This is book two of the Axis Trilogy, and follows the same path as many middle novels in trilogies - lots of events but mainly getting all the main players into the right places for the big wrap up in book three. In this novel Axis is trying to bring the Prophecy to fruition - seeking to unite the Acharites with the Avar and the Icarii against opposition from his half-brother Borneheld and, ultimately, Gorgrael. We learn more about the mysterious ninth Talon and finally discover Azhure's heritage.I've awarded this book three stars because, despite its many faults, I felt compelled to constantly read just one more chapter. Douglass whips through events at a mind-boggling pace and delivers said events with a smooth narrative.However, I don't quite know why I wanted to keep reading! The book is cliche-ridden, from the fact that there is a Prophecy guiding the steps of the main protagonists to the Ravensbundmen, a nomadic horse tribe with bells chiming in their hair and tattoos covering their faces.In addition to this, I also found it hard to like any of the characters: Axis is cruel in the manner with which he treats Faraday and I find him a little too smug and arrogant; Faraday is a complete martyr - her doormat tendencies at the end of the book make me incredibly frustrated. And Azhure! Where do we start with her? She is just so AMAZING (to the other characters, not to me) all the time - everyone loves her or lusts after her; she is a village girl who ends up being given squads to train and has remarkable leadership qualities; she looks after the supply needs for a garrison of 3000 men. All this on top of being remarkably beautiful and perceptive. And intelligent. And compassionate. You get the picture. I ended up reading with complete disbelief all the myriad capabilities of this woman and it quickly became very tired.On the plus side Douglass does well with her character development - even the secondary characters are fleshed out and given strong visual descriptions at the very least, while some of them are almost as memorable as the main characters. The only area where she fails in this is the SunSoar family and their attendants (and how I still hate the cutesy manner in which Douglass names the Icarii with all those random capital letters!) I find most of the Icarii completely interchangeable - only StarDrifter stands out properly from the rest (but this is possibly due to revulsion, after he vowed he would woo his grand-daughter - that is just too disturbing).My final negative point concerns the fact hat everything seems to come too easily to these characters - they have a lot of moments where they make bizarre leaps of logic to serve the plot. There are a progression of events that lead me to exclaim in disgust: Axis needs everyone to hear the Prophecy, so it is made magically memorable; Axis needs food at Sigholt for his new army, so the lake miraculously makes vegetables grow quicker. The Icarii are accepted by the Acharites, despite eons of hate and enmity. Both the Icarii and Acharites just accept Axis' leadership once Borneheld is out of the way. It leads me to the point where I feel little tension or fear for the characters.To summarise: this book left me thinking 'beige'. I read it quickly enough, but there was enough to feel exasperated by that I don't rate this trilogy as a must-read for anyone.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3...cover:'Welcome Axis, into the House of SunSoar and into my heart ... Sing well and fly high and may nothing and no one tear your feet from the path of the Star Dance again.'Axis has fled to Talon Spike, the home of the Icarii, where he must learn to wield his Enchanter powers to fulfil the Prophecy. Somehow he must lead the Icarii and the Avar back into Achat, defeat his half-brother Borneheld and reunite the former kingdom of Tencendor under his rule.Meanwhile, Gorgreal waits impatiently for winter, to continue his destructive drive into the heart of Achar ...I read the first book, Battleaxe, the other day & had to continue immediately onto this, the 2nd book. I'm enjoying the story very much. This is classic swords & sorcery fantasy written in the epic style, so I have a long way to go before everything is resolved.There is the usual frustration with these books - one set of adversities is resolved but more problems come up in the resolution. No sooner are Axis' relationship problems settled than those same relationships create a future problem - annoying rather than intriguing, & a little disappointing in its formulaic notion: the man has enough problems saving Tencendor without being set up for more. Still, this is par for the course; The Sword of Truth & Wheel of Time series being typical examples of the same.Minor complaints aside, I'm liking the story enough to continue. Having started, I must find out what happens.
Do You like book Enchanter (2002)?
To start off - I really enjoyed the first book. I found the characters to be flawed but genuine, and the story intriguing. That said, I was disappointed with the second book. While I can see how Douglass wants to create a flawed anti-hero type of protagonist - Axis' disregard and blatant disrespect of the female characters in this novel is astounding. I was proud of Faraday for what she did regarding Axis (in some ways) at the end of the novel, and appalled at Azhure's thoughts and actions in regards to what Axis had done to his former love. She reveled too much in the things that he had done for her...forgetting Faraday's brave actions at Gorkenfort. Most of the novel Azhure laments over his former lover but does nothing about it. What does this say about women? Axis treats both of the female characters BADLY and yet they can't help but love him? How can he go through the entire book thinking that they would be accepting of each other? I have little sympathy for Azhure and Axis - which is a pity since I enjoyed them in first novel.That out of the way - I did find the ending to contain a nice twist (even though I anticipated it halfway through the novel). It played out nicely - I found the Faraday/Axis scenes heartbreaking. I haven't read the third book "Starman" yet, but I will pick it up and hope that it redeems the series for me. If not, I doubt that I will move on to the remaining books.
—Allie
I was surprised to find myself enjoying this book more than I had book 1 of the trilogy. Normally the second book in a trilogy is the weakest of the three, but I found that the story of Axis developed a lot more with this book, whilst moving at a quicker pace and introducing more interesting characters and plot twists.Although I would consider this book to be highly readable, I wouldn't consider Douglass to be a writer of high skill. Undoubtedly she can contruct a story very well indeed, but she tends to limit herself to prose, failing to demonstrate much ability to create imagery, especially in the battle scenes, which read as inert past-tense narration - she doesn't paint the scene in a vivid way. She is, however, very skilled at holding the readers interest - giving a little away at a time. I couldn't put this book down.
—Donna
SPOILER ALERT PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISKok sooo i have decided to drop this book....i absolutley loved the first book but now this!?!?! what happened Miss Douglass??? your first book was full of awesomeness (if that's even a word) but your second book was driving me mad!!i treat my books very well, they are like sacred to me. but this book has been thrown across my room multiple times, has been hit in my face because i was dying out of frustration and annoyance, and has nearly been lit on fire!! but i didn't because it would be considered a sacrilege! i hated how the main protagonist who has the gall to be called the "hero" is such an asshole in this one!! bedding two women and pretending to love them both! really??? now you have me started about my feministic beliefs!!!! i just grew to dislike it more and more! which is weird because i loved the first book!seriously, my face the whole time was like this ----> (-__________-)thats right i gave it the whale face!?!!?i rate it 2 stars.....i was not happy............
—Vee
