Do you ever hear about a book, an author, a series…and hear about them and hear about them and hear about them and you start to wonder if perhaps all of the devotion is truly merited? I know that I do. Couple that with an author who writes long novels in a multi-volume series and I begin to waver in my desire to investigate all of the praise.
Such is the case with Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy*. I do not spend a great deal of time on science fiction and/or fantasy news/fan sites, nor listen to podcasts with regularity, and many of the reader-friends with whom I maintain regular contact do not read sci-fi or fantasy, or if they do, have not read Tad Williams. Yet Tad Williams’ name, and this series, have pinged on my radar several times since the start of the year.
It was time to find out why.
The Dragonbone Chair is a dense, engaging novel that slowly draws the reader in by following a young scullery lad, Simon, as he laments his life, his duty, his lack of parents and longs for something more, including lessons in magic from Doctor Morgenes, the castles’ healer and wizard. Instead he gets lessons in reading and writing and is frequently called to task for the lazy attitude he takes towards his responsibilities.
Once the reader knows Simon and through his eyes has been introduced to the world Tad Williams has created, the plot moves forward briskly, revealing multiple characters, intrigue, evil motives, pending war and the return of a race long ago deposed by mankind. This is a story of brother betraying brother, of sons bristling against the leadership of their fathers, of seemingly insignificant people who have to rise to the occasion set before them, of banding together and facing danger for the people and the world that you love.
For a book published in 1988, it is amazing how fresh and relevant it reads and it is not at all surprising that this book series is beloved by many and continues to be recommended reading. While the basic structure of the fantasy realm is recognizable to readers of fantasy novels, Tad Williams builds his own unique political structure, history, and races upon that foundation. He creates a believable and immersive world, introducing characters that you love, characters you love to hate, and characters that arouse your suspicions and mistrust.
My experience with this book came across multiple platforms, allowing me to feed my desire to stay within this world as much as I could across the course of the day. I read it via my paperback copy with its Michael Whelan cover, via ebook on my iPhone, my Kindle, and the Kindle app on my PC during lunch breaks, and listened to it via the Audible app while driving to and from work. The synch technology was not always as quick as I would have liked it to be, but it worked and I was able to stay fully engaged in the story.
I can confidently say that The Dragonbone Chair earns its staying power and if the remaining books continue this trend, the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series is without doubt an essential read.
*though Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is a trilogy, if you own it in paperback form it is actually four books, as the last volume was split into two parts for publication.
You and Cath read books so fast! My eyes won’t let me do that! I do remember the name of Tad Williams and the title even sounds familiar But I have no idea if I read it at any time when much younger! lol It sounds good though! Basically, because of you and the old RIP most of my books are no longer Fantasy..Of course I did just Reread Pern. I plan to go in and out or rereads this year and a number of them WILL be fantasy! You and Cath do great reviews.. I depend on Amazon..sigh..I used to write a lot more but it seems to have gone the way of the DoDo.. lol.. Your reviews will surely get others reading again!
Some of it is just smoke and mirrors, Pat. I started reading this book over a month ago and was able to listen to a lot of it on audio to and from work, meaning the “reading” part was only about a quarter of the book, meanwhile I was also reading other much shorter books.
I’ll be interested to see what actually pans out, but I have far more books that I want to reread this year than usual, despite all the haven’t-yet-read books I also want to read. Part of this nostalgic trip back to childhood reading programs means I’ve been thinking a lot about books I’ve read and would like to revisit.
Really loved this series. Nice to see some different races from the usual fantasy tropes.
I’m just barely into Stone of Farewell, but what a start! I too like the different races and even the differences between the various human groups. It does make me want to keep up with these, though, because I think it would be easy to get lost by getting away from the story for a while.
Hope you are continuing to do well, Stuart.
Tad Williams is an author I have heard of for a long time that I too have not read. I have always thought his books sounded interesting but one reason or another his works haven’t made it on to my TBR pile. I’m so glad your experience with him was a good one as that gives me extra encouragement to pick up one of his books one day.
I think my reluctance has been their are soooooo many books in his library. I feel like I’m coming to late to the party with authors like him and others that I have never read such as Robin Hobb, Steven Erickson and others. It’s almost the fear that I really like them how in the world will I ever get caught up reading their works. Completely silly on my part but I know it’s part of my under lying irrational fear.
The Whelan cover as always is great and I can see why you picked that copy to read.
I have a memory that he was on the Sword and Laser YouTube show, or maybe just their podcast, being interviewed once, but I’m not certain. I think that was my first exposure to him besides just seeing his name on books that had Whelan covers that I liked.
I have that same reluctance with so many of these authors. Robin Hobb is another who has been popping up on IG posts a lot over this past year and is highly recommend by those who like her work.
I do like that this book is part of a *cough* trilogy and that even though the books are like GRRM’s or Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive: HUGE! At least there is an end and I wouldn’t have to go read the bridge novel or the new trilogy. Though I suspect I will want to. I completely understand that fear. I wish I could stick to a series of books all the way through, but my MO is not to do that. They only time in my life when I was that dedicated was when I read the first 9, I believe, Louise Penny “Inspector Gamache” novels in a row and that was just a freak thing. I’ve never been that focused in my reading.
I had thought I had a copy of this book when I finally decided to read it but didn’t, and ended up ordering the whole set of paperbacks on Amazon so I could have them as part of my Whelan cover collection. I am so not a fan of the current covers of these books with the sword designs on them. Way to generic for my tastes.
This has been on my shelves since it first came into paperback. (But I think my copy has a little cut-out in the centre–why don’t they still do that? LOL) At some point a lot of those chunky serial volumes on my shelves were lost along the way, but these I hung onto, sure that eventually I would love them, and your post suggests that’s likely still true. Your idea of synching across devices must have made this particularly immersive.
Yes, it was a much more enjoyable way to experience such a large book. The narrator of the audio books is very good, and being able to read for a few minutes on breaks on a device, vs. carrying the book around, helped me keep involved in the story consistently.
I’m assuming a lot of those things they don’t do with books anymore because they got damaged in shipping and in shelving. My experience is that customers and booksellers are not always equally loving to books when they are in a bookstore.
I bought this one, and the next two, in hardcover as they were published. I liked Williams’ Tailchaser’s Song a lot and here was epic fantasy by him! Yay!
I really like this book a lot, the second volume lots but not as much, the third was good, but not quite as much. The second trilogy was harder for me to like, but over all good stuff. However I stopped reading him after that. But boy, did I like this first book!
I can definitely see why, it was very good. I’m enjoying listening to the second book on audio and will probably do that for most of the volume. The narrator is really very good, and this will allow me to “read” Stone of Farewell while driving and sample the other books I am reading when I am at home.