Shadowmarch: Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great.
Review: Before reviewing this book, I feel I must respond to the comments made by the previous reviewer: This book is nothing like George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. If it is derivitive of anything, it owes more to Mr. Williams last book, War of the Flowers, than it does to anything else. As a final point I would like to point out that many think that Mr. Martin borrowed many of the ideas from Mr. Williams earlier series, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn(although admittedly, Mr. Martin's books are far superior to those early William's works).

As to Shadowmarch, it is simply not Tad William's best work (Otherland takes that plum). It has it's moments, but I personally found it distracting that any time something momentous was about to happen, we were wisked off to read about a side character half a world away that seems to have nothing to do with the main plot. I understand that this is the only first work of a larger series, and that this character will surely play a larger role as the story progresses, but in this book I actually felt anger every time I was forced to read about this side character, whose storyline was decidedly uninteresting to me.

That said, the main story is very good (Although here again we are introduced to a new perspective character 2/3 of the way through, and again this character doesn't seem to be worthy of being a perspective character. In this case, I got the impression that Mr. Williams just found himself endeared to the man and kept him around, despite his seemingly minor role in things.), the characters are well-written and each have their own personal goals and ambitions, and the tale was unique enough to keep me reading.

As my title reads, this book is good, but not great. I hold out hope that the next volume will take the series to the next level.

Rating:
Summary: Not the Williams I expected
Review: Having read Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogies and Martin's Song of Fire and Ice, I expected better of Mr. Williams. I am a huge fan of his and every book I had read until now was a milestone for me in every type of fiction. His fantasy and science fiction were excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed The War of the Flowers. Here, it seems he has lost his way. There is not enough character development and the little there is reads like young adult fantasy. I believed Mr. Williams would once again take the notch further up, if not completely outside the box. And if we are supposed to stick with it and see what happens later, well, I must admit that I no longer have the patience for this when book prices are what they are. I don't want a 600+ page prologue. Thanks but no thanks. Maybe next time.

Rating:
Summary: Almost there
Review: I am a big fan of the Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series and had very high hopes for this book. It didn't quite live up to what I hoped for, but I would still recommend it. The pace of the book was a little slow, even the action scenes and thus it took a while for me to be drawn into this book which finally happened about half way through. There are some very interesting characters here but also some very flat, stock fantasy characters.

I am hoping the next book in this series picks up the pace a bit, but I guess it says something that I will buy and read the next one. Good book, but not quite what I was hoping for.

Rating:
Summary: Your average good Tad Williams book taken up a notch.
Review: If you have liked any Tad Williams book, whether it's Tailchaser's song or The Dragonbone Chair, chances are this is a book for you. The world Williams creates is both believeable and exotic, with characters both appealing and heinous. The only difference is, Williams's writing at this point in his career, is much more developed and mature than he started out. For instance, the characters have much more to struggle with and are much more believable, and barely seem to rise much above their circumstances. The world, as I said before, is almost believable with an enthralling history, with an enchanting set of creatures such as wyverns, goblins, the Qar, Skimmers, Funderlings, Rooftoppers, and more. And, as usual, their is a sizeable glossary at the back of the book, naming characters, places, animals, things, and most of Tad's regulars.
The plot is not much unlike your average fantasy book. The mysterious Qar were driven off into the March Kingdoms and disappeared behind the misty Shadowline, and have stayed back for years and years. Now, they plan their revenge. The king of the March Kingdoms which they plan to invade first is held captive in a distant castle, therefore the task of ruling the kingdom is in the hands of his twin children Barrick and Briony. Not only must they deal with the advancing Qar, but with their father's ransom, the scheming Autarch of the southern continent, and the death of their elder brother. Its length may be daunting, but believe me, it's worth it.

Rating:
Summary: We'll see in the long run. . .
Review: It marks the beginning of a new fantasy trilogy, Williams' first in about a decade. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is one of my favourite series of all time, and his scifi/technological series Otherland captivated me as well. So I was more than eager to start this book. Expectations were high, I must admit. But given the quality of his previous works, that's as it should be.

