BattleAxe First Read: Prologue (Part I)

[pangolin20]

Table of Contents | Prologue (Part II)

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I would like to do the Axis Trilogy and its sequels as one of my sporking projects. But, before I begin, I do need to know what’s exactly in them. And to do that, I’m about to begin with a live-read of these books. So, here is the Nimble Rascally Summer Green-Parakeet (NRSG)!

NRSG: So you have seriously begun with this? And you have even invited me? You are certainly generous. And, from what I have heard, this ought to be interesting, to say the least. Certainly less boring than End of Ends, in any case.

Scales: Okay, you can do the prologue, plus chapters 1-19 of this book, and then the SCSF will take over. You’ll also be back for the end of Pilgrim, and the beginning of Crusader.

NRSG: That seems quite alright to me. Do you promise to only interfere when necessary, and not to change our schedule around too much?

Scales: I promise.

NRSG: Good. Let us begin with BattleAxe, then.

Content Warning: Mention of Abortion

I cannot exactly see what is meant to be in front of the book… There is, at least, a map of a hexagonal city or fortress called “Gorkentown”, and a map of the main continent of this book, that has unfortunately been split up. Here is a better version:

And I will refer to this map, too.

We also have a dedication:

The six books of The Wayfarer Redemption are for A. Lynn Martin, Tim Stretton and Frances Thiele, who have regarded with amiable tolerance their colleague’s slow drift into the Star Dance.

 

It is fine, I think. Onto the actual content, then.

 

We first have something called The Prophecy of the Destroyer. Hmm, that does sound suspiciously like End of Ends… Anyway, let us see what this prophecy is, and why it apparently merits a place at the front of the book.

A day will come when born will be

Two babes whose blood will tie them.

Yes, Douglass apparently thought it a good idea to write the Prophecy as a poem, despite it lacking any kind of actual rhythm. I will also not try to find any, then.

Regarding the content, it is extremely generic. This can be true for literally any pair of siblings. And even the “day” part will turn out to be not quite literal. Really, though, what is this doing in a prophecy?

I must also say that I am not quite impressed by the “old-timey” language here. Writing this in more common language would do nothing to diminish its effect, Douglass.

That born to Wing and Horn will hate

The one they call the StarMan.

My, where do I even begin here…?

1) There is a serious ambiguity here. The intended meaning is “the one who is born to Wing and Horn will hate the StarMan”, but it could also be read as “the two babies are born to Wing and Horn and they will hate the StarMan”. It is especially bad in a plot-critical prophecy.

2) “Wing” and “Horn” are nicknames for two of the fantasy races that will appear in this series. We should be meeting them both fairly soon.

3) I cannot take the name “StarMan” exactly seriously. I cannot exactly say why, but it just feels off when compared to the other titles of the books, for example. The David Bowie song of the same name does not exactly help me either.

4) Also good to see that there is no reason given why this baby would hate the StarMan.

Destroyer! rises in the north

And drives his Ghostmen south;

Yes, the baby from the previous part will indeed become the Destroyer. I also must say that the exclamation mark is thoroughly unnecessary here. It just breaks the tone of the prophecy so far. Also, yet another namedrop of a species by a nickname that will not see much use.

Come to think of it, I had best adapt some counts from the Friendship Is Failure sporks…

A Better Commando Name: 1

Tone Soap: 1

The former counts the weird names in this series, and the latter counts the instances of strange tonal shifts. I will not apply them especially rigorously; this is the first pass, after all.

Defenseless lie both flesh and field

Before Gorgrael’s ice.

Oooh, winter is coming! How scary! How generic! Yes, you can easily make it work, but I doubt that that will be the case here.

Also note the name of the Destroyer: Gorgrael, or GoreGrail. Am I actually supposed to take this seriously, Douglass?? The main villain of this series is called “GoreGrail”? *shakes head*

A Better Commando Name: 2

Tone Soap: 11

Ten points, for how serious this is.

Also nice to see that Gorgrael gets absolutely no choice for his name. I can almost see why he would do this…

To mee this threat you must release

The StarMan from his lies,

One other thing I will note is that “StarMan” is spelled with camel-case, and this will be the case for very many names going forward. I do not really mind this, but I still find it a very strange decision to make.

Revive Tencendor, fast and sure

Forget the ancient war

Tencendor, as you might have seen above, is the name the land this series is set in has had/will have. I am not exactly sure how the StarMan is supposed to “revive” a land that has been long gone in a reasonably short time, without resorting to magical manipulation, though. (Which is exactly why that will happen.)

