yak_attak's review against another edition
4.0
Oddly enough, this behemoth of a book has by far the best pacing of the series - past book one's setting up of the world, and book two's maneuvering the pieces into place, book three is an explosive ride from start to finish, putting now beloved characters through trials and hells to come out the other side in one of the coolest finales I've read. I don't think it's perfect, and the series as a whole is pretty flawed with Williams' burgeoning skill as a writer - but gosh is it charming, and all of its quirks contribute to it being something so much more than the sum of its (gigantic, monstrously long) parts.
mewsie's review against another edition
5.0
Tad Williams called this Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy the "Bloated Epic" in his introductions to this book. Now I know why. It was one thing that the first two books were well over 800 pages each, but this last one was so large that the publishers couldn't even put it into one paperback! Yes, in order to read this book, you need to either lug around a very large 1,600 page hardcover or buy two paperbacks. I did the latter.
Once again, we are returned to the story of Simon, the young kitchen scullion whose life has been turned around completely when King Elias and his evil counsellor Pyrates took over the kingdom and turned Osten Ard into a frozen wasteland. After having battled a dragon, travelled to the land of the Sithi, and finally found a new home at the Stone of Farewell, Simon did not know how his life was going to turn next. Working with Prince Joshua, his friend Binabik, the Princess Miramele, and a host of others, it is decided that they now need to make a stand against King Elias if they have any hopes of freeing their lands from his evil grip and that of Elias' ally Ineluki the Storm King. The task will not be easy because they have only a ragtag bunch of survivors who are willing to fight. Somehow, Joshua needs to find allies to help build his army if he has any chance of succeeding. But where can he find those who are strong enough and willing enough to stand up to King Elias?
I will be honest and say that this book took me about a month to read. Like his other books, this isn't an "easy" ready but it is so enjoyable. You will quickly come to think of the characters in his books as close friends and will be sitting on the edge of your seat when trouble stirs for any of the characters, which happens quite often. I fell into this book and probably would've finished it a lot quicker if it wasn't for the hassles of school because I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this entire series to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy story with well thought out characters and plot lines.
Once again, we are returned to the story of Simon, the young kitchen scullion whose life has been turned around completely when King Elias and his evil counsellor Pyrates took over the kingdom and turned Osten Ard into a frozen wasteland. After having battled a dragon, travelled to the land of the Sithi, and finally found a new home at the Stone of Farewell, Simon did not know how his life was going to turn next. Working with Prince Joshua, his friend Binabik, the Princess Miramele, and a host of others, it is decided that they now need to make a stand against King Elias if they have any hopes of freeing their lands from his evil grip and that of Elias' ally Ineluki the Storm King. The task will not be easy because they have only a ragtag bunch of survivors who are willing to fight. Somehow, Joshua needs to find allies to help build his army if he has any chance of succeeding. But where can he find those who are strong enough and willing enough to stand up to King Elias?
I will be honest and say that this book took me about a month to read. Like his other books, this isn't an "easy" ready but it is so enjoyable. You will quickly come to think of the characters in his books as close friends and will be sitting on the edge of your seat when trouble stirs for any of the characters, which happens quite often. I fell into this book and probably would've finished it a lot quicker if it wasn't for the hassles of school because I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this entire series to anybody who enjoys a good fantasy story with well thought out characters and plot lines.
l98mason's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Quick Review (05/14/22).
5 stars.
What more is there to say than astounding? Incredible? Superb? Magnificent? Splendid?
Grand? Impressive? Imposing? Awe-inspiring? Breathtaking? The synonyms matter not -- this trilogy is finely-crafted.
Whatever I put here means nothing, but I think it would suffice to say this trilogy has become a small part of me, something I will cherish and carry with me forever.
5 stars.
What more is there to say than astounding? Incredible? Superb? Magnificent? Splendid?
Grand? Impressive? Imposing? Awe-inspiring? Breathtaking? The synonyms matter not -- this trilogy is finely-crafted.
Whatever I put here means nothing, but I think it would suffice to say this trilogy has become a small part of me, something I will cherish and carry with me forever.
truthlessofcanada's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.75
This book is almost hard to review, because it is basically 4 books, just in terms of length. I have been reading it as the main book I have been reading for 16 days.
Overall, I thought it was good. I definitely was expecting to like it more, I had it as one of my 5 star predictions at the start of the year, and it did not come close to that. My enjoyment was somewhat uneven, with some bits being a bit of a struggle. With some being great. It is a great bridge in the genre, which I know is among many peoples all time favorites, but I have to say I will not have to join those people. I don't regret reading it, I enjoyed reading it, but am never going to reread it.
Also please stop telling people that the first 150 pages of The Dragonbone Chair is dreadfully slow.
