The Dragonbone Chair

Wow, is this series different.

Williams successfully creates something *new* here in epic fantasy. He's emphatically not a Tolkien imitator, nor is he a Lieber or Moorcock.

The world of Osten Ard has the most tenuous connections to the medieval Prester John legends with heavy elements borrowed, I think, from the book of Mormon, but similarity to other fantasy largely stops there.

His main character's special power is that he is simply a good boy, who grows into a good man. He doesn't have a bad mind, he's physically capable if not stunning, but it's his simple human virtue that is his defining trait.

William's take on the Dark Lord, Ineluki the Storm King- is the hero of a completely different story. A hero who refuses to accept defeat or show more to fail his people even from beyond death, a hero who will wage war against history and time itself if needed to right the wrongs he sees.

The Gardenborn themselves? Unlike anything else I've encountered in fantasy. Sure, they are wise and beautiful- but alien, and written as such. Their poetic style of speech makes it completely unclear if their Garden-home "in the Uttermost East" is literally an ancient eastern continent, a planet circling another star, or even a parallel dimension crossed through only by the use of their strange magic. All we know is that they crossed the "Ocean Indefinite and Eternal" and that it was a "black sea."

Refreshing doesn't begin to describe it, but even if written as a straight classic fantasy, Williams is an excellent storyteller; able to make the reader feel what his POV characters do quickly and without fanfare. Recommend highly for the fantasy fan or the highly curious.

This opening volume is perhaps the best of the series, opening the door to a world we recognize but don't, as the kitchen-boy Simon is accidental witness to the deeds of the mighty and wise, and some of the good, and flees for his life after doing the right thing. At the end, he gains a glimpse of his own insignificance, and learns the beginnings of wisdom. show less

This book is full of good old-fashioned storytelling. A rich lazy beginning that made me think of hay drifting in sunlight (hmm, the Hayholt), a chilling turn of events that upends our hero's life, a mad quest for mysterious purposes, and a confrontation with an ancient dragon to top it off. It could have been ripped right from Tolkien to be sure, but Williams has enough creativity to put his own spin on things and keep it from becoming fanfiction. It hit all the right notes, and laid an amazing foundation for what follows.

This is probably the best epic fantasy I've read in a while. It's a little generic by today's standards, but if what you want is castles and swords and journeys and coming-of-ages, then this is about the least embarrassing way to get 'em.

I did find the beginning over-long, and much less interesting than the rest of the book (it's not unreasonable to want an idea of the main plot by 150 pages in, surely?!). Having said that, I liked the book (and Simon) better the further I read. The world is interesting enough, and the invented history feels coherent and believable. There's the feeling of 'depth' without clubbing the reader over the head with exposition. The invented languages are pretty well-executed, too, taking enough inspiration show more from real languages to feel organic, without just sounding like touched-up English or fantasy gibberish.

Secondary viewpoints break up the story every so often, offering a smattering of political intrigue or advancing other storylines for a few pages. They're nice for a bit of variety. However, I will admit to finding the sudden shifts in perspective maddening when they interrupted compelling parts of Simon's story. Memory, Sorrow & Thorn doesn't move particularly quickly to begin with, and the occasional focus on secondary characters makes an already slow book even slower.

There's a fairly uninspired romance subplot, but it (thankfully) doesn't take up too much of the book. Part of the problem, for me, is that the pertinent female character isn't given enough time to really shine, or to develop a more complex personality. I'm hopeful, but not overly optimistic, that she'll get more time in the sequel. In general, I wish there were a few more prominent female characters, for variety if nothing else--this is a pretty guy-heavy book.

For all the grouching above, I'd still recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy. The prose is solid, and sometimes even lovely. The dialogue will rarely, if ever, make you wince (a low bar, but one a lot of epic fantasy has trouble clearing). And it's got more castles and swords and boys and horses than you can shake a stick at. show less

Very well done, a very interesting, sprawling story, filled with interesting characters and storylines. I've been rereading these books every few years and the twists and turns still surprise me sometimes.

I can see how it reminds some people of Lord of the Rings, and I have read and reread those books too, but I feel this series really is quite its own thing.

Can't wait to pick up the next book in the series!

I am not gonna lie to you – this is some hardcore fantasy. I mean, I consider myself to be fairly well-read at this point in the whole fantasy genre thing… but this was nearly out of my league. It was like stepping into this room filled with all sorts of fantastic, historical facts and then made to watch a movie that assumed you had a passing knowledge of at least 50% of those facts. History lessons filled the pages in this first novel, and add into that a fair amount of world-building, in addition to some pretty heavy politics happening and it makes for a book that packs a helluva punch.

What kept me going though was Simon. I loved that moonfaced boy, and I wanted to know what will happen to him. I loved the myth of the three show more swords, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn – for whom the series is named after. And I ABSOLUTELY adored the Sithi – seriously, I haven’t felt that much love for a race of fantasy creatures since I was introduced to Tolkien’s elves. Loved, loved, loved them.

If you are a fantasy reader, and want a definite challenge – but one that is worth the challenge just for the Sithi and Simon alone, I recommend this series. I do plan to finish it – but first.. I need to recover a bit. I’m telling you, this was a helluva read. show less

Young Simon, kitchen scullion, restless and full of daydreams, becomes the apprentice of Doctor Morgenes. Two brothers, princes, already at loggerheads and when their father dies and the older brother inherits, things start to go wrong almost immediately. He is under the counsel of a monk named Pryrates, as if hypnotized or bespelled by the man and no one can get close What separates this from other fantasies is that Simon is really a hapless young boy through the first half of the book and in the second half he is struggling to live up to the adventure he has found himself in and his younger self. There is a realism to this that has its annoying moments, but I also appreciate it as something Williams wanted to show, a character growing show more into himself. Much to like here, the troll Binabik and his companion wolf. A sturdy plot, three perilous swords which must be recovered in order to fight the fell Ineluki, Storm King, a Sithi (elf) gone seriously wicked eons ago bent for revenge on all humans for destroying their world. The rest of the Sithi, for they have split into three groups long ago, have to decide who they will ally themselves with in this battle. The last 1/4 in the mountains of the north convince me that Williams has himself done some climbing in ice or did his research very diligently, it's very good and the descriptions excellent and convincing. Looking forward to book 2. Not rating higher YET because I do feel it drags here and there, just too wordy. I have hopes Williams will hit his stride.
***1/2 show less

Orphaned Simon grows up reluctantly in the kitchens and gardens of the ancient castle Hayholt, but his ordained future of brooms and pans is disrupted by a feuding royal family, a secret society, and the stirrings of a forgotten enemy to humanity. And there's elves. And dragons.

I really liked the first third of this novel, which featured kitchen-boy Simon running amok in a huge and empty castle-state. My interest started flagging as soon as Simon left Hayholt and started going through the familiar epic-fantasy motions (e.g. dark forests, immortal evil, elves). It also features some familiar Williams tics, especially the Pynchon-esque vocabulary, enormous cast, and abundant figurative language. (You could probably develop an elaborate show more drinking game just from the frequency of objects compared, in the novel, to either apples or bees.) On the other hand, Simon is a realistically muddled adolescent, and his relationship with the troll Binabik is non-cloyingly sweet. show less