Rating: 
Summary: You can buy it at Books-a-million
Review: You can buy it at Books-a-million
Rating: 
Summary: Great Beginning to a Fabulous Series
Review: The thing about Tad Williams is that you've got to bear with him. He tells his story in his own time, not yours, but if you're willing to be patient with him, he will take you places you've never imagined and will never forget. This books is fairly slow and I am not surprised when I hear that people read this book (or only got halfway through) and never went on with the others. I know the pace of the book can seem like trudging through the snow uphill, but Mr. Williams pace is deliberate. He doesn't make a lot of leaps over meanings the way some other authors do. It's just a question of style, not saying one way is better than another. Tad's style is slow, deliberate and then when it picks up it has so much monentum it feels like it's pounding you through the skull and coming out your ears and you only want it to go on and on and on and then it's over and while you're a better person for it, it's bittersweet. I loved these characters they are life like and fleshed out. Mr. Williams uses a lot of old story elements, but everyone does that, and he adds his own unique flavor and twist to the old legends. If you read this and find yourself reluctant to "trudge" through the next books, trust me when I say not only does it pick up you might find yourself wishing him to slow down so you can catch everything. I bow in his general direction and this story is an inspiration to me as it should be to anyone who loves this genre.
Rating:
Summary: The Dragonbone Chair
Review: I agree with many of the other reviewers, who say that you need some perseverance to get through to the really interesting part of this book. However, once you get past the slow start, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I especially enjoyed the atypical characters. The hero is not a shining do-gooder, but a sulky and rather lazy boy who gets swept up into the adventure he had always dreamed of. The world is also detailed and interesting, and the pace mounts to a fever pitch at the end. I would also very much recommend having the second book on hand, because you will probably want to move right into it by the end of Dragonbone Chair.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but not great.
Review: This book isn't really bad, but I would not call it a masterpiece. The first problem is that it is really long. I dont mind a long well written book, but this is not well written. There are moments that the author takes pages when he should have used sentences. This really sets up bad pacing. Just when you start to get into it, he ends up rambling and destroying any momentum he had. The other problem is that the plot is your standard peasant boy who is more than he seems to be goes on a quest to save the world. But despite these shortcomings I am interested to see what happens next, and I guess you cannot ask for more than that. Overall I would say that this is a better series to start than the wheel of time (you will actually be able to finish this series!). Give it a try, you might like it. Just remember it is not a well written book.
Rating:
Summary: Starts off slow but worth staying with
Review: People who have picked up this book fall into two categories: those who gave up after 100 pages or so, saying that it was too slow and didn't hold their interest, and those who stubbornly stuck it out through the slow parts and to their delight, found themselves in the middle of one of the best epic fantasies written so far. Yes, the beginning of the series is a bit long and drawn-out, but it is really worth sticking with. The basic plot of this book - of this entire series - is nothing new. Those who have read a lot of fantasy will find a lot of familiar elements - the standard young hero coming of age, a mysterious nonhuman race driven out of the land when men first arrived, an ageless wisewoman who seems to know everything, a king corrupted by evil, and magical artifacts of all sorts. The brilliant thing about Tad Williams is that he rises above the cliches to create a story that is more original and less predictable than it should be. The world of Osten Ard is detailed and very real, and the characters even more so. The cast of characters is very large, yet somehow easy to keep track of (and if the reader gets confused as to who is who, there is an appendix at the end of the book listing all of the names with tips on how to pronounce them). Simon, the main protagonist, grows and changes in the time-honored fashion of kitchen-boys-turned-heroes everywhere, yet the story never feels old or cliched. Williams is a master storyteller. I would recommend this series to any fan of epic fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: I read this series um... 5 times!
