Sara Douglass

[Jack]

I being nosy . Has anyone read anything by Sara Douglass? What did you make of the books/writing style, is it worth my while buying?

 

[Rosemary]

I've read two of her trilogies and have just finished the first book of her latest series.
I have already re-read them as I enjoyed her style of writing. She has created a marvellous world, plenty of details but not too much, to keep me interest and various races of interesting people, while the story-lines have been great.
They were all easy reading for me, without too many things happening in the first chapter! The trilogies also have darker moments and Sara has not held back when it comes to some of these!

 

[Jack]

Thank you Rosemary , should have a lot of free time coming up to read them all in.

 

[Max the Mediocre]

I'd recommend against reading Douglass. I gave the Wayfarer Redemption a shot, and found it to be...decent, at best. You can do worse, but you can also do much, much better.

 

[jenna]

I've read the Axis trilogy and the first two books of the Troy Game series. I enjoyed both very much, I find her to be a good writer, and I like her ideas and story telling. So I would definitely recommend.

 

[digs]

I really enjoy her books, although her most well-known series, The Axis Trilogy (released as the first 3 books of The Wayfarer Redemption in the US) are my least favourites. The ones I like the best are those which are set in our world, or at least a close copy of it, such as The Crucible trilogy and The Troy Game. My favourite though is Threshold, which is a standalone novel, but does tie into her latest series.

 

[Rosemary]

It certainly proves how different our taste in literature is! I didn't like the Troy Game at all... I wasn't very keen on Threshold either but that didn't make it difficult when I read the first book of her new series.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

We discussed the first book of The Troy Game, Hades' Daughter in the now defunct Book Club. Anyone thinking about reading the series might want to look at that thread and weigh the pros and cons.

 

[Werthead]

She is pretty appalling. I'd recommend her only if you haven't read the fifty or so authors who come to mind who are vastly superior (starting with GRRM, Erikson, Bakker, Kearney, Kay, Vance, Tolkien and Lynch).

 

[murphy]

I have to agree with Werthead. Have tried to get into her books, but just can't. It's all a matter of preferences.

 

[jenna]

Well she's certainly no Tolkein or Gemmell, but I wouldn't go as far as to call her appalling! Can I suggest we leave words like that for actual hacks? *coughgoodkindcough*

 

[dekket]

I quite like her. Enjoyed the Axis trilogy, and the Crucible trilogy. Am actually looking forward to Serpent's Bride, the first book of the new Darkglass Mountain Trilogy, which is set in the same world as the Tencendor/Escator/Ashod books.
Have actually just finished reading Threshold, which was very interesting. I wonder if her initial concept was actually to try and write a story that explained the creation/proposed use for the pyramids.

 

[Tickle]

I enjoyed the entire Wayfarer Redemption Series very much. I liked the different characters (even though I think Faraday got the shaft somewhat) and the world. I would definetly recommend this to someone.

I haven't read any of ther others series yet, but they are on my read list.

 

[Lysalis]

Sara Douglass is a terrific writer. Oh, she certainly doesn't hold back to show us the dark sides of human nature in her books. And they are def. no children books.

Her books, all of which I read, are totally enthralling. I read the Axis trilogy, the Wayfarer Redemption, The Crucible, The Troy Game and Treshold.
And 'Beyond the Hanging Wall' and 'The Darkglass Mountain' series are definitly on my list.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I read Battleaxe which is the first book in the Axis trilogy and was disappointed. I recommend not reading it.

 

[Praxxus]

I like finding authors I haven't read that others disagree over. Makes me want to go check them out and see just how their style works for me.
So yet another is added to the list of "to be read" . It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

 

[Lysalis]

I read Battleaxe which is the first book in the Axis trilogy and was disappointed. I recommend not reading it.

Is that a joke? I hope you're just kidding. This was the book which got me addicted to Sara Douglass' World. Not any of her books disappointed me so far.

 

[Clansman]

I'm with HJ on this one. I found the story uninspiring to say the least, and the plot was pretty weak and cliched. This is without getting into the characterization.

Humans are simply too greedy to chop down every tree in sight for religious reasons. They'd do it for money, but not faith. And the ones who chop down trees want to keep doing it, so at some point they realize they have to start planting them again, or only take the big ones. I found the whole tree-chopping down religion thing a reeeeeeeeally big stretch.

Plus, the writing just wasn't that good.

 

[Lioness]

I've found that it's either love it or hate it for Sara Douglass. I love them, but my friend with pretty much the same taste in books as me just can't get into them.

I've only read the Axis Trilogy and some of the series after that, but it got to be too long between books so I sort of gave up. At some stage I'm going to try some of her other books.

 

[Rosemary]

I'm one of those who love her stories, Lioness!

Axis Trilogy and Wayfarer Redemption are her first two series and I have re-read them a number of times.

I've finished book two of Darkglass Mountain and looking forward to the next volume.

As to the long time to wait between each book, well she's no worse than the hallowed names of Erikson, Jordon or Kirkpatrick - just to name a few. Although I fear it's the distributors and/or publishers that often make the wait so long!

I use that time in finding new authors or re-reading her previous books.