Sara Douglass (1 Viewer)

[em0t]

shes an aussie author and has written a few books- 1 series on like the idea of parallel universes, shes very opinionated and i like some of the theorys she brings up in it.
she also wrote the troy game- a series that is still coming out (the next book isnt coming out till septemberish goddamnit) but yeah i really like them.
shes my fave authour

 

[sladehk]

she's not that bad an author. she writes some pretty good ones sometimes

 

[KFunk]

I was into her writing when I was younger. I read every book she had ever written when I was in primary school. My tastes have kinda moved on however, I bought the first book in the troy game series but never got into it

 

[jhakka]

I liked The Axis Trilogy, The Wayfarer Redemption and Threshold. I want to read more of her stuff.

 

[kami]

Read Troy Game it is light years beyond her other stuff

 

[Benny_]

I read the Axis Trilogy, which I liked. Then I read the Wayfarer Redemption, and I was so disillusioned that I've since given up on her. Beyond the Hanging wall ain't bad though.

 

[jhakka]

I liked the Wayfarer Redemption, though it's not as conventional as Axis. I liked the demons in Wayfarer, but loved the storyline for Axis.

 

[kami]

I liked the Wayfarer Redemption, though it's not as conventional as Axis. I liked the demons in Wayfarer, but loved the storyline for Axis.

The Axis and Wayfarer were good but you just felt like giving all those arrogant Sunsoars a kick up the rear. Ashdod was great though, like Axis/Wayfarer but no Sunsoars

 

[jhakka]

I liked the Sunsoars. Axis was the hero you loved to hate (in Wayfarer).

 

[kami]

But that snotty son of his Caelum. AARGH! not to mention Faraday's son and what he did! I did think Ursa was pretty cool though

 

[rific]

I read the Axis trilogy, still not quite sure if I thought it was worth it or wasted time, but I've read bits of the Troy one and thought it was much better.

I DID like the sunsoars though, finally a bunch of the 'good guys' that weren't their because of their purity or goodness or some other rubbish, but were there because the bad guy needed opponents. Well, that's how I remember them.

 

[jhakka]

The Troy Game by Sara Douglass

Hades' Daughter
God's Concubine
Darkwitch Rising
Druid's Sword (Unreleased)

Has anyone read these books?

The story is based loosely around the history of London, English, with the first book focusing on its birth, and the second around the time of the Norman invasion in 1066. I have yet to read the third, and the fourth is currently unreleased. I have found that serieses(eseses) that are set over thousands of years are usually below par as far as story and standard of writing goes, however Douglass is very surprising, and has so far pulled it off very well.

The characters are fantastic. Some you love. Some you absolutely hate. Characters like Brutus and Cornelia are absolutely superb in their development throughout the first two books, and I have found that you really get to know them. Some (most) aspects of their characters I find that I absolutely hate, though not because they are badly written or developed, but because they are just, at times, awful people. On the other hand, characters like Matilda and Coel are awesome, even though you don't get to know them as well, because of the fact that they are still developed as important characters rather than fillers or plot points. Even characters of a more supernatural nature such as Asterion and Mag are almost made human because of their own stengths and shortcomings.

All in all, I think these books are absolutely fantastic, and I am seriously itching to get my hands on Darkwitch Rising, even though it looks like the paperback won't be released until May next year.

Thoughts?

Please use the spoiler tags when talking about important events, character developments and so on, because there are people (myself included) who have not read all of the books.

(Note: Another Sara Douglass thread exists, however the conversation there is of a more general nature. http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=59377 )

 

[rific]

As I've been talking about books all day, excuse me if I get a little blunt, I'll try not to. Saying that, I thought this latest series was her best works that I've read, which unfortunately doesn't say much, as I thought her other pieces were, to be honest, not worth the paper bag they came in. I did like some of the ideas and characters involved in the Troy Game, I thought Brutus was the most interesting character, and he develops even more in Darkwith Rising, which, I think is the most interesting of them so far, Douglass seems more comfortable with what she is doing by now and, from memory, gets less bogged down with the, largely, inconsequential historical detailing. If you liked the first two, you should really enjoy the third one, expect a couple of 'surprises' in terms of... oh I better not say, it'd probably ruin it for you.

 

[FreakTrigger]

Yet to see these, but "The Crucible" trilogy was quite marvellous.

And pissed off various sections of the church quite mightily...

 

[kami]

I love Troy Game. I want its babies.
Now that that is out of the way, I think its a marvellous piece and now that I've finished Darkwitch Rising I think I like it a little less which makes me a tad sad to say. The preceding books felt very rich, and this one shares this but you can tell at points that it is more rushed than the last two - Ms. Douglass admits so on her very own site.
Now I'm gonna discuss some spoilers and I'm gonna white it out so if anyone who's read it wants to discuss some bits highlight it and so on, and if you don't ignore the rest of this post.

SPOILER ALERT!
What did everyone think of Genvissa's "promotion" to Faerie Queen? It felt a bit...I don't know weird to me. And what of Grace, what exactly is she? Is she a goddess and potential mistress of the labyrinth combined with darkwitch like her mother? Or is she all darkcraft?
END SPOILER

 

[kami]

Just to update this thread, there is a new series in the works by Ms. Douglass which explains the loose ends of her Wayfarer Redemption series. It is also interesting to note that this book interweaves plotlines from Beyond the Hanging Wall and Ashdod also written by Douglass, so it should be very interesting indeed.
http://www.saradouglass.com/darkglass.html

I also just thought I'd announce that the book known as Saving Grace which was to be released has now been renamed to Druid's Sword(I thought Saving Grace sounded much cooler - too much of an "in joke" I suppose though).
There is also an excerpt here: http://www.saradouglass.com/dschap.html

 

[jhakka]

Ugh. I don't like the new title.

Spoiler

The other titles all had a reference to Eaving. Although I suppose she could be Coel's weapon, or something.

 

[kami]

I doubt it...

Spoiler

like the 3rd book the last one is meant to focus on one half of the puzzle so to speak

 

[Hurri]

sure was alot of raping involved in those books.....

 

[kami]

well there were the

Spoiler

Brutus/Cornelia scenes and Asterions prostitutes

but I don't really remember alot of other rape scenes. Besides, rape verges on a convention in entertainment these days, so considering that, there wasn't that much.