Review: I cannot tell you in 1000 words how truly amazing this book is. I was given this book years ago and imediatley from the title and first 200 or so pages, I was beginning to feel betrayed by the friend who forced me to read it. BUT after that, the entire series turned out to be the best 3 books I have ever read! I identified with so many of the characters who came to life right in front of you. After I finished reading the entire series, I began to feel like I had cheated myself by being uninterested in the first 200 pages, so I read it again. And again. and again. then once more because I could. Every time I got something new out of it and could appreciate the foreshadowing in the first part. I liked this book so much I bought the whole series in an instant, then proceeded to buy ALL of Tad Williams' books. I am currently reading Mountain of Black Glass which is the third book in his 4 book Sci-Fi series the fourth book is not complete yet. I am not a sci-fi reader but Williams just writes so well! I'd reccomend all his books to anyone with any patience!
Rating:
Summary: Unoriginal, But Richly Detailed
Review: Perusing the bookshelves at a local bookstore, I once overheard a conversation between two women about the novels of Tad Williams. Hefting the first part of TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER, one of the women mused, "He writes such nice long books, if only he wrote better." Sadly, this is a very accurate description of Williams's fantasy series MEMORY, SORROW AND THORN. THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR begins Williams's take on the classic fantasy mechanism: a young boy comes to age in a land being overtaken by evil. In the first book, we are introduced to the kitchen boy Simon, lazy at times, with dreams of heroic conquests and great deeds, but resigned to the mundane life of a servant in High King Prester John's castle, the Hayholt. He becomes apprenticed to Doctor Morgenes, his teacher and surrogate father (Simon's parents having died when he was young). Simon's dreams of adventure and exploration are close at hand, however, and he soon finds himself catapulted into a world of intrigue and danger, meeting a wide cast of interesting characters, from the troll Binabik to the beautiful princess Miriamele. Williams's books fall into the lengthy category, well over five hundred pages each, and are extremely detailed and plausible. Unfortunately, there is a lack of originality throughout the series. Williams's own take on the coming of age story is as carbon copy as they come, but his painstaking attention to detail makes up for the rather flat plot. The characters are something of a mix of the standard and the not. Simon would easily find a home in any number of fantasy novels, idealistic and hoping for adventure, but discovering that adventure isn't much like the stories of heroes, and other standard clichés. However, Williams's also seems to acknowledge the need for difference, but only goes so deep as to change the names of certain fantasy staples, or to make an abject refusal to go along with established trends. For example, there are no dwarves or elves in MEMORY, SORROW AND THORN, but there are the dwarrows and the Sithi, respectively. In all honesty, there are no differences between the races and their more normal incarnations: the Sithi are lofty and aloof, and the dwarrows are master craftsman. Williams's also makes reference to many well-known mythological and religious sources, making reference to "Udun" and "Dror" (the Norse gods Odin and Thor), and through the series the major religion should seem familiar to readers. To boil it all down, THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR is something everyone has read already, but is still worth reading. It is paced well after a slightly slow beginning, but breezes easily from cover to cover. Richly detailed and covering a whole laundry list of plot devices, THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR should please most fantasy enthusiasts, though casual readers of the genre might be better served in reading something of more substance: Robert Jordan's THE WHEEL OF TIME series, or George R. R. Martin's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series.
Rating:
Summary: The first book of an incredible series
Review: This book is the start of one of the finest series of fantasy novels of all time. As most people have pointed out the book does start out incredibly slowly. In fact I restarted this book at least three times over a two-year period, before I eventually made it far enough into the book to where it really took off. The characterizations are wonderful, and the story was very well written. Once the story takes off I just couldn't put it down. In fact I read the whole series of three very large books in about a week. It is impossible to put down once you pass the first two hundred pages. Looking back over those pages, they really do help to flesh out the characters, and make them more than just fiction. I still wonder about them to this day and what might become of them after the books end. Hopefully the author will someday revisit this world.
Rating:
Summary: A unique fantasy novel
Review: its unique because the magics stays magical all through the series. As all the other reviews say it is hard to get into and it IS worth the struggle. I have not read anything quite like it it truley rates up on the top of my favourites list.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Struggle!
Review: Yes, it took me twice as much time to read the first 200 pages as to read the 700 others (certainly because I needed time getting used to his style after reading Pratchett's Discworld), but I'm so glad I didn't put the book down... what a fantastic fantasy!
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