Crusader (Wayfarer Redemption Series #6) » (Revised)

Sara Douglass was born in South Australia and spent her early working life as a nurse. When she grew tired of mitered corners and starched veils, she worked her way through three degrees at the University of Adelaide, ultimately receiving a Ph.D in early modern English history. She is the author of The Wayfarer Redemption series, The Troy Game series, and the Crucible series. Australia's most successful fantasy author and multiple Aurealis Award winner, Sara Douglass currently resides in Tasmania, where she enjoys tending her gardens and writing more books.

For countless millennia the Star Dance and the TimeKeeper Demons have battled their way across the universe, destroying innumerable planets, laying waste to civilizations across the cosmos.

Choosing the land of Tencendor as their last battleground, the demons break through the Star Gate. The Gate destroyed, all magic in the world is gone and the three races of Tencendor are plunged into a vortex of chaos, madness, and death.

Caelum SunSoar, son of the near-immortal Starman Axis and beloved ruler of all the land's peoples, is dead. Leaderless, those not killed outright or driven mad flee to the one place left to them, Sanctuary, a magical place created ages past to shield all who are good from the wrath of the demons.

There is for some one hope left: DragonStar, Axis's other son. Many believe he is the true StarSon, the only being that can save their world. Others are just as convinced that he is in league with the demons and will be their doom. Only DragonStar knows the truth and as he and his companions go forth to do battle he prays that he may convince all that his motives are pure.

What he does not know is that there is a traitor who plans to hand Sanctuary over to the Demons. A betrayer whose actions could force DragonStar to make a sacrifice so bloody and horrific that it could mean the destruction of everything that he holds dear in this life or the next.

And if he fails, could doom Tecendor to an eternal hell.

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Douglass's powerful conclusion to her Wayfarer Redemption saga (after 2005's Pilgrim), the surviving people of Tencendor have taken refuge in Sanctuary, where they are under siege by star-traveling demons, the TimeKeepers. When treason threatens the resistance, DragonStar, the swordswoman Faraday and other fighters leave Sanctuary in an effort to defeat their opponents through attrition rather than pitched battle. Along the way, the defenders confront any number of knotty ethical dilemmas. Faraday resolves the ambiguities of her feelings for DragonStar, and a host of secondary characters (headed by DragonStar's father, Axis) all play roles that most long-standing readers of this complex fantasy series will find satisfying. Given the large cast and a narrative broken into many short scenes, a glossary is particularly useful, even for those with a good grasp of the backstory. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.