The Wayfarer Redemption (Tor fantasy) [Paperback]

The Plot was fresh and exciting, without being overly complicated or simple. There were plenty of twists and turns within the novel which made this book simply un-putdownable, and the character development was excellent. Unlike many other fantasy novels, where you feel like an observer on the battle feild, or in the castle, in Ms. Douglass' books you can actually put yourself in the character's shoes and identify with them! It was a very refreshing change!

The setting of the book is a mythical land that was once called Tencendor. The series follows the escapades of Axis, a man born of human and bird-man blood, and his son, Drago. While this brief (extremely brief!) description may lead you to believe that the story line is cliched/unoriginal (how many stories have you read with bird people? Countless!), I can ssure you that Ms. Douglass gives every character within her plot a unique and unmistakable "Douglass touch" which leaves you in no doubt that her story is not some re-hashed script, but a refreshing, living, in-a-class-of-it's-own story-line, and leaves you wondering why you hadn't discovered Ms. Douglass sooner.

I can not express my delight in finding out that not only has Ms. Douglass finished all six books in this series (don't let the amount put you off, it'll seem like they're not long enough!), but her new series, entitled the Crucible is half way through completion! I can't wait.

I would also like to express my appreciation of Ms. Douglass' efforts in compiling a delightful and entertaining web page, which not only contains information on the author and books, but actual short stories which relate to the plot of the book.. I'd advise all the reviewers here to have a look at www.saradouglass.com it's well worth the experience.

This book is exactly the kind that the literary world needs to keep their plotlines and characters fresh... well done Ms Douglass, keep up the good work!

I have never before read a book or series in which I've yearned for the misery and failure of the main protagonist more than this one.

Without going into much detail, Sara Douglass attempts to instill human realism into the main character by giving him certain....weaknesses....that lead him to take certain actions that even the most flawed fantasy hero would deftly avoid. Unfortunately, while Ms. Douglass' attempts to instill weakness into her hero succeed, those weaknesses, and said hero's resulting hypocrisy and betrayals, only serve to disgust and alienate the reader.

We read fantasy literature for many different reasons, yet in the end, in my opinion, it all boils down to one: we yearn to discover worlds better than our own and people greater than ourselves. We search for a magical place where people we love triumph over monsters we hate. Simply put, we look for the perfect story.

In my opinion, there are many stories that meet this criteria with varying degrees of success. A Song of Ice and Fire (Martin), The Riftwar Saga (Feist), The Belgariad (Eddings), The Lord of the Rings (Tolkein), and my personal favorite fantasy series of all--The Deed of Paksennarion (Moon) are all stunning examples of fantastic brilliance. This series is not.

Perhaps I could have given the series two stars. I thought about it, and had Douglass made more of an effort to reconcile her protagonist's disgusting behavior by creating her supporting cast with weaknesses of their own (ala A Song of Ice and Fire), I would have, but in this she failed miserably. 99% of the characters in this series are the kind of creatures I could and did root for without qualification. Unfortunately, this just served to make the protagonist's weakness and resulting behavior all the more revolting. This kind of amateurishly lopsided character development should not be encouraged, especially in this genre.

Not even Douglass' admittedly fertile imagination and better than average storytelling can not come close to making up for the disgust I felt with Axis SunSoar, the main "hero" (laugh) throughout most of the series.

Avoid this one for anything other than campfire tinder.