Review: Druid's Sword by Sara Douglass

Title: Druid's Sword (The Troy Game #4)
Author: Sara Douglass
Genre: Fantasy - Historical
Media Type: Hard Cover
Published: May 16, 2006
Length: Epic
Reviewer: Jasmyn

1940. The skies above London are filled with German planes on nightly raids, a Blitz that brings a barrage of bombs that pound the city into rubble. Each morning Londoners face the night's handiwork and though they are presented with the possibility of sudden death, they are determined to fight the evil that threatens to destroy their nation. They struggle to live normal lives amid the terror and chaos. 

But is it only Hitler's Luftwaffe and the Blitz that is responsible for all the death and destruction that the city is facing? 

Brutus, the Greek Kingman who brought the bands of power to the isle of Alba millennia ago once again walks the streets of London, this time as an American major. The men and women who are his eternal companions (and sometimes lovers and enemies) have all been reborn in this time and place. They have come together for one last battle to finally complete the magical Labyrinth buried at the heart of the city. Half completed and resonating with an evil power, the Maze calls to them to complete the Game and possibly set all the players free. As Brutus works to find a solution that will end his age-old pain he comes to realize that there is a new power that walks the land. It is strong, hungry, and it has its own agenda. 

And by its actions could change the world forever.

An amazing conclusion to The Troy Game series. It had me on the edge of my seat almost the entire time and ready to scream in anticipation when the ending turned back and forth so many times I felt like I was in a roller coaster (which I'm sure was the intended effect). All the characters are back, including some we hadn't seen since they appeared the first time. The Troy Game is bound and determined to be completed in this lifetime and is willing to do anything to anyone to get it done.

Brutus and Cornelia reborn are in the lead again, but they have changed so much you could hardly recognize them. I don't know how Douglass could have ended the series any better.

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Review: Darkwitch Rising by Sara Douglass

Title: Darkwitch Rising (The Troy Game #3)
Author: Sara Douglass
Genre: Fantasy - Historical
Media Type: Hard Cover
Published: December 27, 2005
Length: Epic
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Darkwitch Rising is the third title in Sara Douglass's compelling Troy Game series, a riveting historical fantasy series of love and revenge set against the very fabric of time itself.

Britian. An ancient land. Most think they know its history. But few suspect and fewer still know the truth. 

For back in the mists of time came Brutus, last of the Trojan kings, who was armed with the knowledge of how to construct a magical Labyrinth that could rival the might of the gods. He was drawn to this place by the alluring sorceress Genvissa and together they almost succeeded in creating the Labyrinth. But in the end they were thwarted by Brutus's wife Cornelia, who understood the danger to the land. Her actions however trapped them all into a endless cycle of death and rebirth until the magic of the Labyrinth is completed. 

Ages pass. Time and again the players have come close to victory but each time there is a new wrinkle to stay the fulfillment of power.

The Now that these soul travelers arrive in is a most unique one. The English are at war, not with a foreign power but amongst themselves; a mighty Civil War that threatens to destroy a nation. A great pestilence is upon the land and the newly restored Charles II sits upon the throne trying to hold chaos at bay...and he is one of the major players in this drama.

And he is not alone.

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In the third book of The Troy Game, we once again see all the old players, plus a few new ones that got caught in the game during book two. Cornelia and Genvissa make quite an astonishing discovery about themselves and their history, as do Brutus and Coel. The Troy Game itself even plays a new bigger role in all that happens. 

A great addition to the story, it propels the characters forward in a journey with an as yet unclear ending.

Review: God's Concubine by Sara Douglass

Title: God's Concubine (The Troy Game #2)

Author: Sara Douglass

Genre: Fantasy - Historical

Media Type: Hard Cover

Published: October 1, 2004

Length: Epic

Reviewer: Jasmyn

From ancient Greece they came, remnants of the glorious Trojans.  Led by Brutus, Kingman, holder of the bands of gold that wield the very magic of the Gods, these travelers are bowed but not broken, and they have come to Albion to begin anew.  A vision of beauty called them to create a new Troy, and when they landed on the shores of the land that became Britain, they found an old magic that was fading.  And so they began to construct a new Labyrinth, a place of magic that will bring unimaginable power to those who can control it.

