Customer Reviews

Threshold

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought I probably wouldn't like this book. I mean, all the reviews said it had a lot to do with math and numbers and that just made it sound boring. But, if you had that same concern relax, this book has very little to do with numbers. If you know what a prime number is you'll be fine and you may even feel a little superior because the author of this book doesn't appear to know that 2 is also a prime number.

Elementals are a group of people who can hear the elements speak in things. They tend to be craftsmen, because they can talk to glass and pottery and gems. But they and their mysterious religion of the gentle beings that live in the place beyond has been mostly whipped out. In the land of Ashdod this religion has been all but banned and replaced with the worship of numbers and mathematical formulas, mostly that of the number one which is seen as perfect. And so, the priests of the One have been building a giant temple to the One for two hundred years, a pyramid covered in glass. Work on this used to be voluntary but now they use slaves.

This is where Tirzah comes in. She's from the north, sold into slavery with her father when they fall into debt. They both make glass, but Tirzah, though only 19 years old, can cage, which is the most difficult part of glass carving. They are sent to work on Threshold, which is the giant temple/pyramid. But there Tirzah discovers that other people can also hear glass speak, and that there is something wrong with Threshold. The glass inside screams for help, and not even the gentle beings from the place beyond know why.

Somehow something evil is coming through threshold, and the only hope for the land is Boaz, a priest of the One, who hates his one gentle side but appears to be an elemental as well. Strangely and beautifully, Tirzah must make this man into someone who will act to save the world.

This is a great story, and a great book about the redeeming power of love. When you finish it you'll find yourself whispering for days: hold me, sooth me, touch me, love me. I disagree with the reviews that say this book is a feminist's worst nightmare, this is a book about never forgetting that everyone can change and love can conquer all, if you nurture it. It does appear that Sara Douglass almost always has an abusive relationship in her books that is blindly ignored-and then somehow fixed but not in a way that always seems healthy, so maybe she has some issues there to work out in her own life. This book though, does do better in the fixing of the abuse than her other novels (Ie "Hades' Daughter.")

Unlike in her other books (all I've read) the darkness and kind of gloomy setting that permeates this book works for Sara Douglass. Be warned-in her other books it doesn't and so they can be not only depressing but actually manage to drain you of life. I don't know what it is, but I havn't really found, with some time to put distance between me and them, reading her other books to be a good experience for me.

Five stars. I liked this better than any of the Troy Game books.

In the cold regions of the North known as Vinland lives Tirzah and her father who create beautiful glass objects. They are contented until Druse gambles away everything they earned, leaving them deeply in dept. To wipe out their arrears, they are sold into slavery and travel by boat to Ashdod in the South. There, Tirzah shows the Master of the Magi Boaz her unusual skill as a glassmaker.

Boaz sends her and her father to Grensholme, the slave city that lies in the shadow of Threshold, a pyramid structure that has taken eight generations to create. All that is left to do is put the finishing touches of glass where needed which is why Tirzah and other master glassmakers are desperately needed. When Tirzah meets other of her kind, she learns she is an Elemental magician and that is why she can hear the glass chatter. Her magic is forbidden in Ashdod where the state religion is the power of the One. When Boaz takes over the working of Threshold he forces her into his bed.

Over time, Tirzah realizes that the Mage is fighting his own nature and when he lets his mask slip can be very loving and tender. On the day Threshold is finished, a creature from the Vale enters the world and takes over the minds of everyone in the area. Tirzah and Boaz along with several other elementals are able to escape to a place where they can learn to use their powers to send the evil creature back into Infinity before he destroys the world.

This stand-alone novel from the creator of The Wayfarer Redemption series is epic in scope and brilliant in world building. There is enough action to satisfy sword and sorcery fans and enough romance to satisfy fans of that genre. The metamorphosis of Boaz from a cold and rigid master to a warm and caring elemental necromancer is totally believable because the character slowly changes by events that affect him personally.

Tirzah is no whimpering lass who submits to slavery but a warrior magician who fights to save herself and her loved ones from the affect of the creature of the Vale. She loves strongly and it is the strength of her caring that allows Boaz to lower his guard around her so that when the time comes he is at her side, fighting to undo the damage he and other magi have caused. Although their goal was not evil, they played around with forces without considering the consequences because in their arrogance, they thought there would be none. They paid a huge price for their presumption and the reader will feel satisfied and more by their ultimate fate. Ultimately it is Boaz who makes the biggest sacrifice but his bond with Tirzah is so strong it overcomes time and space. The audience will want to see the further adventures of Tirzah and Boaz because these two are not the type of characters that will be content to rest on their laurels.

Harriet Klausner

I have read the first book of Sara Douglass' Troy Trilogy. I was not too impressed. I was a bit reluctant to read this one, but I had already ordered "Threshold" and decided to give it a try. When I read the back of the book and other reviews, I did not know what sort of story could be created about a slave girl who could communicate with glass. In fact, is sounded a bit hokey. Perhaps it was the assumption that it would be mediocre, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was immediately pulled into the story.

