Teres

Beauty is much more subjective than power, after all.

Definitely. I remember in my own spork I pointed out that in real life some people think Benedict Cumberbatch is a dreamboat while at least one of my friends thinks he's uglier than a mule's arse. What make it even more ridiculous is that every single woman considered "beautiful" in this stupid trilogy is considered to be that way according to the exact same narrow standards: ALL of them are tall, thin, pale in complexion, and have long luscious hair. Even Shra, who comes from a race of darker-skinned people, is as an adult noted to be "unusually tall and fair-skinned", which just adds some really racist subtext on top of everything else.

Hmmm, I rather think the beauty is supposed to be a reflection of how they are on the inside, so the ferryman is Ugly because he is Bad... which is just as ridiculous, of course.

And which also doesn't work, because Axis' inner nature is not in line with his outer beauty. The man is a complete monster.

It is a quite poor choice for someone who is relatively prominent in both this and StarMan, but then, I suppose Axis and Azhure must have prominence.

Yeah, it's incredibly obvious that Douglass completely lost interest in Faraday and her entire storyline, because Faraday gets completely sidelined in book two so Azhure, the new favourite doll, can get all the attention. Which means that we barely see Timozel either, since he's always with Faraday. And when we are with Faraday it's all just vague mentions of crap like him having "dark thoughts".

Really, as I said in my own spork, Azhure is one of the biggest factors that destroyed the trilogy in the end. If Douglass hadn't become so OBSESSED with that awful woman and making her as special as possible right out of the blue and then letting her take over the entire plot, it might have been salvagable. As it is, by the end there's barely even any plot unless you count Azhure getting more shinies and special random powers and doing everything important. Which obviously I do not.

It's a truism: Mary Sues are Sues not because they look cool and have cool powers, but because the author lets them warp the world around them so that they get to have it all and never face any consequences. Logic and consistency go straight out the window and the entire story and its setting implode.

If this is not meant to imply that Isend is (boo! hiss!) gay, then I do not know what it is supposed to be. And, of course, there is Gorgrael and his interactions with Timozel. For that to work, Douglass has to acknowledge somewhat that gayness exists, after all.

It's a tough one because on the one hand that might be the intention, but on the other, stereotypically gay, "unmanly" traits are often unconsciously slapped onto characters we're not supposed to like because the author just assumes that behaving that way is "creepy" or at least worthy of mockery. There's certainly never any acknowledged gay relationships. There's just male characters who are "othered" by their affected lisps and creepy touching and such. The author might well have not even realised she was making them come off as (insultingly and negatively) queer-coded. Certainly very few people realised that was what was going on with a lot of classic Disney villains, and Sara Douglass has never struck me as being self-aware enough to pick up on subtext.

Oh yes, all the wailing about how terrible separating is and how horrible Borneheld will be rings rather false, especially since Faraday was quite fine with marrying him before the Sentinels came along.

They didn't even give her any concrete reasons to not like the guy, which just makes her look even more stupid and easily led.

It comes down to "only people who are rough and/or slimy (those you would already expect to be sexist) are actually sexist", does it not?

That's exactly what it comes down to. As a woman who grew up in about the same time period as this series was being published, that's EXACTLY what girls like me were taught from a very early age. If a man is ugly and creepy-looking, then if he starts making lecherous comments or trying to lay his hands on you, that's awful and he's bad and evil! But if a young, handsome man follows you around without your knowledge, sneaks into your house, stands outside your bedroom window with a boombox, won't take no for anything other than you just playing hard to get, laughs off your discomfort or anger, and a whole lot of other completely unacceptable behaviour, that's "romantic" and he's a good guy who's the one for you. You shouldn't expect him to show you any respect or consideration. Instead just go along with what he wants and you will live happily ever after.

And no, that is not even close to an exaggeration. That is what we're taught and are still being taught. That "Romantasy" bullshit is still reinforcing that garbage. Why else do so many of us end up in relationships with scumbags who reel us in and then start abusing us as soon as we say no? Because we're not being taught how to recognise a scumbag, or how to get away from one.

Just watch. Watch how Axis behaves. How he uses superficial charm to lure in this poor idiot Faraday who's half his age and has no experience. How he later lures in Azhure as well. Then, in both cases, once the woman is in his power, that's when the abuse starts. He rapes Faraday. He rapes Azhure as well. He emotionally abuses both of them, and physically abuses Azhure. And at no point is it ever even suggested that one or both of them might just... you know, LEAVE HIM. It's never a serious consideration. Instead the message is "stay and put up with the abuse. Forever. And have his babies whether you like it or not".

No wonder so many women my age and older are so bitter. At least I'm lucky enough that I had a couple of awful would-be boyfriends and that was it.