vickerstaylor's review against another edition
5.0
Splitting these puppies up because they are chonky, but another amazing entry in the world of Osten Ard.
mensenkinderen's review against another edition
5.0
I devoured this series in my teenage years and still have very fond memories about it. The world of Osten Ard may seem like a stereotypical fantasy setting, but Williams' style of writing and the overall plot of "Memory, Sorrow & Thorn" make the series something special, in my opinion.
sambora's review against another edition
3.0
"Good stories will tell you that facing the lie is the worst terror of all, and there is no talisman or magic sword that is half so potent a weapon as truth."
~
To Green Angel Tower: Siege is the first half of book 3 in the 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' epic fantasy series. I found this entry to be a mixed bag.
It should go without saying, BUT beware of spoilers for the first couple of books.
Some elements of TGAT:Storm were clearly improved upon from the first two books. The various threads of the story start to come together, as the mysteries that our characters have been working on start to unravel.
But it's also apparent to me that a couple of other things had to be somewhat compromised or, at least, put on the backburner to be able to make that happen.
Our protagonist, Simon, is stationary for the majority of this book.
That isn't to say that nothing happens within his alloted chapters, but drawing some of the focus away from him allows us to spend more time with the secondary and tertiary characters, who will no doubt have big roles to play as this series comes toward it's climax.
Simon is also coming of age. During the first half of this book he is given more responsibilities and starts to takes things a lot more seriously, which was great. He was active and growing as a character.
But of course that couldn't be all. His coming of age also heralds the obligatory insertion of not-so-potential love interests, around which the second half of his chapters in this book are focused.
I say "not-so-potential" because I am sure we all know who he is bound to end up with.
Talking of...
Princess Miriamele's adventure in particular stood out to me during this entry.
Her and Cadrach are held prisoner aboard the ship of the foul Count Aspitis, and are later saved and finally found by Duke Isgrimnur, the marshman Tiamak, and the now fabled legendary swordsman, Sir Camaris, who for some reason appears to have lost his wits.
They cover immense distances, see some incredible places and come against a host of really interesting and well written obstacles.
This selection of characters all bounce off each other well and have to rely on the skills and knowledge of their party to get them through the challenges they face.
These chapters REALLY had me gripped.
~
"Why is it that men think they are brave and women are weak? Women see more blood and pain than men ever do, unless men are fighting - and that is foolish blood."
~
The portions of the book following Princess Maegwin and Count Eolair felt a bit weak to me.
I think because we weren't introduced to the characters as early on as the rest, I couldn't help feel my attention try to wander.
Maegwin spends a lot of time inside her own head and sends Count Eolair away early on - thus, Eolair doesn't do much of anything in this book. Both him and we, the readers, miss out on witnessing the victory of his people at the end of the book. I was pretty disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing him active in some capacity.
Hopefully this will be rectified in part 2.
Rachel "the Dragon" and Earl Guthwulf are both still at the Hayholt, which is currently held and occupied by High King Elias and the dangerous priest Pryrates.
These chapters take up the least of the book, but in my opinion are some of the best.
Rachel is hiding within the secrets tunnels and passageways of the old castle, eavesdropping and scavenging for supplies.
Her character is in an almost permanent state of retrospective-ness and it feels very real. In that same situation I'd be thinking about all the things I could have done differently too.
Guthwulf is rendered blind by Pryrates and becomes infatuated with the High King's magical sword; Sorrow. He is left to stumble in the dark around the seemingly ever changing corridors and antechambers of the Hayholt.
A POV without the V. It's very unique and made me realise that I'd never read anything from the perspective of somebody with no vision. I thought it was done marvellously.
~
"A man who will not listen carefully to advice honestly given is a fool. Of course, a man who blindly takes any advice he receives is a bigger fool."
~
3.5 stars (rounded down)
Briefly put; I liked and enjoyed most of the story taking place within this book. Maybe not as much as the first two (hence the rounding down), but it certainly didn't take away from the overarching plot or my investment therein.
