In all my adult years trolling through the fantasy aisles of bookstores I routinely picked up Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy and put it back down again. It seemed way too complicated to follow, and I'll admit to being a little biased against male heroes and authors in my younger days.
That changed gradually and then my opinion of Tad Williams changed completely when I read the first two novels of his latest fantasy trilogy
Shadowmarch: Shadowmarch: Volume I
and
Shadowplay: Shadowmarch Volume II
.
And then this summer I fell in love with his absolutely incredible "Otherland" saga (
City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, Volume 1)
,
River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2)
,
Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Volume 3)
,
Otherland Vol. 4: Sea of Silver Light
). But I was still nervous about reading this particular series because there was such a vast difference from my beloved otherland-sci-fi versus pure fantasy, normal earth universe verses made up lands, modern tech and slang (and beyond) versus fictional religions, cultures, languages and histories.
But in the end the fact that Williams wrote it override my fears. Which was a good thing because at first this book really did not grab me. The other Tad William's books I read always had some kind of action going on-if it wasn't completely related to the action of the plot then it was background that the reader would really need to understand the rest. But "the Dragonbone Chair" wasn't like that really.
Like his other series "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" is pretty damm complicated. It involves multiple governments, races, magical beings and characters, who all live in the land of Osten Ard-a land that has a long history of settlement by different people. The first who came weren't human but Sithi-a long living magical species. But eventually the growing population of humans stopped being friendly (or even subservient) to the Sithi and started taking their land-including the ancient stronghold of the Hayholt- a castle that has been added too by each ruler but which maintains it's Sithi bones.
For years Osten Ard has been at peace. Most people are united in one religion and all the diverse people seem to get along well. All has prospered under the reign of Prester John, a human man who became king when he retook the Hayholt from a fierce dragon. But John is old and dying-and his eldest son Elias is heir to the throne.
Our main character is Simon-an orphaned servant of the Hayholt who is treated (and acts) like a fairly stupid young teen. But because of his upbringing Simon knows every surface of the massive Hayholt-from the cellars to the very top of the Sithi built green angel tower. Lacking purpose in life he is apprenticed to the castles doctor-a man who is much more then he seems to be.
Soon life goes down hill from almost all of Osten Ard. Under Elias' reign the land literally suffers. People start to fight petty battles and soon there is a larger battle, for it seems that Elias has made a terrible pact with an evil that never died-and the only hope of opposing him may lie with an old league who is unprepared for such a task and Elias's brother Josua, who never had any interest in ruling the land. And Simon it seems has a role to play-one that will take him to farther and stranger places then he ever saw from the top of a tower.
I'll admit to almost giving up on this book. And that's because the first two hundred pages or so are very slow. And not slow in terms of time line-there are big leaps in the time line for the first two hundred pages (they cover maybe two or three years) and then the rest of the book takes place in under four months. It's just that there's no real action in the beginning of this book. There is some information that is valuable for the rest of the book but it is spaced so thinly between Simon's daily activities and other people's political wheeling and dealing that it all gets a little boring.
But I made it through. And the rest of the book is just what I would expect from Williams-amazing. Simon's evolution as a character and as a man is very, very real-he's no perfect hero at all but a boy who is thrown into events beyond his control or ability to truly understand. And all of the multiple secondary characters are equally well developed. Which is one of the most wonderful things about the way Williams writes-his characters may live in a made up land and battle made up forces but really they aren't so different from the average person on the street.
So is it complicated- yes. Lots of stuff to remember-yes (including the usual weirdly spelled and pronounced fantasy names.) But all and all it's a fun book in a series that seems like it has a lot to offer. I'm on to book two,
The Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Book 2)
.
Four stars.
As a side note-I didn't really notice the kind of dark, sarcastic humor that flitted through the "Otherland" novels and "Shadowmarch"-but maybe that's because this is an earlier work. Hopefully it will be present in the latter part of the series.
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One should treasure those humdrum tasks that keep the body occupied but leave the mind and heart unfettered.Highlighted by 418 Kindle readers- Nothing is without cost. There is a price to all power, and it is not always obvious.Highlighted by 391 Kindle readers
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Top reviews from other countries
Chris
Too much description! Not good writing.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2019J. R. Curtis
Mostly well written, but derivative and a little stale.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2022
S. Wall
Master wordsmithing, imperfect but enjoyable storytelling
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2017
