seldom pressed against each other. Also, she seemed unable to think of many other epithets besides "b^tch." I don't really have a problem with it being used to make the characters realistic or whatever, but it's just annoying when it's used as often as it is in this book. I felt like it was on practically every page during some sections, like the whole Smyrton and Artor battle section, and everywhere around Caelum's kidnapping. It constituted 90% of the insults hurled by Douglass's men against her women... which strikes me as sheer laziness on Douglass's part.

Spoiler Alert:
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Starman brings to a close of the first trilogy in the Wayfarer Redemption series. It does so in a disappointing way. The first book sets things up fairly good. The second book basically gives the ending away. And Starman just coasts to the finish line with nothing spectacular to mention. I will run down the list...Are there spectacular battles in this final installment? Um..Nope. The battles are rather pathetic and way too short. The final two battles (the biggest and most important battles supposedly in the whole series) are laughable. The final showdown between Axis and the Destroyer is rather lame and very predictable. I mean Axis is singing the song of the Star Dance to counter the Destroyer's song of Death, while holding a weapon called the Rainbow Scepter (that seems to do nothing more than shoot pretty bright multi-colored lights...but it somehow kills the Destroyer). Are you kidding me? Nothing surprised me at all because everything goes down exactly the way the Prophesy said it would. More on that later...

The characters become annoying. Axis (who is supposedly one of the most powerful beings in the world) suddenly becomes dependent on Azure (who transforms from village simpleton to God status in a blink of an eye). Faraday is the most likable character, but her overall role really gets downplayed. She spends most of her time planting trees, making friends with Azure (you know the gal who stole Axis from right under her), and somehow giving birth to Axis's baby. Oh yea Azure and her team up to fight the Ploughman God. The Sentinels, who were fairly interesting in the first two books, do nothing but walk from sacred site to sacred site to gain the power necessary to build the Rainbow Scepter for Axis. Thats it.

The reason I gave Starman 2 stars instead of 1 is because there are some emotional moments in the book. Even though I saw everything coming, I still got a little caught up in the tragedies and bittersweet moments.

This had potential to be a very good book but Douglass simply dropped the ball on this one. The trilogy as a whole, could have been something very special if Douglass would have done these things....

Limit the scope. We don't need to know what everyone is thinking in every conversation. This style of writing is slightly confusing and really messes up the flow of the story. Basically we know everyone's motivation at any given time. So much for suspense and mystery. Douglass would have been better off picking four or five characters to tell the story through (and stay out of everyone else's head).

Battles. Well battle scenes are not a strong point for Douglass. That would not be too bad in itself, but the way she breezes through her battles, it seems like your fast-forwarding the battle to the end. When two characters can destroy the largest enemy army ever assembled, then something feels wrong. All through out the trilogy, the battles are basically the same. At no point in any battle, do you feel like your in it. You actually feel rather detached.

The Prophesy. Douglass basically gives you the whole story right on the first two pages of the first book in the trilogy. Thats where she wrote out the prophesy, and the whole trilogy follows suit perfectly. Because of this, the mystery is basically gone. All that the trilogy does is set the characters up in their roles to fulfill the prophesy. There are no surprises or twists. You basically know everything you need to know halfway into the second book. It would have been better if there was some irony or twists along the way. Also, there should have been forks for the prophesy. Meaning there should have been more than one path to reach the end. That at least would have kept the element of the unknown and uncertainty going longer.

Overall, this trilogy has potential, but fails to satisfy. It's a shame because the world building is fairly good. Bottom line...there are better fantasy series out there. Read them, skip this one.

Starman, by Sara Douglass is the third novel in the Wayfarer Redemption series. The preceding books are; The Wayfarer Redemption (The Axis Trilogy, Bk 1) and Enchanter (The Wayfarer Redemption, Book 2). Other books in the series are; Sinner (Wayfarer Redemption), Pilgrim: Book Five of the Wayfarer Redemption, and Crusader (The Wayfarer Redemption, Book 6). There is also another novel set in the same world, but different characters, called Beyond the Hanging Wall. That novel is actually the first book I have read by Ms. Douglass and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the first two books so I was eagerly looking forward tot his book. Here are my thoughts on this novel.

