This is a great book, I love it. Wonderful characters and a great story...one of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors. ( )

Jan09ish:

Darn solid Tad Williams.

Characters: The lead is not terribly likable but he does grow well and make a great conduit for the story. I love his close fairy friend.
Plot: Pretty darn solid. Clash of the worlds style.
Style: What sets it apart. So real you can imagine the sweat. And yet you still want to smell it. ( )

Although the story starts a little slowly, it eventually picks up speed until it almost becomes frantic. There were enough plot twists to keep it interesting, but a few things were a bit predictable.

I enjoyed the depiction of Faerie as something refreshingly real, with its own problems, politics and prejudices. The characters were well-developed, although I am not a big fan of the "unhero" as the main character.

All in all, I enjoyed this book, and I think it would make a great movie. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's not your cookie cutter fantasy novel. I was pleasantly surprised with his twist on what we expect the world of fairy to be like. There is a touch more reality than is common among fantasy works and it worked for me. I loved the way he writes the story partly in the real world. The fairy world has problems of its own. If you wish to avoid reality when reading fantasy, it might not be the book for you. It found it to be a very satisfying read. ( )

I had this book sitting around for literally years, and had tried starting it once or twice previously before getting into it this time. It doesn't have to do with the writing itself, I think; it was probably because of the mood I was in at those times. The beginning of the book, like the first 150 pages or so, are also quite bleak; you get a sense of and empathize with how trapped the lead character, Theo, feels in his life, and it's not a fun place to be.

Then the scene moves to Faerie, where there's a lot of world-building and character development, chases and lulls, etc. The story comes alive there, and since Theo is on the run for a lot of it, it's good that Williams gets across a real sense of urgency. Faerie as a place with its own rules that Theo isn't really aware of comes off nicely, and the main supporting cast is generally quite good. I liked the plot, and how it played out. The falling apart of a fairly feudal society seen through the eyes of someone who doesn't really know the problems with the system is pretty interesting.

I had some problems with the pacing at points, though; there are lulls in the book, and there's a part which is ultimately like one conversation with bricks of exposition for a couple of chapters that really, I think, could have been better spread out over a couple of chapters. Which isn't to say I didn't like the exposition-giving character (to name who it is would be a spoiler); in fact, I think that's the most interesting character in the book.

Stylistically, Williams is quite good, I think, and as I said, I liked most of the characters. I didn't really like the love interest subplot; it wasn't tacked on, but I didn't really buy it, either.

The book is a fairly quick read once you get into it, especially for a 800+ page novel, but the beginning isn't fun. If you know that going in, I think it's better, so if you're in the mood for it, it's worth a try. ( )