Kevin's Watch

I stumbled across the first two books of Sara Douglass's "The Wayfarer Redemption" at the library. I gather that this series came out several years ago in Australia, where (according to the PR on the cover of the US edition) she's won many awards and is quite a favorite. I've now finished the 1st two books and have the 3d book on reserve at the library.

The 2d trilogy has yet to be published in the US, and I'm wondering whether anyone here has an opinion on whether it's worth getting impatient for. The reviews on Amazon seemed sort of uneven -- either people think she's the greatest fantasy writer ever (of course, we know the truth of that! ) but others thought the 2d trilogy was nothing but a rehash of the 1st, and not nearly as well done. I get the sense (again, from reviews at Amazon) that that was the case with Eddings' Malloreon, as well (as in, whoa, we just found another Prophecy -- everybody take their places at the deux ex machina again!), and so I haven't rushed off to find the first book of that series yet, even tho I thought the Belgariad was passable.

Opinions? Complaints that I thought the Belgariad was only passable? Thanks, guys!

I think passable is a fair description. Decent characterization and description, just nothing original to say. I even re-read the books a few months back to check just how much of an adolescent thing it was. faint praise, but it's still better than most of the crap on tv.

Never heard of this Douglass, tho.

I have seen her books in the shops, but I did not even pick them up to look at them. (I just assumed that it was just another girl-fantasy-triology.)

I checked the blurb on amazon and it looked a little more promising than that though. But still I do not think that I will buy it unless someone else recommends it.

As for Eddings I have the Belgariad and most of those other books he has written too. The first five are okay, because there although it does not look like it now the books vere somewhat more unique when they first were published. All his other series seems to be pretty much the same series as the first one rewritten, and things tend to get quite a bit out of hand.

Hmm.... Never heard of her.

"Girl-fantasy-trilogy", Ryzel? Hmm, not sure what you mean by that....

The biggest plus to the Douglass series to me, so far, is that both men *and* women have a big role to play in fulfilling the Prophecy and rescuing the world from the usual doom and disaster. The hero/magician leads the troops into battle; one heroine/magician replants the forests that have been cut down by the bad guys; and the other heroine/magician seems to have at least as much power (if not more) than the hero/magician, but I'm now about 200 pp. into book 3 and her role is still a little vague (other than bearing the hero/magician's 3 kids, who, unless I miss my guess, will be the heroes/villians of the second trilogy).

Anyhow, maybe Sky or Vain has heard of this author...??

I personally cannot stand her books. I read the first one, Axis (?), and was left feeling cold - how anyone could get away with so much plagiarism is astonishing. Further, her website is really bad: she goes so far as to list what should be written in books and what should not be. What's interesting is going by her values as to what makes a good book, TCTC should not be published.

I quite enjoyed her first trilogy, and the second one is fairly good, though neither of them are especially great, I would recommend trying the first trilogy at the least.

she goes so far as to list what should be written in books and what should not be. What's interesting is going by her values as to what makes a good book, TCTC should not be published

I haven't looked at her site yet, so could you please explain what she said?

I haven't read Douglas yet, but I will say this in her favor:

I found it very refreshing that she admitted in an interview for the SF Book Club that she had expanded her trilogy because she was urged to by the publisher and offered a lot of money to do so. At least she was honest - unlike guys like Jordan and Goodkind who want us to believe they had fifteen book series in mind when they first started writing, rather than afterwards, when they saw they had the golden goose and could lay golden eggs for the rest of their lives.

As for David Eddings, I read The Belgariad as paperback originals in 1982 and 1983 when they were first published. They were very good, a lot of entertaining characters and humorous dialogue. Then Eddings was offered big bucks by Del Rey and he sold out - so much so that the Malloreon is almost an instant replay of the Belgariad. I mean, give me a break - the same characters literally cover the same ground on the same quest!!!

I struggled through a couple and said, "that's it." If I wanted to re-read, I'd save my money and read The Belgariad again.

snake0024 wrote:I quite enjoyed her first trilogy, and the second one is fairly good, though neither of them are especially great, I would recommend trying the first trilogy at the least.

she goes so far as to list what should be written in books and what should not be. What's interesting is going by her values as to what makes a good book, TCTC should not be published

I haven't looked at her site yet, so could you please explain what she said?

I apologise for the delay, and will try and get the link for you soon.

here it is:

www.saradouglass.com/createw.html