A review by isauldur
Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams
4.0
Okay, here we go. This book is great. Just great. Everything is amazing! The writing, the language, the characters, the locations!
Spoiler-Free Section:
As I was reading this series, I realized that it reads a little bit like Star Wars does. Whereas the first book was grounded and the locations were few, but very well developed, this one takes you to a wide range of new places that have been mentioned before, or even haven't.
Unlike its predecessor, Stone of Farewell doesn't have a clear climax. The book is more like a sequence of events building up more and more towards the final volume, where everything will be resolved. But because of that, this book can throw a lot of different plot threads (Miri, Josua, Simon, Isgrimnur) an move them along at a good pace. In this book, we get to know all the characters a lot better. Josua is now more than just a grim prince, Miriamele is more than just a princess. While already well developed in the first book, Miriamele grows as a character and becomes more three-dimensional.
I recommend this book!
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Henceforth, there will be spoilers, as I'll talk in detail about the book.
The locations are great! Just everything is straight out of a guidebook to the fantastic locations of Osten Ard. The Yiqanuc mountain is so cool and interesting, with the giant statues in the Hall where the Huntress and the Herder sit. The strange way that the Qanuc village just sits around the sides of the mountain made it hard for me to picture, because I've read nothing like it. I just want to go into that location and explore!
Now, the Sithi city inside of Aldheorte: it was absolutely nothing like I expected, so I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Who would have thought that Sithi lived in houses made of fabric? Since the Sithi are much like elves, it would be easy to imagine some type of tree house, or stone palaces carved with scenes of importance. But the carvings are instead substituted with tapestries made of knots, detailing the history of the Sithi, how they left the Garden in the east and sailed to Osten Ard. That blew me away, because, again, I've seen nothing like it.
Skovi, the witch-girl, was legitimately scary and I did not expect her to turn that dark that quickly. That entire sequence was intense and just non-stop-reading. Later we have a fight scene between Josua and a Thrithings-man, where he totally kicks ass, all so he can wed Vorzheva.
And about time that Ingen Jegger was killed! I hated that guy, he was a villain that just wouldn't die, and that makes him a legitimately intimidating and threatening villain.
What else is there to say? I loved this book and I'm insanely excited for the last one.
Spoiler-Free Section:
As I was reading this series, I realized that it reads a little bit like Star Wars does. Whereas the first book was grounded and the locations were few, but very well developed, this one takes you to a wide range of new places that have been mentioned before, or even haven't.
Unlike its predecessor, Stone of Farewell doesn't have a clear climax. The book is more like a sequence of events building up more and more towards the final volume, where everything will be resolved. But because of that, this book can throw a lot of different plot threads (Miri, Josua, Simon, Isgrimnur) an move them along at a good pace. In this book, we get to know all the characters a lot better. Josua is now more than just a grim prince, Miriamele is more than just a princess. While already well developed in the first book, Miriamele grows as a character and becomes more three-dimensional.
I recommend this book!
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Henceforth, there will be spoilers, as I'll talk in detail about the book.
The locations are great! Just everything is straight out of a guidebook to the fantastic locations of Osten Ard. The Yiqanuc mountain is so cool and interesting, with the giant statues in the Hall where the Huntress and the Herder sit. The strange way that the Qanuc village just sits around the sides of the mountain made it hard for me to picture, because I've read nothing like it. I just want to go into that location and explore!
Now, the Sithi city inside of Aldheorte: it was absolutely nothing like I expected, so I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Who would have thought that Sithi lived in houses made of fabric? Since the Sithi are much like elves, it would be easy to imagine some type of tree house, or stone palaces carved with scenes of importance. But the carvings are instead substituted with tapestries made of knots, detailing the history of the Sithi, how they left the Garden in the east and sailed to Osten Ard. That blew me away, because, again, I've seen nothing like it.
Skovi, the witch-girl, was legitimately scary and I did not expect her to turn that dark that quickly. That entire sequence was intense and just non-stop-reading. Later we have a fight scene between Josua and a Thrithings-man, where he totally kicks ass, all so he can wed Vorzheva.
And about time that Ingen Jegger was killed! I hated that guy, he was a villain that just wouldn't die, and that makes him a legitimately intimidating and threatening villain.
What else is there to say? I loved this book and I'm insanely excited for the last one.