For if Plough, Wing and Horn can’t find

The bridge to understanding,

Then will Gorgrael earn his name

And bring Destruction hither.

My, “Destruction” with a capital “D”. That will certainly be something!

Also, “Plough” is another name for the humans of this setting.

Onto the second stanza we go!

StarMan, listen, heed me well,

Your power will destroy you

If you should wield it in the fray

‘Ere these prophecies are met:

More prophecies! Why do we have to do nested prophecies?

Also, there should not be an apostrophe in “ere”. Good to see that there is a blatant spelling error before I have even reached the book proper.

And, come to think of it, given the list of prophecies that will follow, one might think that the StarMan decides not to use his powers, and to go for an alternative instead. Sadly, that will not happen, and everyone will follow the prophecies below, which means that Douglass shows us the plot beforehand. Very good.

The Sentinels will walk abroad

‘Til power corrupt their hearts;

Ah, nice, another as-yet unexplained group. Also, this is again prone to misinterpretation, though in this case, I think it might be deliberate. The expected meaning is, of course, that the Sentinels become corrupted by their power. What this will turn out to be is… quite more unexpected.

A child will turn her head and cry

Revealing ancient arts;

Quite generic, I must say, though I am curious as to how she will reveal “ancient arts” by crying.

A wife will hold in joy at night

The slayer of her husband;

“Hold in joy at night” is presumably meant to mean “have sex with”. I find it a very strange and unhelpful euphemism, honestly. To name one point, it does not have to take place exclusively at night.

Other than that, this prophecy is so generic that it has almost no value. Yes, I know what it is supposed to refer to, but I do not know how anyone who reads this for the first time should know.

Age-old souls, long in cribs,

Will sing o’er mortal land;

I doubt anyone could find out what this refers to at the beginning, but I do know, and it is weird indeed.

The remade dead, fat with child

Will birth abomination;

“Fat with child” is probably the worst term for pregnancy I have yet heard. Also, Douglass really seems to like pregnancy-related horror, so that is something to watch out for.

A darker power will prove to be

The father of salvation.

Yes, yes, all very generic, and not very useful, really.

Then waters will release bright eyes

To form the Rainbow Scepter.

Yes, the Rainbow Sceptre. That will actually be a thing, no matter how out of place it is.

Tone Soap: 12

Onto the third stanza, which we will learn later is supposed to be a secret that only a few people can read. Which is why we can read it here, before the book has even begun. Douglass, if you want to maintain the mystery, then do not do things like this!

Time for another count, I would think:

This Is What The Mystery: 15 (for the whole prophecy so far)

StarMan, listen, for I know

That you can wield the scepter

To bring Gorgrael to his knees

And break the ice asunder.

Yes, I think we could have thought of that ourselves. Though what if the StarMan does not want to use the scepter? Is there no other way, then?

But even with the power in hand

Your pathway is not sure:

A Traitor from within your camp

Will seek and plot to harm you;

Oh nooooo… Why does this even need to be in here? Would the StarMan not be already aware of possible traitors? And why does the term need to be capitalised?

Let not your Lover’s pain distract

For this will mean your death;

So he should leave his lover to suffer because of this Prophecy? Very good.

Destroyer’s might lies in his hate

Yet you must never follow;

Forgiveness is the thing assured

To save Tencendor’s soul.

A good message, certainly, though, given what I have heard, I doubt that the StarMan can live up to this. Hmmm, that does explain what happens in Wayfarer Redemption…

Well, that was the Prophecy.

Further on, there is an opening quote:

When will the hundred summers die,

And thought and time be born again,

And newer knowledge, drawing nigh,

Bring truth that sways the soul of men?

Here all things in their place remain,

As were all order’d, ages since.

Come, Care and Pleasure, Hope and Pain,

And bring the fated fairy Prince.

 

-Alfred Lord Tennyson,

“The Sleeping Palace”

Not a bad choice, exactly, though I would argue this would be more suited to either Sinner or Beyond the Hanging Wall. After all, this book, as we can see from the Prophecy, revolves around restoring an old order, instead of creating a new one.

 

Well, now that is done, we can go on to the (nameless) prologue. We open on an unnamed woman struggling through knee-deep snow, “the bundle of dead wood she [has] tied to her back almost as great a burden as the weight of the child she carrie[s] in her belly.” Ah, yes, this is where the aforementioned pregnancy horror will appear for the first time. Also, I have no idea why we do not get her name (Ameld). My best guess is for contrived mystery.

