Next on the list is the fantasy trilogy by Tad Williams. This author's debut novel, Tailchaser's Song was quite well received. It was similar to Watership Down in terms of being an animal story, in this case cats, that involves dialogue and a certain amount of animal society, but without completely anthropomorphizing the critters. I thought it was okay, but not worth acquiring.

Then Williams came out with The Dragonbone Chair. Friends of mine attended a convention where Michael Whelan was a guest artist, and they were kind enough to get me a prepublication copy signed by my favorite cover artist (still is, but I am apathetic these days). I read this story and was blown away. I was similarly impressed with the rest of the trilogy (itself called Memory, Sorrow and Thorn): Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower. It remains among my all-time fantasy favorites and I reread it at regular intervals (as it's appearance in this list demonstrates).

Keep in mind that at the time I was well into my period of swearing off fantasy, since I was sick and tired of repetitive knock-offs built around medieval European cultural elements and generally being Tolkein derivatives. And this book has all of the classic fantasy tropes: a small band of heroes who begin separately but come together for a good cause, an evil threatening the land, a quest to save the world so lots of moving around the landscape fleeing bad guys and seeking the key to defeating evil, battles, the inevitable romance, and happy ending. And it has all of the standard fantasy characters: a hero of humble origins who turns out to be more than first appears, a wise old mentor who guides our heroes and has some share of magic, princesses in disguise, elves, dragons.

It is also entertaining to match up the cultures that appear in the book to the real-world inspirations. The elves and the Norns are clearly inspired by Asian cultures (Japanese probably, among others). The Rimmersmen are Vikings, the Hernystiri are Welsh (or maybe more generic Celts), the Thrithings are horse-riding nomads (Scythians? Mongols? more of an eastern European feel), the Erkynlanders are Anglo-Saxon, the Nabbanai are Italian/Holy Roman Empire, with Perdruin being Sicily, the Wrannamen may be Irish or another marsh-based culture, but I tend to think more of the bayous of the American South (perhaps the Seminoles?), and the Yiqanuc trolls are like the Inuit or perhaps the Sherpas in the Himalayas. Now that I'm writing it all down, the fact is that all of the humans in this story are white, and any people of color are represented by nonhuman cultures. And of course there's no black folk here.

While this trilogy has all of the standard, well-trodden features, many that can be correlated directly to The Lord of the Rings, it is still original and fresh, perhaps because in many ways it subverts the standard tropes, and perhaps the many, many secondary characters that provide dimensions and depth and bring the world and its many cultures to life. The narrative is filled with stories and songs, and the characters speak in a range of dialects reflecting their cultural differences. The dialogue is quite good, as is the prose in general, and the character development. It is, ultimately, a very long coming-of-age story, as a teenager matures into manhood and learns wisdom in the process of surviving many harrowing crises. It is also a meditation on love, loss, grief, despair, sacrifice, longing for peace/annhilation/the end of existence, honor, legends, human limits, and all of that good, big stuff. ( )

Finally the series concludes, and it's a pretty good conclusion, though perhaps a little too neat. The big fight scene leaves so many questions unanswered that there's a rather long epilogue section, but it does tie it all together nicely.

I think Cadrach and Guthwulf are probably some of the more interesting characters in the story, through being more 3-dimensional than some of the others. And there are some good thoughts about the nature of redemption, and on whether magical quest artefacts really are what you think they are. Overall though nothing takes away from the fact that the whole series is one big fantasy romp, and if you like that sort of thing it's rather good fun, and if not the best of its kind it's a long way from being the worst. ( )

The exciting conclusion to the memory, sorrow and thorn trillogy.

It truely was a trillogy when I read it, with Green Angel Tower being just one book. Splitting it was dissapointing, making it harder to get hold of all of the series. ( )

This was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I read it in two sections, with two other short books falling in between. I don’t think it hurt the story any though. The interplay between Simon and Miriamele was fantastic. I was amazed by Williams’ descriptions of kissing or touching for the first time. The second half of the book really drew me in and I had a hard time putting it down. The ending left a little bit to be desired. There was so much build-up throughout the whole 2,000 page series and then the end was just rushed through. I had a very hard time visualizing all the magic and sorcery as Williams describes it at the climax. There were a lot of twists to the plot as it neared the end though, and I enjoyed that thoroughly. ( )

After those on the side of good, e.g. not the Storm King and his
servants work out the whole deal with the three powerful swords, there
must come a final reckoning, especially after so many pages already.

Guess what though, this does have princesses, as well as the
dragon. Here, one needs rescuing, and one is crazy, there is still a
war to be won and nonhumans to deal with.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12... ( )