For one, the start of The Dragonbone Chair is good, and second it gives people the idea that things will take of after that. The entire thing is a slow burn. Expect things to continue at a comparable pace. I don't know maybe i'm crazy, but please tell me if you are someone who really had to slog through the start of book 1, but love the rest of the series. I am curious if this exists. I can get liking the start of DBC less than the rest, but I would love to know if anyone actually would have DNFed without that warning, and then the series became one of your favorites.
I think basically I would sum it up as this. Memory Sorrow and Thorn's main plot is not super complicated, and moves quite slowly. However it has a lot of interesting and creative subplots. This kinda gives the wrong idea, because I guess you could make the case that many of the subplots are actually a part of the main plot. Which is true, a lot of them are connected. However it is also true that while reading them, a lot of them do not feel connected. It is also true that there are quite a few subplots that are purely there to stand on their own.
My guess is if I was someone who really enjoyed all the subplots, I would feel this entire series was amazing from beginning to end. However my enjoyments of the subplots was mixed. I thought some were fantastic (hello ghants, you are creepy, and cool), and some where a bit of a slog (hi Maegwin). Overall this resulted in me being less invested in the finale then i'm sure many would be. And I will say I found some aspects of the climax to be a bit of a let down, while really enjoying some aspects. And then for the most part I enjoyed the falling action, and thought it ended in a really good place. I liked the destination, but not all of the journey.
The next thing that held me back into for the most part enjoying this series, but it not being an all time favorite, is that I did not get uber attached to any of the characters. I think basically the entire cast of this series is good. They are distinctive, have their own motivations. I don't really have anyone who I think is one dimensional, or just a character there to serve the plot. So that's good. However on the flipside I did not personally have a single member of this cast who was super interesting, that I was super invested in.
This leaves me without much to criticize about the characters, but also you are never going to see an MS&T character on my all time favorite list. Most of my favorite series contend for my favorite series because if they have a protagonist(I have to preface the existence of a protagonist because Erikson exists) he is one of my favorites of all time, and I think a huge amount of the supporting cast basically could be as compelling, but we only have room to have the page time for one protagonist. For this series the protagonist is kinda in the middle of the pack. I'm totally fine with him being an idiot, I actually enjoy this about him, I just found his development to kinda just be....basic. Sorry Simon. Then there is a big list of side characters who if you ask me about I will probably go. Oh ya, I like them, they are good.
What I actually consider my favorite part of this series is the worldbuilding. Excluding LotR(because it isn't a trilogy, it is a book, so why would it be included) this is one of the most well fleshed out worlds of any trilogy I have read. It is a combination of classic fantasy, and really crazy, creative stuff that comes from Tad's brain. It has history, magic, culture, cool fantasy races(really really cool fantasy races actually), and cool castles and cities.
Oh also, as I read diligently, I got used to the adverbs Tad threw in consistently. It did annoy me for a while, but I got used to them and they started to feel natural during To Green Angel Tower.
Oh ya, this series has good prose. I think Tad Williams prose is at its best when he is setting a scene, or doing some kinda weird dream sequence, or sequence in the head of someone who is delirious in some way.
And finally the action is fine, not what the series is about, although Tad has a tendency to start a fight, have that fight be in a desperate situation, and then the PoV character we are in gets knocked out. Then when they wake up the other characters have found a way to not die. I found it annoying. I don't care if you skip an action scene where the outcome is obvious. In fact I would encourage authors to skip fight scenes were the outcome is obvious, and the inclusion of the details of that fight scene does not do anything for the characters, plot, theme, or world. But when it happens in fight scenes where it looks like the good guys are losing, it kinda makes every other fight scene less tense, because I know the author might not have to worry about finding a way for the characters I am cheering for to get out of it.
Anyway, I don't feel like typing more. I liked the series, I like many other series more. The Dragonbone Chair is comfortably my favorite in the trilogy. I did not expect that, as I usually like endings a lot, and most people seem to like To Green Angel Tower the most.
7.3/10
Overall, I thought it was good. I definitely was expecting to like it more, I had it as one of my 5 star predictions at the start of the year, and it did not come close to that. My enjoyment was somewhat uneven, with some bits being a bit of a struggle. With some being great. It is a great bridge in the genre, which I know is among many peoples all time favorites, but I have to say I will not have to join those people. I don't regret reading it, I enjoyed reading it, but am never going to reread it.
Also please stop telling people that the first 150 pages of The Dragonbone Chair is dreadfully slow.
For one, the start of The Dragonbone Chair is good, and second it gives people the idea that things will take of after that. The entire thing is a slow burn. Expect things to continue at a comparable pace. I don't know maybe i'm crazy, but please tell me if you are someone who really had to slog through the start of book 1, but love the rest of the series. I am curious if this exists. I can get liking the start of DBC less than the rest, but I would love to know if anyone actually would have DNFed without that warning, and then the series became one of your favorites.