The story in a nutshell is about a slave girl, who is given a new name Tirzah. She has a special ability to mold (or cage) glass, but her abilities go beyond this since she actually can communicate with it. The girl is sold to monk-like "magi" that are building a large structure called "Threshold." The structure's purpose is to reach into infinity and to give immense power and immortality to the magi. However, unknowingly, they begin to tap into a very evil reservoir of dark power. The magnificant structure has pure evil that seeps from it; and Tirzah fears what will occur when it is completed. As the story progresses you learn more about the magi and their own magic, while you also learn more about Tirzah and her own power. Eventually she learns there are more people like her that practice a forbidden craft of ancient people. Together they fight to stop the construction and free themselves, but their terrifying journey goes beyond what they fear. In the midst of all their scheming, Tirzah must deal with a dangerous relationship with the most revered magnus, Boaz. There is a lot of mathematical references, but nothing overbearing. Also the craft of Tirzah is not too complicated as found in other fantasy books.

Through the book you are introduced to various characters. They are real and believable, but not very easy to get attached to. But in truth, the story is so well laid out and very unique, that I didn't really notice. I read this book very quickly and could almost smell and hear the adventures Tirzah underwent. There were times that I forgot I was even reading. I haven't been this engrossed in a book for quite some time.

What I liked most about the book was that it presented the cruelty of people seduced by power and immortality. It showed how good people can be thwarted but can eventually be changed.

I gave the book a five because I found it intriguing and it left me feeling complete. It was not the most breathtaking conclusion, but it was not over the top. I recommend the book, but not highly recommend. Mainly because I don't know if others would appreciate it as much as I did. So buy it for fewer than five bucks and give a try. The idea itself is commendable.

"Threshold" is a freestanding work by the Australian novelist, Sara Douglass, author of the popular "Wayfarer Redemption and "Troy Game" series. It takes place in an imaginary version of the Biblical kingdom of Ashdod, with elements of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia thrown in. Its main character, Tirzah, a talented glass worker is sold into slavery and forced to work on a monstrous project-Threshold, a pyramid whose mathematically-based magic will (they think) propel its builders into Infinity. But Tirzah, no mere glass worker, can communicate with the glass, and she senses something profoundly evil in the project. The first half of the story concerns her and her friends' attempts to disrupt the construction and her growing but uneasy relationship with her master, the great Magus Boaz. The second half follows the groups' attempts to fight the evil unleashed by Threshold and the love story between Tirzah and a changed Boaz.

For me, "Threshold" is one of those books that I both love and hate-I couldn't stop reading it even though parts of it just didn't work and at times felt downright hokey. The idea of a mystical pyramid, for example, seemed a bit much to me, although the author uses it as an allegory about the dangers of knowledge without wisdom and the need for humility in approaching the unknown.

Many of the characters were well drawn-Tirzah and Isphet particularly. Others were less so-Yaqob, for instance, was supposed to be Tirzah's first love, but he didn't seem particularly lovable or even much more than a cardboard character. The Soulenai, the supernatural beings guiding the group seemed more like spiritual big brothers than powerful beings worthy of worship. As for Boaz, his rapid transformation from hateful Magus to loving hero was just too rapid, and Tirzah's immediate forgiveness of his abuses makes no pyschological sense. He destroys her womb so she won't conceive and later has her thrown into a cell to die without food or water. And she still loves him? Yeah, right. Douglass may have drawn a strong female character here, but she undermines Tirzah's strength by placing her into the standard "love your abuser `cause it's not really his fault" position.

Nonethless, after alI was said and done, I enjoyed reading "Threshold." Unrealistic though it was, I found the romance between Tirzah and Boaz to be one of the best things about the book. Many of the plot twists were interesting, as were many of Douglass's descriptions. For me "Threshold" belongs on that shelf where I keep other guilty reading pleasures-books that I know aren't particularly well-written but are easy to read and easy to enjoy-the literary version of comfort food.

This is the story of Ashdod, a land which mathematician Magi control. The Magi worship the number One with its representation of Infinity. For generations, a pyramid, Threshold, has been under construction: it represents the perfect mathematical formula that will enable the Magi to touch and then to step into Infinity.

Thousands of slaves have been drafted into the construction of Threshold. Among them is a young and gifted glassworker who has been renamed Tirzah. This story is told by Tirzah, who has a very special gift. Tirzah can communicate with the glass which is being used to cover the pyramid. There is something going seriously wrong at Threshold and it is transforming in ways that the Magi cannot control. Threshold was supposed to be a bridge for the Magi into Infinity, but when something comes across the bridge from Infinity things go horribly wrong.

Boaz, the Master Magus, has secrets of his own, and he also knows that Tirzah is hiding something. What are those secrets, and can they work together to save Ashdod?

