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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780765344458
ISBN number: 0765344459
Label: Tor Fantasy
Manufacturer: Tor Fantasy
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 704
Printing Date: May 01, 2007
Publishing house: Tor Fantasy
Sale Popularity Level: 54803
Studio: Tor Fantasy
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Product Description:
World War II London: The Blitz has all Londoners in its grip and people struggle to survive amidst the terror and chaos of constant bombardment. But is it just Hitler’s Luftwaffe 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 been reborn in this time and place and all have come together for one last battle to 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 finish the Game and possibly set all the players free.
But there is a new power that walks the land. It is a power that none anticipated and it has its own agenda. And by its actions could change the world forever. Druid’s Sword is the fourth and concluding volume 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.
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Rated by buyers 
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Warning: Contains Spoilers
Well, I would like to start by saying that I love this author. She has made me cry, shout, and laugh while reading her books and that is very hard to come by. With that said and acknowledging how wonderful the very first three books were, let me move on to this book.
1) Cornelia- Eaving: Her character goes through such an amazing transformation over the series of novels it's mind blowing. In this 4th book, she is portrayed as being weak and irrelevant. The fact that she is a goddess is null evidently at this point as her spell in the end of the novel which is supposed to SHELTER (which is what her goddess name implies) doesn't even work?! I mean, what was the point of her having that name? She has spent all of the books wanting a daughter of her own desperately and what the heck does she get? 1. The troy game incarnate who wants to kill her 2. A dead baby who creates a shadow over the world 3. A self important whiner who robs from her the man she's loved for centuries. Oh yeah, really great for the goddess of the earth and fertility.
2. Brutus reborn - what a joke. We go from a man who rapes his wife and tries to kill her, to feeling sorry for him? I don't think so. There is nothing perfect about this character and the fact that Douglass wants us to forget all that he has done in the past b/c now his is the "lord and savior" is insulting. If I had to hear him say how perfect he and Grace were one more time I was going to rip the novel apart. They are perfect because they've spent all of their times as characters either being shallow, whiny, or ruining everyone else's lives. I really hate that I am supposed to forgive and forget what an awful person he is in this book simply because he's in love with Grace.
3)Grace- I think Douglass threw her into the story to torment people who loved this series. I'm not sure what she is supposed to reflect but her role should have been filled by Eaving, not this simpering little child who should have been destroyed.
4)Weyland - I thought the 3rd novel was genius b/c it took the most evil character in the novels and made us understand why he is the way he is. Unlike Brutus, he has a reason to be brutal and hateful. In this novel, all the power this character had, (you know to completely destroy cities and change the game forever) is completely gone. I mean, he's like the ice cream man who is just there to ring a bell, let people know that something us up, but never really do anything.
5) Ecub, Erith, and Matilda- Well, I'm so happy that they could die and be mentioned for 2 pgs. The very first three books were so enhanced by these characters and I felt like Douglass just didn't feel like writing any more.
These are the main issues I had with this story. The plot was weak but could have been MUCH MUCH better if the characters had been strong. I was so disappointed by this book that I starting reading the very first one again so I would feel better. I hope that the new Dark Glass Mountain series doesn't take a turn for the worse like this one did.
Rated by buyers -
I don't know why I keep reading Sara Douglass. Like most of the other reviewers I had major problems with this book but I shouldn't be surprised. The things that bothered me most seem to be completely characteristic of her novels.
She writes fabulous, gripping stories for the very first two or three books of a series, and then the final book and the conclusion of the epic is an incredible let-down. She has also switched female protagonists and love interests before (in the Wayfarer Redemption series for example). Yet even then I wasn't able to get behind the change. So I don't know why I was surprised to see all of those things happen in this book. What a disappointing conclusion.
So many major characters - that I have followed for the last three books - were a shadow of their former selves. Or they seemed to have been replaced by pod people. Noah, the female protagonist I had come to care about, was quickly and embarrassingly shoved to the side by her daughter. After centuries of building up her power and character she was suddenly irrelevant. Her power was weak (as shown at the end of the book) and she was portrayed as a clingy smothering character, rejected and humiliated by the daughters she loved, rejected and humiliated by the man with whom she had shared thousands of years of love and hate. She seemed to be rejected and humiliated by Sara Douglass herself. After three books that were centered around Noah the ending portrayed her as little more than than a largely irrelevant woman who bred the True Heroine (who we've only met at the end of the series).
Jack had no "comeuppance" which he so richly deserved. Instead it was pounded into us how perfect he and Grace were for each other.
Grace was the Perfect, Innocent, Tragic Heroine. Sickeningly so. As for the rest of the characters, I hardly recognized them. The antagonists were rarely around and had ceased to be antagonists. And yet I kept reading. I was frustrated every time I picked up the book but I wanted to see how it would end.
In the end I was even more disappointed than I thought I would be. We were told over and over again - in the space of a few pages - that the "devising" that Noah had created wasn't strong enough. And this was the devising she had born to create! If she had saved the day in that way it might have redeemed the story just a little bit. But no.
I thought about going back and reading some of the earlier (gripping) novels in this saga to wipe the bad taste away but I'm afraid this disappointing ending will taint those as well now.
I don't know why I keep reading Sara Douglass. I think it's time to stop.
Rated by buyers 
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This book wrapped up all the different story lines of the very first three books. Yes, the characters were different, but it's been 300 years since the last book, what do you expect.
The only complaint out of the book is the ending. It kind of leaves you hanging. The imps and the White Queen are still around and then Grace returns.....does that mean that there will be another book like the Wayfarer Redemption books? I certainly hope so.
Rated by buyers 
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I've been following this series for years, reading each new book avidly as the storyline and the relationships became deeper, richer, more complicated. I couldn't wait to see what sort of denouement Douglass had in store for the Troy Game.
I was particularly interested in what would become of Cornelia/Caela/Noah and her troubled bond with Brutus. I would have been satisfied with either of two possible endings:
(a) A redeemed Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness, and she forgives him.
(b) Brutus asks Cornelia for forgiveness, and she smacks him upside the head.
Instead, what do I get?
(c) Brutus decides he's "tired" of loving Cornelia and "can't be bothered" with it anymore, and falls head over heels for HER DAUGHTER.
So let me see if I have this straight. If you rape, abuse, and ignore your wife, then proceed to judge and condemn her for the subsequent few lives for the horrible sin of being human, your reward is a younger, prettier version of her who doesn't carry the baggage of your lives together. (Yes, Grace has troubles as well, but hers only serve to show what a Noble, Virtuous, Tragic Heroine she is.) Along the way, the Jack/Grace romance is also used to cheapen the hard-won bond between Cornelia and Asterion.
The plot plods as well; it seems to consist of umpteen characters sitting around talking about how they've all been brought back together and hemming and hawing about what to do. I did sort of like the ending, but it was too little, too late, and with the wrong heroine.
Rated by buyers -
OMG!!! What a load of crap. I waited until this book came out in paperback, partly because I was being cheap and partly because I read the reviews, and I am so glad that I did. If I brought this hard cover I would have been so much more upset. The last 3 books were great, I loved them and could not wait for the conclusion, however this book ran like a bad soap opera. There were so many times that I wanted to put it down, burn it, anything to get it away from me, however I am one of those people who once I have started a book I have to see it through to the bitter end. This is one time that I cursed this shortcoming. I am so disappointed in this book, I am disappointed in the conclusion, Ms Douglass has always leaned towards the sopa opera side in her books, but this book went way overboard. Borrow this book from the library, save your money because you are going to need some asprin after banging your head into the walls from frustration.
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