To Green Angel Tower: Part I

One thing can definitely be said for Tad Williams: in comparison to other fantasy writers, who start big and then peter out, his writing improves in leaps and bounds with each passing work. All the threads he wove together so cleverly, beginning with 'The Dragonbone Chair' and continuing in 'Stone of Farewell', are revealed to their fullest extent in this majestic conclusion. Typical fantasy this is not. Throw your predictions out the window when you read this series--Tad knows cliches when he sees them, and avoids them masterfully until the very end. Toward the end, the story begins to take on the quality of a lush piece of music: marching in ever-twining threads which like strains of melody, spiral upward, constantly adding new threads of power and beauty whenever the tune starts to become familiar. There are moments so moving that they are transcendant, and so imaginative that one is tempted to predict that this is an epic that will last after many others have faded with the years.The characters only get better, Simon in particular, who literally goes to hell and back. Tad Williams does not put his hero to minor tests and allow him to earn his status as the hero with the swing of a sword; rather, like Winston Churchill, he demands "blood and toil, tears and sweat" in relentless profusion. Yet rather than being an orgy in pain and suffering, the story is uplifting in its depiction of boy who begins as 'ordinary', and in overcoming tremendous suffering and tests of courage, becomes a hero worthy of the name.There are some drawbacks to this otherwise perfect book. For one thing, Tad Williams is lacking in his portrayal of women, primarily Miriamele and Vorzheva. The latter is constantly whining and irredeemably selfish--it's difficult to understand how a great guy like Josua got stuck with her, let alone risked his life for her sake. The fact that the author is obviously in love with her does not make liking her any easier.Miriamele is well-realized character, but toward the end she becomes sulky, and the problems that exist in her relationship with Simon are never resolved, let alone discussed, since any such discussion deteriorates into cuddling. This makes the abrupt resolution of their relationship at the end hard to swallow--so they slept together. Maybe it'll put off their problems for a night--but what about the rest of their lives?I also thought that some very dramatic events at the end should not have been narrated by Tiamak after the fact--it took away any sense of immediacy, and belittled the importance of Cadrach's wrenching sacrifice.Other than that, though, what is there to say? This is an epic that actually lives up to its length and delivers. The author obviously knew where he was going from page one, and his intent drives the story home by the end with stunning power. Not by any means a light read--but deep and immensely satisfying.

I am trying to read the LOTR trilogy, but am finding it somewhat difficult because it is pure fantasy in the sense that it is about races other than our own: hobbits and dwarves and the like. It makes for entertaining read but I miss the shared involvement I got when reading these books by Tad Williams. I loved the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy because the writing was truly superb, and classical. The description of Osten Ard was real and provocative. When I think of To Green Angel Tower, I can feel the cold air of the unending winter brought upon by the Storm King, and I can see the delicately wrought Green Angel Tower, and the hidden halls that Maegwin discovered, and the ragged rebel army gathered on the Stone of Farewell, the parting place of the legendary Sithi and Norns, cheering and making merry for each small victory. I loved Tad Williams' characterizations most of all. Each of his characters were individuals, leaving a different imprint on mind and heart, and easily brought to life due to the excellency of its drawing. Scholarly, defeated Prince Joshua, not understood by his honest followers, with his odd sense of humor and his strong ethics. Simon the former scullion, still full of ideals and a strange mix of experience and unexpected-humble- wisdom. More than the usual "naive hero". But there are too many characters to get into detail. There is Miriamele, the runaway princess who has grown painfully during her adventures, Cadrach, her companion, a false monk who has connections to the League of the Scroll, and lost his faith in all, Binabik, a little mountain troll of surprising knowledge, who is utterly adorable and rides a tame wolf, Duke Isgrimnur, of a Viking-like clan, cutting off pagan oaths for his newer religion adopted when he served the great Prester John, Sithi Prince Jiriki and his sister Aditu, the young of an ancient fey, with a fascinatingly bizarre manner, and Tiamak, an educated, determined small swamp man who lives in the backwater marshes and holds a key to the Leagues' mystery, and Maegwin, struggling daughter of a dead cheiftain, ruler of a broken, noble people, and Vorsheva, a vivid, fiery, brave woman, and Elias, the weakened tyrant king, lost in his own sorrows, wanting desperately that which he has lost (his dead wife), slowly being ruined by his sorcerous, hairless, scarlet-robed advisor Pyrates. And of course many many more! If you want high fantasy, a richly detailed world with a history that incorporates our legends, and a magic that is not raw power blazing out of finger tips, but a mystic touch and a boundless imagination, then you really must read these books. It starts with the Dragonbone Chair, goes on with the Stone of Farewell and ends here, To Green Angel Tower. If you have already read the other books then read this one too, and don't let the huge size stop you! Unlike Robert Jordan and sadly many other fantasy authors, Tad Williams is forever