I enjoyed this novel: there is plenty of page turning action, and while the world created is a bleak one there is hope of redemption. I found that the first half of the story flowed more easily for me than the second half but by then I was so engaged by the characters (especially Tirzah and Boaz) that I found it hard to put the book down. This is the first Sara Douglass novel that I've read and as this novel is the prequel to The Darkglass Mountain Trilogy', I will look for those books next.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is one of those books which I re-read; something I don't do that often. Though most of the plot was rather predictable, Ms. Douglass writes with a certain measure that kept me totally hooked. When Boaz left to destroy Nzame, I cried (literally). If you don't like romance, then don't read this. Emotions are played upon vastly throughout the entire book. I hope the author can come up with more like this, or I will!

In the opening pages of this book, the young woman who narrates it and her father are sold into slavery. As skilled glass workers, they ultimately wind up in a distant kingdom called Ashdod, where the woman is given the name Tirzah and both are put to work building a vast pyramid called Threshold which is being constructed by the Magi, the priest class of Ashdod, for the power they believe it will bring them when complete. Tirzah soon discovers she has magical abilities to communicate with the soul of glass objects, but the possession or use of such abilities is regarded by the Magi as a capital crime.

The first part of this book is very effective, with two striking villains: Boaz, the Magus who oversees construction and suspects Tirzah's magical skills, and Threshold itself, looming,threatening, and mysterious. As Boaz brings the pyramid closer to completion, Tirzah begins to discover and bring out a gentler side in him. Ultimately they fall in love and Boaz is transformed from the villain who will commit any cruelty to complete Threshold to a hero who will pay any price to destroy it, a transformation that I found unpersuasive. At the same time Threshold, once it comes to power, is certainly evil enough, but less mysterious and somehow less intriguing.

Thus the second half of the novel, the story of how Boaz, Tirzah, and their allies fight the evil entity who has entered the world through Threshold, was less successful for me than the first.

Still, the story does have some definite strengths. Tirzah is a strong and interesting protagonist and the writing is good. The section before Tirzah reaches Threshold, while quite brief, is vivid and excellent. The plot is fairly unpredictable, and takes several turns I wasn't expecting.

The Magi are mathematicians and scholars, and an implicit theme of the book seems to be that mathematics and technology are evil. Douglass certainly appears to subscribe to that belief herself; part of the plot hinges on the sequence of the earliest prime numbers which Douglass strangely believes to be 1, 3, 5, 7, 11.... Somehow, the book got into print without this incredibly obvious blunder being detected.

Sold into slavery to pay debts, a glass worker with inherent magical powers ends up helping to build Threshold. Originally devised to tap the unlimited power of creation it is now seen as the gateway for evil entering into the natural world.

The plot for THRESHOLD is new and interesting. Although it drags at times the story does come to a satisfactory conclusion at the end, something that should be remarked upon as it is so rarely found these days.

Characters are for the most part reasonably well portrayed and fleshed out for a stand-alone novel. Although Tirzah's, the main character, falling in love with her torturing, raping master will undoubtedly give the Feministas' stomach pains if not outright heart attacks, it does work in this story. Boaz, the torturing master turned savior, is a well done character although he never achieves the level of `poor misunderstood boy,' at least from me, that Ms. Douglass seems to want to bestow on him.

All in al THRESHOLD is a good story but not a great story. Worth reading, yes, but if it takes you a while to get around to it you won't have missed anything of immediate importance. On balance I would RECOMMEND it, but is a mild recommendation at best.

Threshold, Sara Douglass' 446 page standalone novel definitively proves that the author should stick with series novels. Though Threshold is compulsively readable, it never develops into an engrossing, believable story. The first half is taut and tense. Douglas does an excellent job of creating an aura of menace for Threshold and the villain/hero , Boaz. And then it all just...fizzles. Boaz goes from scary villain to emotionally tortured little boy lost, Tirzah goes from strong woman and credible narrator to all-forgiving mother/saint, and Threshold goes from mysteriously menacing presence to standard stock-fantasy-novel All-Devouring-EVIL-from-the-Dark-Unknown. Threshold turned its victims into mindless stone puppets, and as I neared the finish of Threshold I couldn't help but think that Douglass did the same to her characters. Each facet of the story that inirtially seemed unusual and interesting degenerated into predictable stereotype. It is a credit to Douglass' smooth writing style that I kept reading, anyway. Overall, Threshold is a highly readable, entirely forgettable tale. The only thing I found myself pondering after I turned the last page was where the story failed, and how much better it might have been if Douglass had given the story time to develop at its own pace instead of rushing it all into a single volume.

It was interesting reading Threshold and seeing how the strong female leads in Wayfarer and Troy originally developed. Faraday, Azhure and Cornelia owe much to Tirzah. The story is creative and moves quickly. There are a few twists that keep you guessing but these eventually serve to round out the characters rather than give mystery. That, of course, is Sara Douglass's art and greatest strength; believeable characters who get you into their story not intricate plot twists, monsters or gagets. Great characters, great plot, great writing and a great look over the shoulder, so to speak, for all Sara Douglass fans.