This is What the Mystery: 16 (Just like Paolini did with Durza, really…)

We get some description of her breath freezing in the “bitterly cold southerly wind”. Ameld is “short and strong”, “her legs and shoulders finely muscled by twenty-eight years of hard-won survival in her harsh homeland.” Well, good to know. We may not see her name until far in this book, but at least we know how old she is!

Back in her homeland she always had “the help and company of her people to aid her.” But now she is alone, and she has to bear “this, her third child”, without assistance. Well, the actual birth might succeed, but caring for a baby in a place like this, without help, seems almost impossible to me. I think… that her best bet for survival might be to abandon the child, really. And the prologue has already become quite tragic. Okay, I must give Douglass credit for gaining my attention this quickly.

Ameld says that this will be her “last trip across the valley.” I have to note that the POV style seems to be quite close to Ameld, as this seems like the way she might describe things internally, by for example not mentioning what kind of setting she is in. It is a quite sharp contrast with Douglass’ usual style.

She explains that “the severe winter storms of the past few weeks” had kept her “iced into her shelter so that her supply of the precious hot-burning Timewood [is] almost exhausted”. I just did a little search, and I noticed that the Timewood trees are only mentioned here and one time later in the book. I would not say it is bad per se, but it does feel like Douglass simply forgot about them. Anyway, she explains that she and her child will die if she does not have enough “wood and dry stores”. Only this past day did the weather clear enough to allow her to reach the Timewood trees. Now “the wind [is] growing harsher and the snow heavier” and she knows that she only has a short while to reach her shelter. She is driven on because she knows she will have to stay there once the baby is born.

We are told that her “current solitude [is] a path she [has] chosen freely”, but she does worry. I… do not exactly see how these two contradict each other. Anyway, Ameld says that she also worries about her child. She says that her two previous pregnancies “[have] been uncomfortable”, especially near the end, “but she [has] borne those children with little fuss. Her body had recuperated quickly and had healed cleanly each time.” I admit I do not know much about pregnancy, but this seems quite unlikely to me, especially when she comes from a “harsh homeland”.

Ameld says that with this child, “she fear[s] her labor more than the lonely winter ahead.” That is because the baby is “too large, too… angry.” Ah, yes, this is our first taste of the utterly bizarre directions this series takes. She says that sometimes, when she is trying to sleep, “it twist[s] and beat[s] with at the sides of her womb with such frantic fists and heels that she moan[s] in pain, rocking herself from side to side in a futile bid to escape its rage.” Yes, that definitely is not right. Also, poor Ameld.

We cut back to the present, as she pauses for a bit to adjust the Timewood on her back. She wishes she could do the same with the child, and she tells us that the night before, “it ha[s] shifted down into the pit of her belly, seeking the birth canal.” She tells us the birth will be soon, and she has trouble walking because of it.

Now, she looks ahead to “the thick line of conifers about three hundred paces ahead.” How does Ameld know the word “conifer”? Yes, this is indicative of another issue of Douglass: characters using far too modern words for the setting. Also, as per the glossary, a “pace” is about “roughly one meter or one yard”. I will just assume that it is 95 centimetres, for convenience. That means that this distance is some 285 metres.

Ameld tells us that she “ha[s] done her best with her camp.” It is well behind the tree line “in the lee of a rocky hill that, jutting above the peaks of the trees, [is] the first in a long range of hills leading into the distant Icescarp Alps.” Yes, thank you for having Ameld describe all this, while we know she cannot make it, Douglass. Also, “Icescarp Alps” is a quite strange name to have, as there is no reason why any mountains should be named “Alps” in this world.

A Better Commando Name: 3

And there now is a segue into her backstory. She slipped away from her friends and family “[w]ell before her pregnancy had begun to show”, and then she travelled “the Avarinheim” to this place, far to the north of her usual home. Going by the map, that probably means she’s in the gap between the north of the Avarinheim (the forest on the east), and the northern spur of the Icescarp Alps.

She tells us about “the first of the autumn months, DeadLeaf-month”. Yes, people, “DeadLeaf-month”. Could Douglass not have come up with a slightly less goofy name than this, like, say, “Autumn-month”?

A Better Commando Name: 4

Well, she explains that she has been busy gathering and storing “berries, nuts and seeds”. As hard as she searched, she could not find much “malfari, the sweet fibrous tubers that provide[] her people with most of their winter sustenance.” And this will be referenced more often later on, too. A nice bit of worldbuilding, I must say. So she was forced to “go without”, and she often lay awake at night for fear of “what malnourishment might do to her and the child”. For meat, she only has “[t]he remains of a few scrawny rabbits, dried into leathery strips.” She sighs and rubs her belly, trying to ignore the “fiery ache in her legs and pelvis” (how does she know “pelvis”?), and wishing for a “few chickens or a goat”. By the way, we are approximately 650 words in now and nothing has actually happened.