I am excited to see what transpires, and how the series gets wrapped up, in the next part; To Green Angel Tower: Storm.
_______________________________________
Thank you for reading my review!
I'll be starting the next book in this series later on today, so keep your eyes peeled for my review in the next couple of weeks if you're interested.
In the meantime I've almost finished One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence AND William Gibson's award-winning Neuromancer, the reading of which has been long overdue for me.
Anywho, thank you again for reading my reviews <3
~
To Green Angel Tower: Siege is the first half of book 3 in the 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' epic fantasy series. I found this entry to be a mixed bag.
It should go without saying, BUT beware of spoilers for the first couple of books.
Some elements of TGAT:Storm were clearly improved upon from the first two books. The various threads of the story start to come together, as the mysteries that our characters have been working on start to unravel.
But it's also apparent to me that a couple of other things had to be somewhat compromised or, at least, put on the backburner to be able to make that happen.
Our protagonist, Simon, is stationary for the majority of this book.
That isn't to say that nothing happens within his alloted chapters, but drawing some of the focus away from him allows us to spend more time with the secondary and tertiary characters, who will no doubt have big roles to play as this series comes toward it's climax.
Simon is also coming of age. During the first half of this book he is given more responsibilities and starts to takes things a lot more seriously, which was great. He was active and growing as a character.
But of course that couldn't be all. His coming of age also heralds the obligatory insertion of not-so-potential love interests, around which the second half of his chapters in this book are focused.
I say "not-so-potential" because I am sure we all know who he is bound to end up with.
Talking of...
Princess Miriamele's adventure in particular stood out to me during this entry.
Her and Cadrach are held prisoner aboard the ship of the foul Count Aspitis, and are later saved and finally found by Duke Isgrimnur, the marshman Tiamak, and the now fabled legendary swordsman, Sir Camaris, who for some reason appears to have lost his wits.
They cover immense distances, see some incredible places and come against a host of really interesting and well written obstacles.
This selection of characters all bounce off each other well and have to rely on the skills and knowledge of their party to get them through the challenges they face.
These chapters REALLY had me gripped.
~
"Why is it that men think they are brave and women are weak? Women see more blood and pain than men ever do, unless men are fighting - and that is foolish blood."
~
The portions of the book following Princess Maegwin and Count Eolair felt a bit weak to me.
I think because we weren't introduced to the characters as early on as the rest, I couldn't help feel my attention try to wander.
Maegwin spends a lot of time inside her own head and sends Count Eolair away early on - thus, Eolair doesn't do much of anything in this book. Both him and we, the readers, miss out on witnessing the victory of his people at the end of the book. I was pretty disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing him active in some capacity.
Hopefully this will be rectified in part 2.
Rachel "the Dragon" and Earl Guthwulf are both still at the Hayholt, which is currently held and occupied by High King Elias and the dangerous priest Pryrates.
These chapters take up the least of the book, but in my opinion are some of the best.
Rachel is hiding within the secrets tunnels and passageways of the old castle, eavesdropping and scavenging for supplies.
Her character is in an almost permanent state of retrospective-ness and it feels very real. In that same situation I'd be thinking about all the things I could have done differently too.
Guthwulf is rendered blind by Pryrates and becomes infatuated with the High King's magical sword; Sorrow. He is left to stumble in the dark around the seemingly ever changing corridors and antechambers of the Hayholt.
A POV without the V. It's very unique and made me realise that I'd never read anything from the perspective of somebody with no vision. I thought it was done marvellously.
~
"A man who will not listen carefully to advice honestly given is a fool. Of course, a man who blindly takes any advice he receives is a bigger fool."
~
3.5 stars (rounded down)
Briefly put; I liked and enjoyed most of the story taking place within this book. Maybe not as much as the first two (hence the rounding down), but it certainly didn't take away from the overarching plot or my investment therein.