The temptress who brought Brutus to this land seeks to use him for her own purposes, but in that she fails, for it is the bride of Brutus who dooms the completion of the labyrinth ... and sends all the players in the drama - handsome Brutus, his beautiful wife, Cornelia, and the sensuous and deadly Genvissa - into a hell of death and rebirth, until the Labyrinth is completed and the ancient magic is set free.

A thousand years pass.  Cathedrals rise in place of mud and wattle huts, hymns to saints replace odes to Celtic and Greek gods.  But the magic from the dawn of time waits, and the players are not yet done with their destinies.  They have new faces and new bodies, but old souls - and not all who have come back remember their parts in this drama.  There are kings and princes, deadly court intrigues, and ancient powers awoken.

And a warrior across the sea who only waits for his opportunity to finish what was started centuries before...

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A fantastic second book in The Troy Game series. All the players are re-born in the mid 1000's in England - and they all have an agenda, especially Asterion. As characters develop and evolve we get to see how not even a soul must always remain the same. While some make the decision to stay the same, many others make the decision to grow beyond their previous life's hatreds and desires and move forward towards a greater goal. With quite a surprise at the conclusion that left me shocked and hardly able to wait to pick up book 3.

Review: Hades' Daughter by Sara Douglass

Title: Hades' Daughter (The Troy Game #1)
Author: Sara Douglass
Genre: Fantasy - Historical
Media Type: Hard Cover
Published: November 15, 2003
Length: Epic
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Ancient Greece: A place where the gods hold mortal lives cheap, mere playthings to amuse, delight, and abuse at their will.

But those puny mortals are not wholly devoid of power, for at the cores of their fabulous city-states lie the Labyrinths, where they can shape the powers of the heavens to their own design. When Theseus entered the Labyrinth and came away with the prize of freedom and his beloved Ariadne, Mistress of the Labyrinth, his future seemed assured...until he abandoned her for the unforgivable sin of bearing him only a daughter, and the world changed. From that day forward, all the Labyrinths in the ancient world started to decay. It slowly became clear that power was fading from the city-states.

Was it the natural decline that comes to all cultures or was it because the power of the Labyrinth had been corrupted by a woman spurned?

A hundred years pass - Troy has fallen and the Trojans are a scattered and humbled people. The warrior Brutus is of the line of kings and gods. He wears the golden kingship bands of Troy proudly - but they are his only mementos of a former glory, for he is a man without a country and is left little else but pride and a memory of the latent power that he could wield if but given a chance. When he receives a godsent vision of a distant shore where he can rebuild the ancient kingdom, he will move heaven and earth to reach his destiny.

Ever westward he is drawn, to a lovely and mystical green land that offers him a haven - and a dream of power and conquest. Nothing will deter...not even the entreaties of the young princess whom he took as his wife and bedded against her will. First her hatred - and later her love - torment and bind him. She is the only one who realizes the danger he is stepping into, and she will do anything to save him...and his son, whom she carries in her womb.

For in the mists of Albion there lies a woman of power - a woman who has used her siren call to cloud Brutus's mind and has her own reasons.

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This was the second attempt at this book - the first being when I was a teenager and I just couldn't get through it. This time was totally different. A very complex and compelling story taking us back to the days of the ancient Greek gods. With the fall of the ancient Labyrinth, evil is unleashed on the Greek world and civilization quickly crumbles. Far away on the coast of what will one day be England, one small outpost thrives with the Mistress of the Labyrinth as it's leader. Calling out to her partner, the Kingman, she sets in motion a devastating series of events that will either lead the world into the light, or destroy it forever.

While at times the complex storyline made the book drag a little - every sentence had a reason for being there, you just might not realize it yet. Definitely not a book for those wanting a quick run through a fantasy land, this book requires a bit of concentration - but it's well worth the effort. About half way through things just started falling into place and I had a hard time putting it down.