The odd thing, however, is that there is absolutely no buzz pertaining to this novel. And based on the fact that Tad Williams is a New York Times bestselling author, that is weird indeed. I always keep track of national fantasy bestsellers on the Locus Magazine website. Strangely enough, I could not find a trace of Shadowmarch. It's almost as if it had not yet been released. . .

Okay, so if you've read anything by Williams, you are aware that everything he does is always vast in scope and in details. Shadowmarch is no exception to that rule.:-)

Tad Williams' worldbuilding in this novel is again above and beyond what is currently the norm in the fantasy genre. And the fact that Shadowmarch offers us only a glimpse of what appears to be an impressive new universe makes me eager to read the next two installments!

As was the case with his other series, Williams starts rather slowly once again. But where the novel is lacking in action, it certainly packs a powerful punch in other respects. I got the feeling that Shadowmarch is one big introduction. And in Tad Williams' style everything appears to be secrets buried under riddles wrapped in mysteries.:-)

The characterizations, which are always one of the author's strong points, are at times brilliant and at times lacking. That was a disappointment, I must admit. Williams is always a master at building up characters. He obviously has a lot more in store for us in the future volumes of the series. Indeed, we want to know more about Shaso, the master of arms of Southmarch; Captain Vansen; The God-Emperor Sulepis, Autarch of Xand; Qinnitan, a seemingly ordinary girl chosen to become one of the Autarch's wives; Chaven, the mysterious physician; Yasammez, Scourge of the Shivering Plain; the strange, nameless boy found just beyond the Shadowline by the Funderlings; the orphaned girl named Willow; the potboy Gil; and so many more.

But as I mentioned, at times the chracterizations are lacking. With the Funderlings, Chert and Opal and their brethren, Williams made several attempts at humor, which somehow wasn't really à propos. In some instances, it even kills the momentum of the book. But my biggest disappointment lies in the chracterization of the twins, Briony and Barrick. It's obvious that there is a lot more to both than meets the eye, especially with Barrick's strange curse. But the way both characters think, interact with others, talk, etc; none of it rings true. In a way, it's as if their scenes were written by another author.

The other major shortcoming of Shadowmarch is all the politicking that takes place. Williams is much better than most writers in certain aspects of writing fantasy. Political intrigues, however, is not one of them. And since a large part of the novel hinges precisely on that, it's a bit of a setback. Not everyone can do it like George R. R. Martin or Katherine Kurtz, after all.

But enough about the negative. There are a lot of positive things about this novel, which keeps you turning those pages. Much like the Sithi in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, the Twilight People are not your typical happy-go-lucky elves. Somehow, Williams is the only writer who can bring the darker nature of the fairy folk in such a fashion.

Williams caps it all off with a very good ending that answers few questions. But it raises many more, which creates undeniable interest for the sequels. As the cover blurb indicates, Shadowmarch is a vast tale of magic, intrigue, terror, sacrifice and war.

And with the Qar, the Twilight People, now reaching beyond the Shadowline to reclaim their lost lands; with the Autarch of Xand looking to expand his vast empire to the north; with the king of Southmarch imprisoned in Hierosol, victim of betrayal; with Yasammez poised to destroy humankind; with a conspiracy attempting to kill the Eddon family, rulers of Southmarch Castle; with Qinnitan destined to become the mother of the Autarch's heir; with Prince Barrick plagued by a strange curse that will take him beyond; with all that and more, there is a lot to like about Shadowmarch.

The positive outweighs the negative by far. Anyway, this series will have to be judged as a whole, not just by its opening chapter.

Regardless of its shortcomings, I am convinced that Williams' fans will enjoy this new novel. They are used to the fact that he is a slow starter, even if the end promises a lot more to come. However, I am not certain that newcomers will get into this one as much. Hence, I would recommend that they read Williams' previous works before tackling this book. It would be a shame for them to base their opinion of such a good writer on the premise of Shadowmarch alone.