I think basically I would sum it up as this. Memory Sorrow and Thorn's main plot is not super complicated, and moves quite slowly. However it has a lot of interesting and creative subplots. This kinda gives the wrong idea, because I guess you could make the case that many of the subplots are actually a part of the main plot. Which is true, a lot of them are connected. However it is also true that while reading them, a lot of them do not feel connected. It is also true that there are quite a few subplots that are purely there to stand on their own.
My guess is if I was someone who really enjoyed all the subplots, I would feel this entire series was amazing from beginning to end. However my enjoyments of the subplots was mixed. I thought some were fantastic (hello ghants, you are creepy, and cool), and some where a bit of a slog (hi Maegwin). Overall this resulted in me being less invested in the finale then i'm sure many would be. And I will say I found some aspects of the climax to be a bit of a let down, while really enjoying some aspects. And then for the most part I enjoyed the falling action, and thought it ended in a really good place. I liked the destination, but not all of the journey.
The next thing that held me back into for the most part enjoying this series, but it not being an all time favorite, is that I did not get uber attached to any of the characters. I think basically the entire cast of this series is good. They are distinctive, have their own motivations. I don't really have anyone who I think is one dimensional, or just a character there to serve the plot. So that's good. However on the flipside I did not personally have a single member of this cast who was super interesting, that I was super invested in.
This leaves me without much to criticize about the characters, but also you are never going to see an MS&T character on my all time favorite list. Most of my favorite series contend for my favorite series because if they have a protagonist(I have to preface the existence of a protagonist because Erikson exists) he is one of my favorites of all time, and I think a huge amount of the supporting cast basically could be as compelling, but we only have room to have the page time for one protagonist. For this series the protagonist is kinda in the middle of the pack. I'm totally fine with him being an idiot, I actually enjoy this about him, I just found his development to kinda just be....basic. Sorry Simon. Then there is a big list of side characters who if you ask me about I will probably go. Oh ya, I like them, they are good.
What I actually consider my favorite part of this series is the worldbuilding. Excluding LotR(because it isn't a trilogy, it is a book, so why would it be included) this is one of the most well fleshed out worlds of any trilogy I have read. It is a combination of classic fantasy, and really crazy, creative stuff that comes from Tad's brain. It has history, magic, culture, cool fantasy races(really really cool fantasy races actually), and cool castles and cities.
Oh also, as I read diligently, I got used to the adverbs Tad threw in consistently. It did annoy me for a while, but I got used to them and they started to feel natural during To Green Angel Tower.
Oh ya, this series has good prose. I think Tad Williams prose is at its best when he is setting a scene, or doing some kinda weird dream sequence, or sequence in the head of someone who is delirious in some way.
And finally the action is fine, not what the series is about, although Tad has a tendency to start a fight, have that fight be in a desperate situation, and then the PoV character we are in gets knocked out. Then when they wake up the other characters have found a way to not die. I found it annoying. I don't care if you skip an action scene where the outcome is obvious. In fact I would encourage authors to skip fight scenes were the outcome is obvious, and the inclusion of the details of that fight scene does not do anything for the characters, plot, theme, or world. But when it happens in fight scenes where it looks like the good guys are losing, it kinda makes every other fight scene less tense, because I know the author might not have to worry about finding a way for the characters I am cheering for to get out of it.
Anyway, I don't feel like typing more. I liked the series, I like many other series more. The Dragonbone Chair is comfortably my favorite in the trilogy. I did not expect that, as I usually like endings a lot, and most people seem to like To Green Angel Tower the most.
7.3/10
saldragski's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. All story threads are finalized in this, the finale of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn fantasy trilogy. All three of these books were way to long.
cg2001's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
genizah's review against another edition
2.0
MAYBE if you hadn't wasted so much time at the BEGINNING of the series, you wouldn't have had to shove so much plot into the last book that it had to be SPLIT for paperback (and also inexplicably for ebook).
genizah's review against another edition
2.0
Well I was going to give this three stars for being moderately entertaining until I got to the climax of the plot and rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. A million pages of just different people slogging through the same tunnels for this bullshit? Of the denouement, let us not even speak. Ugh.
pavram's review against another edition
4.0
Na kraju, za Vilijamsov serijal mogu da kažem samo da je relikt nekog prošlog, strpljivijeg doba fantastike, što je i svojesvrsna prednost - više vremena posvećeno je karakterizaciji i organskom oživljavanju sveta kroz neposredno iskustvo života u njemu - ali i mana - neke stvari prosto su ostarile loše ili se u međulicu pretvorile u kliše, ako to tada nisu bile. Svakako mi je drago što sam posvetio par meseci ležernom čituckanju ovog golemog zaključka trilogije, i verujem da ću se vratiti svetu Osten Arda kad tad.
4
4