Ameld suddenly tells us that “[s]he should never have tried to carry this child to term”, and that she would not have been allowed to among her people. Ah, great. I fully expect Douglass to handle this well. /s

She says it was a “Beltide child”. I assume “Beltide” is modelled after “Beltane”. The child was conceived “during the drunken revelry of the spring rites”, when her people, “the forest dwellers”, and the “people of the Icescarp Alps” meet in “the groves where mountain and forest [meet].” But we cannot have the names of these people yet, because of mystery.

This Is What the Mystery: 17

Also, given the festival clearly modelled off Beltane and the mention of groves, I have a strong suspicion that Douglass was influenced by Mists of Avalon. And unfortunately, these books also have inherited the more unsavoury parts of that book.

At the groves, they celebrate “the renewal of life in the thawing land with religious rites”, and, after that, everyone gets drunk. Fun, I think. Not that I particularly care for celebrations like this. We are told that “Beltide [is] the one night of the year when both peoples relaxed sufficiently to carry interracial relationships to extremes never practiced throughout the rest of the year.” I am just including the quote to show the awkward phrasing. I think that this is a euphemistic reference to sex, by the way.

Ameld now says that for the past three years she has “watched him, wanted him.” Very good coherence here. He is apparently a member of the Alps-dwelling people. She describes him as such: “his skin as pale and fine as the ice vaults of his home, his hair the fine summer gold of the life-giving sun that both their peoples worship[].” Well, actually the sun is white. Also I do not know exactly what to make of Ameld finding his pale skin and blond hair attractive, especially since she has neither.

This man was the “most powerful Enchanter of his kind”, and as such, he leads the Beltide rites with “the Banes of her own people”. Because the Alps-people get Enchanters, while Ameld’s people is stuck with Banes. I do think Douglass’ bias is showing here. Well, his “power and magic” awed and frightened here, but she “crave[s] his skill, beauty and grace.” And last Beltide night she drank enough wine to “loosen her inhibitions and buttress her courage.”

She tells us she was “a striking woman”, “at the peak of her beauty and fitness, her nut-brown hair waving thick down her back.” Nice, I would say. When the Enchanter saw her walking toward him, “his eyes had crinkled and then widened”, and he smiled and held out his hand to her. How very nice of him to take advantage of a drunk woman. “Eyes trapped by his” (which absolutely does not make me feel good about this), she took his hand, “marveling at the feel of his silken skin against her own work-callused palm.” He was apparently “kind for an Enchanter”, and he “murmured gentle words” before taking her to “a secluded spot beneath the spinning stars.”

Well, if having sex with someone who cannot exactly consent (which I would say comes down to rape) and murmuring some gentle words is “kind”, I really do not want to know what a usual Enchanter would be like. Also, this Enchanter is one of Douglass’ favourites, and he will make an appearance in all the books except for Threshold and Beyond the Hanging Wall. Fun.

Ameld now whispers his name: “StarDrifter”. Not that bad a name, really. Back in the present, Ameld runs her tongue “along the split skin of her lips.” She notes that the snow is falling heavier, and when “she rouse[s] from her reverie”, she finds that she can hardly see the tree line. So Ameld was actually nearly standing still while thinking about this? I really did not get that impression. She says she must hurry, and, “[h]is child dragging her down”, she stumbles a little as she tries to go faster. Not that this helps much, as she immediately goes back into exposition mode.

For that matter, she won’t be allowed to feel anything negative about this, either. I do not have a good feeling about how this will go further on. Ameld tells us that his hands were “strong and confident on her body”, and she was not surprised “that her womb had quickened with his child.” Um, I am quite certain this should be “that his child had quickened in her womb”. If I were not already convinced of this by later things, this might have tipped me off that Douglass was a Bradley fan. And I do think that some of the unfortunate things in this book might come from there.

She says that a child of his would be “so amazing, so exceptional.” Oh, it will be alright… Both peoples accept “the excesses and the drunken unions between the races on Beltide night”, but the also insist that “any child conceived of such a union [is] an abomination.” And for most of her life, Ameld has been aware of the women who, “some four to six weeks after Beltide”, gather the herbs they need for an abortion. Hmmm, I think it best if I would not say anything about the abortions, but this does seem like a ridiculously ineffective thing to do. After all, how can they be sure that everyone who becomes pregnant will get an abortion? And why not invest more in preventing a pregnancy, when they believe these children will be “abominations”? I think Douglass did not think through her worldbuilding very well…

She says that “somehow”, she was not able to swallow the drink, which she made for herself again and again. And, finally, “she ha[s] decided that she [will] carry the child to term.” For some reason. Even though she has no reason not to believe what her people have told her. My best guess is that the Prophecy of the Destroyer is behind this, which is absolutely wrong and horrible. She says that once the child is born, and once her people can see “that it [is] a babe like any other (except more beautiful, more powerful, as any child of an Enchanter [will] be), they [will] accept it. No child of his [can] be an abomination.”