Unoriginal, boring, long winded? Unfortunately, we live in an "instant" society, instant gratification, instant highs, instant food, if something lasts for longer than an instant, we've been trained to find it boring. Fashions come and go in a year, sales are always high as we strive to be "un-boring", movies must perpetually keep viewers on the edge of their seat... That's why I read. "The book is better than the movie" syndrome occurs around 85% of the time, usually because the story as presented in the book is too slow, can't be packed into 2 hours, etc. This gives the movie a rushed, unfinished and undetailed impression, in comparison to the book. If you prefer movies to books, then this series is not for you. Unfortunately, however, this "perpetual action" syndrome has crept into literature, fantasy being no exception. Writers must churn out one pulp novel per year, keeping books to a healthy length and be madly full of action at every turn to gratify the baser whims of the less sophisticated readers. Tad Williams put a lot into this trilogy, more than his publishers anticipated when the work ran sorely overtime, more than the readers expected when we hassled the local bookshop for news of release dates, all in the name of art. If you want heads rolling, magic flying, a formula being strictly adhered to and a stock-standard cast of non-complex characters wandering around aimlessly and killing trolls, then this series is not for you. Tolkien wrote of a dragon, elves, small men, trolls, treasure, magical artifacts, rites of passage and a journey - so did many other authors. Are all works of fantasy to be compared to his? Yes, he was brilliant! Yes, he was original, but are all works of fantasy to be labeled "unoriginal" because they use an element of his work? It is almost impossible to name five works of fantasy since that don't contain any common element with Tolkien. So too with all writers hence, must a new book necessarily be judged in the light of all works preceding it, some small-minded critic not tolerating a common element or two with another work? We might as well cease reading. "There is nothing new under the sun", but sometimes a great story rips us off our seats and plunges us into an intricate and ALIVE world, spun from the imagination and rhetoric of the author, history, previously read works, current affairs, dreams and aspirations. This is one such series, and I can not recommend it strongly enough to any who would appreciate what is one of the most intricately woven and spellbinding trilogies set in a fantasy world. The momentum of fifteen hundred pages of pure art sweeps the reader of their feet and carries them through to the spectacular ending. When I awoke from this saga, I felt as if I'd woken from a pleasant dream.

I'll try to keep this short, yet still explain the multitude of reasons why you should (wil) buy this book. I am a student of biochemistry, and reading (everything i get my hands on) is my most important past time. The first time I read this series I read it in German (I live in Austria). Since then I have bought the English Paperback Version of all books, read it one more time in german, and three times in English; and now plan to buy the hardcover books (only few books get the "hardcover award" from me, since I couldn't afford it else - Lord of the Ring has, so do the Simarillion and LOTR, as well as a book about the roman law and its development until today...). Bought three times, read 5 times.....within 7 years... Anyway the whole series is ended with this book, wich in itself is as long as the previous two. The pace gets faster, the story more tense, the characters develop and are finally taking action themselves, the plot finally gets solved (...), a love story developing, a happy-end with a slightly bitter taste, you may dwell on the world you have grown to love on 1600 more pages. Problem is: it's too short! (whine, whine, i wan't more) Of course it isn't the perfect story/book. But that is as good as they get. Trust me-READ THIS BOOK. I'd be proud of you....(probably doesn't help you in any way, but still)

The first thing I would like to say about this series, something which I almost couldn't believe I had found on the science fiction/fantasy bookshelves (especially after the shock I took with the Robert Jordan books) is that . . . and this is really quite amazing . . . the characters on the COVER of the book looked *exactly* like their DESCRIPTIONS *IN* the book! Besides this amazing feat, what struck me most about the whole series was the development of the main character. Williams succeeds wonderfully in absorbing the reader in his realistic depiction of Simon's growth from a clumsy, dream-filled boy to a clumsy, love-struck adolescent to a slightly more mature (but still clumsy) young man. Also, he masterfully transforms the tired old formula of disguising the standard fantasy races by giving them a different name. He imbues these characters with such incredible detail that you barely notice the gimick. Altogether a great read, worth the hours it takes to get through the dictionary-sized tomes