Sara Douglass
Books: Fantasy
The Axis Trilogy: The Wayfarer Redemption (2001), Enchanter (2002), Starman (2003)
The Axis Trilogy
The Wayfarer Redemption, Enchanter, Starman
For The Axis Trilogy, the only negative comment I have about the books is that the covers. Although lovely, they seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the books, and The Wayfarer Redemption is especially bad. The scene that in theory might be depicted does not have the correct characters, and there is no sword wielding female in the first book. (Irksome for me, for I like books about swordswomen.)
Regarding the other books, the covers fell victim to ridiculously drawn heroine syndrome. I mean really, do you expect me to believe that a woman fighter carrying a large sword is 1) going to be anorexic thin and 2) going to be dressed in gauze with strategically placed and utterly useless armor? Please!
Yeah, I know that lots of fantasy books have utterly ridiculous covers, and I know that authors rarely have much to do with the cover art, so my negative comment really has nothing to do with the writing or the author, just about the American publication. So I am not sure why teh covers of series bothers me so badly, but they do.
The strange thing is that it is the same artist who did the 'Rhapsody' series, and I liked those covers for the most part.
Go figure.
All that of course says nothing about the books themselves.
I did enjoy the series. I thought it was paced well, I liked the characters, and I liked the plot. I especially liked the twists and turns and the way things turned out.
I do think there were a couple of things that were not completely explained, and I think that although the series was concluded to my satisfaction, there were too many openings for another book or books.
I see that as a negative primarily because I am not a fan of series that continue on forever, because I rarely see it done correctly. Books start out wonderfully, but by the time you get into the seventh or eighth book, you just wish it was over.
But it also could be that she left things open because life is like that--nothing is ever completely concluded in real life, so perhaps I'll just assume she was trying to be realistic and not leave herself open for a new book contract.
So, the series was good and I enjoyed it. It falls into the category of good female author who writes about good female characters and I'll probably pick another of her books up if I come across it.