I am excited to see what transpires, and how the series gets wrapped up, in the next part; To Green Angel Tower: Storm.
_______________________________________
Thank you for reading my review!
I'll be starting the next book in this series later on today, so keep your eyes peeled for my review in the next couple of weeks if you're interested.
In the meantime I've almost finished One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence AND William Gibson's award-winning Neuromancer, the reading of which has been long overdue for me.
Anywho, thank you again for reading my reviews <3
tbarracuda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
nia_guy's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
davehershey's review against another edition
3.0
I like this series enough to want to find out what happens in the end. Barely. If it was just a little less interesting, I would probably give up.
As I finish this book, I think my biggest problem with the series is that the antagonists are mostly spoken of but not actually in the story. We met, presumably, the primary antagonists in the first two books (Pryates, King Elias, the Storm King) and they are interesting. We get glimpses of them from time to time and discovering what their plans are is a big reason I want to keep reading. But, kind of like the Eye of Sauron in LOTR, they are mostly off stage. They pop up from time to time. Though, unlike LOTR, we do not fully know their motivation, now about 3/4 through the series.
The problem is, the minor villains who do the dirty work for these major villains are not developed. We have heard their names and their evil deeds, but we haven’t met them: Fengbald, Skali. We finally meet them in this book, incredibly briefly, and both are quickly disposed of.
Rather than showing us their villainy, we are told they did villainous deeds. I am wondering if Williams does too much telling and not enough showing. There is a scene near the end of the book when a character enters the room and one character nods. Williams tells us she nods so the other character “knows its okay to come in.” Or something like that. But by this point in the story, we should know a character well enough to know what such a nod means. Another option is just leave it to our imagination; why the nod? I’m curious to go back and reread (but I never will) and see if this problem persisted in the series.
All that said, I do like the series. The characters we met early on - Simon, Binabik and a few others - are interesting. A few of the characters introduced later are also growing in interest. Overall, The Dragonbone Chair focused mostly on Simon for the first half and was very slow. Eventually it got good, but I think the entire series would have benefited by more world building early on and introducing more characters from the start.
All that to say: good, not great. I want to find out what happens so I will finish.
As I finish this book, I think my biggest problem with the series is that the antagonists are mostly spoken of but not actually in the story. We met, presumably, the primary antagonists in the first two books (Pryates, King Elias, the Storm King) and they are interesting. We get glimpses of them from time to time and discovering what their plans are is a big reason I want to keep reading. But, kind of like the Eye of Sauron in LOTR, they are mostly off stage. They pop up from time to time. Though, unlike LOTR, we do not fully know their motivation, now about 3/4 through the series.
The problem is, the minor villains who do the dirty work for these major villains are not developed. We have heard their names and their evil deeds, but we haven’t met them: Fengbald, Skali. We finally meet them in this book, incredibly briefly, and both are quickly disposed of.
Rather than showing us their villainy, we are told they did villainous deeds. I am wondering if Williams does too much telling and not enough showing. There is a scene near the end of the book when a character enters the room and one character nods. Williams tells us she nods so the other character “knows its okay to come in.” Or something like that. But by this point in the story, we should know a character well enough to know what such a nod means. Another option is just leave it to our imagination; why the nod? I’m curious to go back and reread (but I never will) and see if this problem persisted in the series.
All that said, I do like the series. The characters we met early on - Simon, Binabik and a few others - are interesting. A few of the characters introduced later are also growing in interest. Overall, The Dragonbone Chair focused mostly on Simon for the first half and was very slow. Eventually it got good, but I think the entire series would have benefited by more world building early on and introducing more characters from the start.
All that to say: good, not great. I want to find out what happens so I will finish.
osutton's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
emmascc's review
4.0
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
This got a bit slow in the middle, but picked up towards the end.
This got a bit slow in the middle, but picked up towards the end.