Druid's Sword: Book Four of The Troy Game [Hardcover]

I was massively disappointed in the conclusion of the Troy Game. Previous books in the series were fabulous with intrigueing characters, complex plotline, and excellent story development. The Druid's Sword, however, was very weak in comparison.

The characters that the readers have come to know and love (and hate) have been replaced cardboard cutouts of themselves. It is maddening to see characters that were so infused with emotion and spirit before to be turned into window dressing.

- Weyland Orr is now a insecure whining wimp of man (this was the terror of the 3 previous novels?).

- Noah is whiny and weak.

- Genvissa/Swanne/Jane/Stella is completely disengaged from the storyline, and just shows up occassionally, I guess just so we can remember that she once was a big part of the plot.

- Eaving Sisters are always in the background. I don't think Ecub and Eridth ever even speak in this novel.

- Coel/Lord of the Fairie whines and cries his way through the novel (my! there is a lot of whiners around suddenly!)

- Brutus/Jack is perfect now. This was one of the most unbelievable things in the novel. He now has the answer to everything and never gets angry or impatient.

The two new characters, Grace and the White Queen are actually pretty dull and uninteresting for main characters of the novel. They are supposed to both be tragic icons, one of purity and love, the other of hate and revenge, but they fall flat compared to the high drama that has gone on in the previous three novels.

All in all, I feel cheated somehow. While I did not have an idea about how the series was supposed to be end, I surely expected much better than this. With the previous novels so packed with drama, emotion and action, this novel sorely disappoints.

WARNING: Review may contain SPOILERS.

This was one of the most disappointing books I have ever read.

Douglass created one of the most original and enthralling series with the first three books of the Troy Game, but this concluding volume fell so far below par that I can't even believe it was written by the same person. Some of my major issues with the book:

Whereas the first three novels involved a whole cast of characters who interacted and contributed to the plot, this book was basically the story of Jack and Grace. All other characters were relegated to the sidelines. As some other reviewers pointed out, many of the pivotal characters from prior books didn't even have speaking roles! When certain characters died in the book, I couldn't seem to drudge up any emotion for them at all -- and their death had virtually no meaning to the overall story. It was sad, considering how central these characters had been prior to this book.

Some people may have preferred the shift away from Noah, but I did not. It always seemed to me that she was the central female character in the novel. Hades' Daughter, Gods' Concubine, and Darkwitch Rising were all titles that pertained to her. I expected Druid's Sword to be the same, and was disappointed to find that it was not. We've seen this character grow, mature, love, hate, win, lose, trust, betray, and eventually emerge as a strong female lead to respect and root for, but all of that was thrown away in this book. Noah was reduced to a smothering, sniveling, incapable, unreliable stranger. Many of the other characters were destroyed as well -- Coel and Weyland were shown to be just as useless as Noah. This book may just as well have been part of an entirely different series for all it used the characters' intricate histories and development.

Although Douglass' winding of history into the context of her story is as powerful as ever, the entire plot of this novel felt forced. Catling was too much of the typical unstoppable, all-powerful evil; the White Queen's appearance felt like a cop-out. Throughout the entire book, the characters spend so much of their time railing against how they can't do anything to stop the Troy Game or save Grace. And in the end, they really don't do anything. Their solution is handed to them by this mysterious White Queen, who also remains an un-fleshed-out, un-cared-for character. What happened to the Asterion who terrorized our heroes for two and a half volumes? What happened to the Genvissa who had the power to tie everyone to rebirth? What happened to Eaving, who was supposed to have the powers of the land, darkwitch, and mistress behind her? What happened to Coel's power of and in the Faerie? What happened to Ariadne who could destory the entire Aegean world? It just felt so fake that these characters could do nothing but sit and wring their hands through the entire novel.

The characters of Jack and Grace were too perfect. Jack, as Brutus-William-Louis, was one of the most interesting heroes of any novel I've read, because of his flaws. But all of that seemed to have been glossed over in Druid's Sword. Part of what I loved so much about him in the earlier books was his gradual character development. He went from being a loathsome character to an understandable one. But I didn't feel like his progression had completed yet. He still had some serious issues to deal with at the end of Darkwitch Rising, but suddenly now he's the picture of patience and understanding. It just didn't fit. And Grace felt far too MarySue-ish. I get that she's supposed to be this tragic character, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about her, especially when so many other great characters were tossed aside for her. It was like the author was specifically trying to force atention on Grace by highlighting how bad everyone else was in comparison.

Many parts of the book read like a cheesy romance novel. Jack has spent the last four thousand years in a complex, love-hate relationship with Noah, but that was also thrown aside in Druid's Sword because of this sudden, inexplicable connection to Grace. Jack simply declared he was "tired" of loving Noah and moved on. A pathetic ending to one of the most heart-wrenching relationships I've ever read about. There was no chemistry between Jack and Grace, and their entire relationship felt forced. Readers had to be constantly reminded that these two characters were made for each other -- literally, with Jack's revelation halfway through the book that Grace was his "perfect partner". There was a constant cheapening of Jack's prior relationships with Genvissa, Matilda, and Noah. I lost count of the number of times Douglass felt she had to point out that his prior experiences with these three women were merely a shadow of what he now has with Grace. It bothered me, especially becacuse these relationships were so pivotal to the prior books. Many sections of the book were spent on nothing more than Jack and Grace bolstering each others egos, drowning in each others power, etc. etc.

There are several other things I could nitpick about, but the above list covers most of what I felt was wrong with the book. To sum it up, it felt like the heart and creativity that made the first three novels so great was missing from this book. On the one hand, it's nice to finally have the conclusion to this epic, but on the other hand, the conclusion ruins the great build-up from the prior books. I ended up just trying to get through it as fast as I could so I could move on to something else. If you're like me and need closure to a series, then read it, but don't expect anything near the level you're used to from Douglass' Troy Game.

I have to first and foremost say that I am a big fan of Douglass having read pretty every series she has written. The book was good, it was good to see the twists that this story takes, but unfortunately after having read the rest of this series and her past work it seems that this came short. The problem that I felt, mostly, was that this book became far too easy! All the characters lost their layers, Noah Jack Weyland Matilda Coel etc etc and were horribly two dimensional. Their was no real human frailty in them that the other books did well to establish. They all become people with very specific problems. AND ONE OTHER THING-- when did I have to be told everything about 20 times? After awhile, yes, you know Harry loves the Faerie, Noah likes Jack but loves Weyland, Jack is confused/in love with Grace, Catling wants to be completed, and no one likes the troy game. It just really got annoying when each character either thinks, speaks, or yells the same thought over and over again! I GET IT!

Douglass once wrote on her website that the best thing to do as a writer is to trust your reader to figure some stuff out. When did she start forgetting her own advice and expositioning on every other page? Books are worse when all the plot development comes through all the characters meeting together in a room, one of them goes "Whats going on ___?" "well, let me tell you. ______ happenned" then another"Oh! Then that must mean _______! Now we have to ____!" and so on and so forth.

Whatever... but I did read it :) Its still the ending of a story and it always stinks to leave something unfinished. Besides, it was clear that Douglass had laid the groundwork for this story from the beginning. All the subtle clues back in Hades' daughter about the White Queen and stuff was there. And you still never really know how her books will end!

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