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Rating:
Summary: A Worthy beginning .
Review: Shadowmarch originally was envisioned as a television series, and then became a subscription e-book. Williams' publishers decided to publish Shadowmarch, and here it is, now in novel form.

I liked the book. I thought it was well planned, and very well contrived. Williams has certainly proved to be a master of world-building and descriptive writing.

However, due to its former publication format, Shadowmarch is written in 40 chapters. Except for a story line that was added in for the printed publication, each chapter of Shadowmarch deals with every single major character, which can at times be confusing. If the chapters were written with a focus on only one major character, I believe it would be a bit more palatable.

Additionally, Williams' characters tend to follow certain motifs and themes, and you have read either Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn or Otherland, will be able to pick up quite a bit of their personalities without too much difficulty.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of Shadowmarch develops in the next volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Tad Williams does a great job here. It wasn't predictable and it didn't ignore the major players for long stretches, so you kept wondering about them. The only bad thing is, now I have to WAIT for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: If it were anyone else....
Review: The Northern Land of Eion, we are told, was originally populated by a strange immortal race that was driven into the far north several centuries ago by the advent of mankind. To prevent further incursions into their territory, they called into being the Shadowline, a kind of mystical equivalent of Hadrian's Wall. The Eddon family, rulers of Southmarch, sit right on the edge of the Shadowline. When the Twilight People decide to take back what was stolen from them, it is the Eddons and those around them who find themselves in the forefront of the battle.

Shadowmarch reads like a weird mishmash of George R.R. Martin's _Song of Ice and Fire_ and anything at all by Mercedes Lackey. As such, it isn't totally awful, but as the pages turn, it becomes increasingly annoying. The derivative-ness of the plot can be overlooked--after all, all High Fantasy resembles all other High Fantasy to some degree, and when you throw elves and little people into the mix there's really not much to distinguish them.

But the main problem with _Shadowmarch_ is that it is so incredibly superficial. There doesn't seem to be any subtext; everything is exactly as it appears to be. Dire events that are foreshadowed never actually come to pass. The characters are stock and nothing happens to make you care about them; rather, it seems you're supposed to care about them because you're reading the book, and none of them develop beyond who they were at their first appearance. Events roll along but none of them seem connected and none of them seem to lead anywhere. Not even the writing redeems the sheer ordinary-ness of this tome. When I read _Memory, Sorrow and Thorn_, I managed to keep myself going through the trite story and derivative characters because the writing was just so good, but that isn't the case here.

If this book were by anyone else, I would rate it more highly. But Tad Williams can do better. I loved _Otherland_. I loved _War of the Flowers_. I may read the rest of the Shadowmarch series, but I won't go out of my way for it.

Rating:
Summary: by-the-numbers
Review: The young people of an ill-fated family (complete with wolf banner) are caught between the unnatural beings behind a border to the north and the greedy and evil rulers to the south - I know this has been pointed out, but this is like a watered-down version of Martin's _A Game of Thrones_. The twins had the potential to be likeable, but spent most of the book in childish bickering. Williams has used his plot devises with adequate skill, but the final result doesn't really stand out or amount to anything with strong emotional impact.

Rating:
Summary: This book couldn't be long enough.
Review: This was an excellent book.

Not everyone can handle or appreciate Tad William's long books and his carefully constructed characters. His plots are complicated and slowly exposed to the reader. They require close attention. Anyone familiar with his style understands that all will be revealed by the time the full story comes to it's unwanted ending.

William's goes above and beyond the same-old, same-old. That's why he is my favorite author. He writes for people who like to Read. If you don't like to read, put the book down. William's true fans savor every single word, each of which is very well written.


He is like no other author. Anyone expecting the same old usual fantasy that everyone else writes should go back to William's earlier works and stay there. If you want something different, something that is well written, if you want something epic, this is the book for you.