The plot of this book carries over from the previous books. The prophecy of the land of Tencendor has come to fruition. Axis, the Starman, is dealing with the after effects of his fight with the Plowmen. Azhure is dealing with the pending pregnancy and fledgling powers she is seeking to develop. Along with Faraday's angst over how she was treated in the previous book and her new found friends that she is destined to help. There is also the looming threat of Gorgrael seeking spread his evil across the world. On the surface there are several plot lines that seem really interesting and worth exploring. However, while I was reading this book I was becoming more and more bogged down. It felt, to me, like Ms. Douglass completely lost the story. There were entirely too many things going on in this book. I would have preferred Ms. Douglass pick one or two of those above mentioned storylines and really expand on them while briefly touching on the others. As it stands I felt my attention drawn to too many places and found it difficult to connect with anything. This plot line was much more jumbled than the first two books, and that was a disappointment for me. I had such high hopes for this book.

The characters in this book are mostly the same cast as from the first two books. You can expect to see; Axis, Faraday, Azhure, Timozel, and several Icarii. In the first two books I really enjoyed several of these characters, there were several memorable moments. However, in this book - much like the plot - the characters were all over the place and many of their actions and decisions felt contrived and forced. For instance, the character Azhure. In the first two books she has doubts, flaws, and seems real. Yet, in this book her character development is at such an accelerated pace she comes across as way too powerful. She lost, for me, any semblance of a connection. Her quick gain of power, and her ability to get whatever she wants completely ruined the character for me. This example can apply, to varying degrees, to almost every character in this book. The dialogue is hit and miss as well. In the first two books the dialogue did an excellent job of supplementing the story. In this book the dialogue, at times, feel like an ice breaking barge that powers through everything. There is little subtly to it. All of these things combined, took away from the characters in such a way that I no longer connected, or cared, about them. The only character I had any semblance of caring for was Faraday, that others I could have cared less about.

A few criticisms about this book:

1 - The character Azhure. While I have criticisms about all the characters, Azhure's character was just so far away from what I had read in the first two books. The immense powers she gains, becoming the best all-powerful type character just came across as wrong n so many ways. I completely tuned out what could have been a very good character.

2 - Too many plotlines. For a five hundred and fifty page book, there are too many things going on. For a novel of this length, I would expect two or three of these things to be present and a couple sub plots. As it is set up though, there appears to be about five or six main plot lines fighting for time in the book.

3 - Too many characters that the reader is supposed to care about. As I was reading this book, I felt as though the author was imploring me to care about a dozen characters. This actually caused me to careless about several of them, namely Axis and Azhure. As with the plot, I think this book would have been better served concentrating on a couple of the characters and not as much on others.

4 - The general clichéd nature of the plot. By that I mean the whole prophecy, great evil (from the north no-less), and great sudden hero who rides in to save the day. I was expecting a different twist, or at least a repackage of some sort. What I got was the same ole same ole plot lines.

Some things I liked about this novel:

1 - As in the first two books, Ms. Douglass proves once again that she is a master of world building. The world itself is steeped in history and has a feel to it like it has been around for a long, long time. This allows the reader to believe the story. I appreciate that level of depth in novels.

2 - I like the unreliability, and price, that magic is in these books. The all powerful spells are fine, but at a certain cost. Also, one could reasonably expect that not every spell will work every time, so that was a nice addition as well.

When all is said and done, after completely this book I was left feeling disappointed and unsatisfied. I expected so much more from this novel, and it just didn't deliver. I have already purchased the next two novels in this series, but at this point in time, with as much fantasy as there is on the bookshelves, I am not sure I will revisit these characters and story. I am all for giving authors a chance, and this is the fourth book by Ms. Douglass that I have read, but when I am so under whelmed and frustrated by a book going back doesn't seem very appealing. I will continue to recommend Beyond the Hanging Wall, but beyond that I will really have to rethink the rest of my recommendations for Ms. Douglass, and that is a shame.