Threshold: Amazon.ca: Sara Douglass: Books

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Douglass presents an original variation on the theme of the man, or in this case, magus, who must undo the harm he unwittingly put in motion. On the plains of Ashod rises the great, glass-encased pyramid Threshold, a mathematical and architectural wonder that has taken the Magi and multitudes of slaves eight generations to build. Nearly completed, it awaits only its capstone. Meanwhile, the glassworker Tirzah, a slave, hides a secret from her masters: she can communicate with glass, and has heard the glass in Threshold scream in pain. The glass knows what Tirzah can but feel and the Magi wouldn't believe: that, more than a building, Threshold is a gateway. When it is completed, something from another dimension will come through it. Already, it has started taking lives. Can Tirzah and her fellow slaves halt the construction? Will Boaz, the magus whose alternating kindness and sternness to Tirzah leave her hoping but confused, accept the truth before the capstone is placed? Full of original touches, this is very good storytelling. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

A stand-alone novel by the author of The Wayfarer Redemption series--"Sara Douglass is a powerful voice in high fantasy that readers can equate to the likes of Robert Jordan, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffrey."

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VILAND is a cold, brutal place, yet I grew there and loved it as much as it would allow. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars `Hold me, sooth me, touch me, love me.', Mar 7 2010

By

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Threshold (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the story of Ashdod, a land which mathematician Magi control. The Magi worship the number One with its representation of Infinity. For generations, a pyramid, Threshold, has been under construction: it represents the perfect mathematical formula that will enable the Magi to touch and then to step into Infinity.
Thousands of slaves have been drafted into the construction of Threshold. Among them is a young and gifted glassworker who has been renamed Tirzah. This story is told by Tirzah, who has a very special gift. Tirzah can communicate with the glass which is being used to cover the pyramid. There is something going seriously wrong at Threshold and it is transforming in ways that the Magi cannot control. Threshold was supposed to be a bridge for the Magi into Infinity, but when something comes across the bridge from Infinity things go horribly wrong.

Boaz, the Master Magus, has secrets of his own, and he also knows that Tirzah is hiding something. What are those secrets, and can they work together to save Ashdod?

I enjoyed this novel: there is plenty of page turning action, and while the world created is a bleak one there is hope of redemption. I found that the first half of the story flowed more easily for me than the second half but by then I was so engaged by the characters (especially Tirzah and Boaz) that I found it hard to put the book down. This is the first Sara Douglass novel that I've read and as this novel is the prequel to The Darkglass Mountain Trilogy', I will look for those books next.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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4.0 out of 5 stars Comfort food with major flaws, July 12 2004

By

abt1950 "abt1950" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Threshold (Mass Market Paperback)

"Threshold" is a freestanding work by the Australian novelist, Sara Douglass, author of the popular "Wayfarer Redemption and "Troy Game" series. It takes place in an imaginary version of the Biblical kingdom of Ashdod, with elements of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia thrown in. Its main character, Tirzah, a talented glass worker is sold into slavery and forced to work on a monstrous project-Threshold, a pyramid whose mathematically-based magic will (they think) propel its builders into Infinity. But Tirzah, no mere glass worker, can communicate with the glass, and she senses something profoundly evil in the project. The first half of the story concerns her and her friends' attempts to disrupt the construction and her growing but uneasy relationship with her master, the great Magus Boaz. The second half follows the groups' attempts to fight the evil unleashed by Threshold and the love story between Tirzah and a changed Boaz.

For me, "Threshold" is one of those books that I both love and hate-I couldn't stop reading it even though parts of it just didn't work and at times felt downright hokey. The idea of a mystical pyramid, for example, seemed a bit much to me, although the author uses it as an allegory about the dangers of knowledge without wisdom and the need for humility in approaching the unknown.

Many of the characters were well drawn-Tirzah and Isphet particularly. Others were less so-Yaqob, for instance, was supposed to be Tirzah's first love, but he didn't seem particularly lovable or even much more than a cardboard character. The Soulenai, the supernatural beings guiding the group seemed more like spiritual big brothers than powerful beings worthy of worship. As for Boaz, his rapid transformation from hateful Magus to loving hero was just too rapid, and Tirzah's immediate forgiveness of his abuses makes no pyschological sense. He destroys her womb so she won't conceive and later has her thrown into a cell to die without food or water. And she still loves him? Yeah, right. Douglass may have drawn a strong female character here, but she undermines Tirzah's strength by placing her into the standard "love your abuser 'cause it's not really his fault" position.

Nonethless, after alI was said and done, I enjoyed reading "Threshold." Unrealistic though it was, I found the romance between Tirzah and Boaz to be one of the best things about the book. Many of the plot twists were interesting, as were many of Douglass's descriptions. For me "Threshold" belongs on that shelf where I keep other guilty reading pleasures-books that I know aren't particularly well-written but are easy to read and easy to enjoy-the literary version of comfort food.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Just read this, May 18 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Threshold (Hardcover)

THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME!!! Sara Douglass catches your attention on the first page and holds it through the entire book until the very last page. The characters are so well written I began crying when something bad would happen to any of them I got so attached. Its wonderful how she never lets you know Tirzah's real name until the very end. It keeps you reading just so you will find out her name!!

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Most recent customer reviews

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