Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

[Memnoch]

It's the new epic from the author of the Dragonbone Chair series and Otherland. I'm in the middle of Book 1: Shadowmarch and it is AWESOME - this guy is one of the best when it comes to writing epics. Brilliant! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Balintherlas]

Can u giv us a preview or summary?

[Mack_Attack]

Well I have to say I really liked the otherland series. I thought it was great. Looks like I will have to check this book out. Yes any links to reviews would be cool. I am sure I will do it my self. But I think there might maybe a few lazy people out there.

[Albromor]

Memnoch, I always enjoy your book reviews. I am eternally grateful when a few years back you spared me from searching for the final two books in the Gord the Rouge series, ESPECIALLY the last one. Your overview of Gygax's narcissitic pulp saved me from shedding tears because I probably would have spent my hard earned money on dreck.

I enjoyed the Dragonbone Chair series, but I must admit I could never get halfway through the first book of the Otherworld series. Does it pick up, get any better?

Also, what makes Williams latest so awesome? Thanks!

[Memnoch]

Good to see you too Albromar. Mate, you should have persevered with Otherland - the first book is slow except for the last third of the book, when it starts to pick up. The second book is excellent, and the third is OUTSTANDING. The fourth is not as good as the third but he finishes things well. Go back and reread Book 1 again (unless you really hate the genre, but books 2 and 3 have lots of fantastical elements to them).

Re Shadowmarch, I haven't finished it yet, so I'll wait till I've finished before I post a review - what I will say is that it's been a page-turner so far, and as opposed to his earlier two epics (MS&T and Otherland) this one gets off the ground much more quickly. I love Williams' prose and his ability to create a world that seems so alive, and he has this special talent of really making you emotional about his characters - be that like or dislike, he certainly fills them out.

Here's the Amazon Editorial review, should give you guys a bit of a summary.

From Amazon.com The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series established Tad Williams's preeminence in fantasy. Now, after an absence of more than a decade, the New York Times bestselling author has returned to high fantasy with his Shadowmarch trilogy. Exciting, ambitious, intricate, and insightful, Shadowmarch: Volume 1 demonstrates that Williams is still America's best high fantasist. . Shadowmarch: Volume 1 introduces a world conquered by humans, who have driven the Qar, or fairy folk, into the far north. There, the Qar hide behind the "Shadowline," a mysterious veil of perpetual mist, which drives mad any human who dares enter it. Bordering that mist and named for it is Shadowmarch, the northernmost human kingdom. . Shadowmarch has lately fallen on hard times. Its king has been captured by a rival kingdom, the regent has been mysteriously slain, and the new regents are callow fifteen-year-olds. Moody, crippled Prince Barrick is uninterested in their responsibilities and haunted by eerie dreams. His twin, Princess Briony, takes their new duties seriously, but is hot-tempered and headstrong. How can they defeat the greatest threats in Shadowmarch history? Their nobles plot to overthrow them--and the plotters may include their pregnant stepmother, seeking the throne for her own child. The expanding empire of Xis has sent its agents into Shadowmarch. And, for the first time since it appeared centuries ago, the Shadowline has starting moving. As the maddening mist spreads south over Shadowmarch, it does not quite hide the powerful, uncanny, and vengeful Qar army of invasion... --Cynthia Ward Source: www.amazon.com editorial review.

[ 01-24-2005, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]