The Wayfarer Redemption (Tor fantasy) [Mass Market 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!

This book is not totally awful, and if you're under 15 or you've never read a fantasy novel before it might actually excite you. But if you're a dedicated reader of fantasy with some knowledge of what's out there and how elegant and moving the genre can be, I'd give TWR a miss, unless you're looking for something to keep you occupied on the train or during an illness.

TWR is chock-full of fantasy cliches, from the Ancient Prophecy to the Ultimate Evil Arising in the (Insert Compass Point Here); from the Bastard Enchanter of Mixed Blood to the Strangely Eccentric Keepers of the Prophecy. It reminded me of being in junior high and reading _Lord of the Rings_ and thinking, "I want to write something just like that!!!"; it was so gleefully unoriginal.

As far as characters go -- well, if you take one or two from every epic fantasy ever written, you'll have a pretty good idea of who you'll be finding here. Sometimes that's not so bad, as you can welcome stock characters as old friends. Not here. It's more like really bad blurry pictures of old friends. In addition to being stock, the characters are exceedingly one-dimensional except in those rare moments when the writer inserts some kind of emotional distress, which she generally does in the most bombastic tone possible. Another thing that really bothered me about the characters was that every internal conflict was resolved too quickly, like: "Gee my entire way of life is wrong and bigoted? Okay, now that I know that I'll stop and be good!"

Because there was essentially no character development, the book hinges on action to move it along. Half of the action consists of characters running hither and yon all over the face of the country; the other half consists of the obligatory battle scenes. Neither was very well done or engaging.

Some of the ideas could have been interesting if handled by another writer; lack of originality is not necesarily bad in itself if the work is of mythic dimensions. Unfortunately, Ms. Douglass hasn't the skill to pull off a story of archetypal proportions. Her writing is, frankly, juvenile, both in style and technique. This is a writer who has no idea of the use of a semi-colon, who jumps POV far too often and to little effect and whose sentence craft consists of long strings of "It was" statements. There were several places I burst out laughing at her constructions, notably at the point where the mysterious and reclusive magical race was described as having a love of "seduction, magic and interior decorating."

Still, there's something kind of endearing about _The Wayfarer Redemption_, something akin to watching a puppy stumble around and trip over its ears. There's potential there. It's just a question of whether the writer will ever fulfill it, or whether the reader has the patience to stick around until she does.