Rating: Summary: This Guy Makes Robert Jordon look like Disney World Review: As always with a Tad Williams book you get a lot of distribution so be prepared for environments that are so keenly described you could cut them with a knife. Simon "Snowlock" is just starting to come into his own as a great warrior and it is wonderful to watch him and his friends mature and grow as the book goes on. The heroes lose and gain more and more allies as the book goes on(some of these the reader will grow really attached to If you want a long description of the plot you can read the back of the book and it is a good plot and story that will keep you guessing. However as with all Tad Williams books you must understand that these books are BIG so don't read them if you are one of those people who reads a book and puts it down.
Rating: Summary: Great book, not so great ending. (Potential Spoilers) Review: I "ummed and ahhed" over whether to give this book 4 stars or five stars - I wish I could give it 4.5 stars. The only thing that kept it from being a definite 5 stars is the ending. But... I always said that it is the content of the book and not how it ends that counts, and I have that philosophy simply because I am hardly ever happy with the endings of books or series, and I have decided against letting that ruin my view of the work. (The only ending I ever liked for a series was the Coldfire Trilogy, but then again I have started way more series than I have finished). The problem with the ending (hopefully without giving anything away here--) is that it was too easy. I was actually starting to think that they were actually going to lose to the Storm King. It seemed impossible to defeat him, but then it was so easy - too easy, I just don't buy it. With that being said - I loved the book, best I've read in a while. I have been reading the series since February (It is now the beginning of October), but it only took me three weeks to read "To Green Angel Tower" (I lugged that massive book everywhere with me ;) The series starts off very slow, but it actually picks up in this novel, as if Williams realizes that he has too much to say in too little space (he shouldn't have wasted so much paper on the first two books). If you are reading the first or second book, and wondering if you should continue, yes, you should, it is worth the read! (If not the ending).
Rating: Summary: Derivative? I don't think so. Review: Those who comment that Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is heavily influenced by Tolkien are missing the point. The book has to be close to standard Tolkien-clone fantasy because this is the type of book it subtly parodies. Can't give away too much but lets just say that the prophecy in this book is not as helpful as the ones in Eddings. Also, the nice happy ultra-good race (read Elves) are not ultra-good at all. They abused their servants (Niskies) and bicker and fight like anyone else and are also extremely paranoid. Likewise, the 'dark lord' is far from the incarnation of evil he appears. Black and white, morally transparent plotting and character writing is one of the biggest faults in modern fantasy, but Williams avoids this easily. The only real 'bad guy' is Pryrates, and that is still slightly debatable. Apart from these deviations from the norm, the book is also more than competently written fantasy, the only fault being that Williams has a tendency towards an almost Jordanesque weight of prose, though To Green Angel Tower suffers less from this than the first two volumes. Overall, a highly interesting and well-written spin on old material. Two thumbs up.
Rating: Summary: I still read the books, but...... Review: The story of Tad Williams' books are usually quite good, but the characters that he creates are the most annoying that I've ever seen. From their actions, to stupidity, to the annoying way that they talk, its all you can do to keep from gouging your eyes out. If you can cope with your desire to burn the book everytime you are faced with the annoying characters that you'd like to pummel with your fists if only you were there, then you may enjoy the underlying story.
Rating: Summary: Excellent book, full of battles and adventures! Review: To Green Angel Tower: Siege is the third volume in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (started with The Dragonbone Chair and The Stone of Farewell, and ending with To Green Angel Tower: Storm). After meeting with Josua's party and exiles from the plains on Sesuad'ra, the Stone of Farewell, Simon is knighted by the prince for having recovered the legendary sword Thorn. But soon they learn that Josua's brother, the High-King Elias, has sent an army led by Duke Fengbald. They have to prepare for a desperate war. With a makeshift army of exiles, and even with the unexpected help from the trolls, they know they'll be greatlty outnumbered. To the south, Princess Miriamele, pretending she's daughter of a minor nobleman, has unwillingly given in to Lord Apsitis. He soon tells her he knows her true identity and plans to marry her, for political purposes. She'll have to escape. In this book, Tad Williams manages to keep us reading avidly without revealing too much of the final plot, digging deeper into each character's personality, making them seem so real. I just can't wait to read the next and last one!
Rating: Summary: Great book...Great Series Review: I must say...all three of these book are the best books I have ever read in my life. To Green Angel Tower is the best of the three (if there can be such a thing) But you would expect that being that it is the final book of the trilogy! The character development, sub-plots, forshadowing, and main plot all work together to create a wonderful trilogy. And his attention to detail is extravagant! He doesnt ignore ANY of the characters. And he creates so much suspense by switching to a different character RIGHT as something good is happening to another character...and by the time you get back to the first story...its out of your mind because of the excitment he has created with the other characters! I definately (sp) recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story!
Rating: Summary: Continues to uphold... Review: ...Williams' high writing standards. This book has a lot of good action and battles, reunions, new characters and breakthroughs, questions answered and more questions raised, everything that I expected. Unfortunately, there are also a few of the old errors from book one popping up here again; for instance, calling Josua Joshue semi frequently. While the book for the most part upholds the level of excellence of its two predecessors, my enjoyment of it was severely hampered by the fact that when I picked it up, I was only getting half of the book, and at that time my bookstore didn't have part 2 in stock. Well, I read it anyway, and I'm beginning to wonder, because halfway through the final book in the trilogy, the story doesn't really seem and closer to closure than it did in the middle of the second book. There are more questions than answers, the characters are certainly not ready, or even yet moving towards, any kind of confrontation or resolution. Indeed, I am left to wonder how the author plans to tie everything together in the seperate second half of the novel. However, it is still an exceptionally good bit of fantasy, and eminently worth reading; just don't pick it up unless you've got To Green Angel Tower (Part 2) ready to go. And a final note -- the cover format and paper grade have changed from the previous books. This has nothing to do with the story, but the world is in the details and I like consistency throughout a series. Just a note. Still -- read the book.
Rating: Summary: Delicoius, 5 stars, perfect, scary, just perfect! Review: This is really getting scary. I have read Jordan's WOT series from a recommodation from my brother, grabbed The Sword of Truth of of the shelf at random, and then later found out it was like WOT, and now I found this book by mistake, and it, too, is liked by readers of WOT! I'm getting scared. Anyway, the library by my house is terrible, and like always, they get the last in the series before the first. I read To Green Angel Tower before the Dragonbone Chair or Stone of Farewell. Oops. I loved it. Absolutly loved it to death. It is not confusingly stuffed full of new characters like Jordan does. Jordan is constantly throwing around his huge cast of characters, so you forget who is who and who they are. But, To Green Angel Tower is stunning, and Tad's characters are 4-D and like onions, every time you think you know somthing, you discover another layer underneath. The ending is 7 out of 5 stars, and suprising, even though, when I read it again, I thought, "I should have known that was coming!" I love how Tad portrays his characters, especailly Simon and Josua. Both are weak induviduals who become strong and misterious. I love Geloe to death, and I nearly cried when she died. I love owls. The only part I don't like is how Miriamele treats Simon is the third quarter. Half of the time she is kind, and the other half she is vicious and mean. But that is the only flaw in the whole book, and it's not that obvious to take it down a star. This book was very good in the beginning, and it just got better as it went along. It had the perfect mixture of all fanasy , and it had suprises around every corner. I loved it. VERY highly Recommended.
Rating: Summary: Most Review: Culmination of a truly epic storyline
Rating: Summary: The absolute best Review: 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.
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