This does seem like Ameld trying to justify why she is doing this to me. After all, I see no reason why she would be this attached to her child, when she has, again, every reason to think it will be an abomination. And we also have no reason to think that she would be so strongly attached to StarDrifter that she would be willing to do this. Again, I am quite certain that this is the fault of the Prophecy.

Other than that, I would note that the parenthetical insertions will also be a common feature of this series, as will the emphasis on beauty and power, especially when connected with the Enchanters and their people, and also the protagonists.

Ameld says that she has had to “spend the last long months of her pregnancy alone, lest her people force the child from her body”. And now she wonders “if the child [will] be as wondrous as she ha[s] first supposed, whether she’[s] made a mistake.” Well, good to see that she can finally doubt this, but if course it is much too late to do anything but to go on with this. Because this was just so necessary. Well done, Douglass.

Well, she clenches “her jaws”, and finally gets walking through the snow. “She would manage. She had to. She did not want to die.” And this is where I would like to stop for the time being. Let us see next time whether Ameld survives or not! Until then!

 

Comments

[pangolin20]

This bit is just plain funny in hindsight because Axis is one of the most cruel and mercilessly unforgiving fantasy protagonists I've ever come across. He literally kills Gorge in cold blood while the guy's begging on his knees!

NRSG: Well, that does explain why Tencendor is eventually destroyed because its soul was rotten or something like that. So that is Axis's fault, too! I cannot think of many protagonists who had an entire continent be destroyed through their actions.

Wait, Gorge has siblings other than Axis? What the hell even happened to them?

Hmmm, let me look. No, I cannot find anything. I might have overlooked it, though, but that will be for either the SCSF or the OCSG to find out.

Why would nomadic hunter gatherers have all these domesticated animals?

Huh, I never see anything about chickens in relation to the Avar ever again, so this probably is a continuity error. As for goats, I have this:

The Avar kept a small number of goats and sheep for their meat, milk, and skins, weaving their clothes from goat hair and sheep wool. ~Chapter 39, "Rivkah Awakes".

[epistler]

NRSG: Well, that does explain why Tencendor is eventually destroyed because its soul was rotten or something like that. So that is Axis's fault, too! I cannot think of many protagonists who had an entire continent be destroyed through their actions.

I would love if that was actually canon.

Hmmm, let me look. No, I cannot find anything. I might have overlooked it, though, but that will be for either the SCSF or the OCSG to find out.

Who? And methinks Douglass just straight-up forgot about them along with her presumed husband.

The Avar kept a small number of goats and sheep for their meat, milk, and skins, weaving their clothes from goat hair and sheep wool. ~Chapter 39, "Rivkah Awakes".

And they kept them where exactly?

[pangolin20]

Who?

NRSG: Two of my fellow commentators. The SCSF first appeared here: https://crooked-ear-llama.dreamwidth.org/78903.html?thread=170807#cmt170807, and the OCSG here, for example: https://das-sporking2.dreamwidth.org/1862753.html?thread=46455649#cmt46455649

And they kept them where exactly?

I would not know, and I do not exactly care to find out, either.

[rc88]

I cannot think of many protagonists who had an entire continent be destroyed through their actions.

The Homestuck crew destroyed multiple universes through their own laziness and indifference, is this one of the things which reminded you of them? So far in this chapter I'm already picking up a Hussie-esque pregnancy phobia too. (Huss banned all talk of pregnancy on the forums and created two alien races which don't get pregnant and one where pregnancy was the cost of losing an epic battle.)

[pangolin20]

NRSG: Well, I admit I did not think of that, though it is certainly a fair comparison.

So far in this chapter I'm already picking up a Hussie-esque pregnancy phobia too.

I think, going by what we will get later, that Douglass is more into using pregnancies for shock value. We will have several people dying while giving birth, and also several miscarriages.

(Overall, I cannot say just yet how much this looks like Homestuck, because until now it has been mostly straightforward fantasy. These books do have later Homestuck's "throw whatever you can think of on the page" energy.)

[rc88]

I could probably keep a count of times it reminds me of Homestuck.