In my Battleaxe review, I remarked that book was all about subverting expectations. Success depended on the heroine marrying the wrong man, the hero was a first class dick, and the forbidden army had a legitimate grudge. In comparison, Enchanter is easier to predict; its foundations were already set up in the previous book so it takes that traction and goes with it.
Axis, the main character, has finally been reunited with his people and is learning the ways of an Enchanter. However war is swiftly coming to Tencendor, and he will need to act quickly to forge humans and Forbidden into an alliance against the horrific Gorgrael. Meanwhile, Faraday suffers in her marriage, her only joy the secret worship of a pagan goddess. Azhure becomes a warrior, but there are things that don't add up about her, and there will be a bloody reckoning before the end.
Axis, the main character, has finally been reunited with his people and is learning the ways of an Enchanter. However war is swiftly coming to Tencendor, and he will need to act quickly to forge humans and Forbidden into an alliance against the horrific Gorgrael. Meanwhile, Faraday suffers in her marriage, her only joy the secret worship of a pagan goddess. Azhure becomes a warrior, but there are things that don't add up about her, and there will be a bloody reckoning before the end.
The fun in this book is watching the characters grow into their own. All the potential that was hinted at in the first book is now fulfilled tenfold. If Battleaxe was about them tentatively accepting their role in the Prophecy, then Enchanter is about actively embracing it. It's also where we see them start to sow the seeds of their downfall (some of which won't come to fruition until several books down the line). Many of these are easily foreseeable problems, and are even called out by other characters, but this book functions like the first half of the tragedy, in which the characters' fatal flaws are set up that will be their doom. Axis' arrogance and Faraday's self-sacrifice for example will cost them heavily, but their mistakes makes sense for who they are and how they perceive themselves.
Also enjoyable was the in-depth exploration of the culture of the Avar and the Icarri, which is one of the most fun examples of world-building I've ever encountered. No, they're not perfect; all three races are deeply flawed and secretly convinced they're superior. Some of them have traditions that the others find repellent (I'm not even going to get into the Icarri incest) or bitter history that makes co-existence difficult. But all of it makes their relationships way more interesting than the stagnant perfection of Tolkien's elves or similar.
Readers should keep in mind this book doesn't shy away from the gore - Faraday's husband gets perhaps the worst of it, though other characters don't do so well either. There are also some seriously questionable actions taken to achieve the protagonists' goals. Lets just say that George R. Martin didn't invent morally flexible characters and leave it at that. The characters' taste for the melodramatic can also get tiring at times, but what the heck, it's all part of Douglass' style.
Ultimately this is a good read and a very worthy installation in one of Australia's fantasy classics. It's easy to find, just head to your local bookshop.
"They were both so young and both so sure life would work out exactly as they hoped. Well, already plans and vows lay shattered across the floor. Could they not see that?"
Also enjoyable was the in-depth exploration of the culture of the Avar and the Icarri, which is one of the most fun examples of world-building I've ever encountered. No, they're not perfect; all three races are deeply flawed and secretly convinced they're superior. Some of them have traditions that the others find repellent (I'm not even going to get into the Icarri incest) or bitter history that makes co-existence difficult. But all of it makes their relationships way more interesting than the stagnant perfection of Tolkien's elves or similar.
Readers should keep in mind this book doesn't shy away from the gore - Faraday's husband gets perhaps the worst of it, though other characters don't do so well either. There are also some seriously questionable actions taken to achieve the protagonists' goals. Lets just say that George R. Martin didn't invent morally flexible characters and leave it at that. The characters' taste for the melodramatic can also get tiring at times, but what the heck, it's all part of Douglass' style.
Ultimately this is a good read and a very worthy installation in one of Australia's fantasy classics. It's easy to find, just head to your local bookshop.
"They were both so young and both so sure life would work out exactly as they hoped. Well, already plans and vows lay shattered across the floor. Could they not see that?"
