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Dec 12, 2011

Carol rated it:

Probably about three and a half stars for me. While I enjoyed it overall, I was able to set the book down and walk away, coming and going from the story until Simon reached the woods. I consider it a bad sign when I'm able to set a book down--my favorites have me locked into reading position until I reach the end page. Eventually it picked up and reeled me in, but there was skimming involved.

A combination coming-of-age and castle/kingdom political novel, I felt like the book would h More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2007

Julie rated it:

I really enjoyed this book once I concentrated on it. Williams isn't really breaking any new ground in fantasy with it, but it's well-written and well-imagined.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 09, 2008

Lori rated it:

I love this series. I hadn't thought of it in a little while, but speaking about books today with a friend brought it to mind and I thought, "I haven't read that this year...I should." The four LARGE volumes are quite an investment, both in money and in time, (get it from the library, or let me know and you can borrow mine when I'm done) but it's worth it in the end. I know that sci-fi/fantasy are seriously formulaic, and these are not that different...young boy, thrown into circums More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Duchess rated it:

Out of all of Williams books that I have read this one has not been the best. It got off slow - which I was expecting, I remember the 1st of the Otherland series was excrutiatingly slow, in part due to the introductions to the stories of the vast amount of characters involved in the story.

The first of MS&T is also quite slow but not in the same way, unfortunately. Its just slow plain & simple. I don't find the characters (particularly Simon) nearly as interesting as the characters More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2007

Adam rated it:

The opening to what is easily the best fantasy series I've ever read. Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn remains, IMHO, one of the most underread and underappreciated series out there. I suspect that the length of the novels scares some people off; Dragonbone Chair is the shortest, and it's still around 700 pages. The series as a whole incorporates most classical fantasy elements: an epic quest, dark sorcery, an unlikely hero, etc., but what makes it unforgettable for me is one main thing.
More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Mary rated it:

I have to be honest, I love Tad Williams. A lot of my friends aren't fans of his because he really does take ages and ages to get to the point. He's very big on character development, which is basically all I read books for. I not only forgive three hundred pages of character introduction and exposition and plot set-up, I gleefully embrace it.

This book isn't any different from others of his that I've read in that respect, and in all others, it's a classic fantasy adventure. Orpha More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2011

Dennis rated it:

Struggling a bit in Chapter 5 as the protagonist (Simon) observes things and reveals little disconnected snippets of history that (I assume) play a role in the story I hope is about to begin. (I am becoming a little tired of the comings and goings of Simon.)

I am hoping for the best. Tolkien ruined most other fantasy stories for me decades ago.

* * * *

After seven chapters, I gave up hope that an actual story would break out and something interesting will happen--or More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Angel added it

Primer volumen de la saga de añoranzas y pesares. Resultase ser que tengo estos libros desde hace ya casi 7 años y la espera ha sido larga para poder leerlos. Se trata de una saga de fantasía épica. Comprarla con el señor de los anillos solo es porque este último es la historia que estableció el estándar del género. Tad Williams nos lleva un mundo donde habitan gnomos, elfos, gigantes, uno que otro dragón y un chico que debe recorrer el largo camino de la sabiduría y la realización. En este pri More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2011

Brian rated it:

12/23/2002 - 8/10
good start, well written lots of intrigue. similar to martin (kind of martin-lite) came out before though. political intrigue, characters die, good plots

Series 3/2/2003 - 8/10
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is a fantasy series somewhat similar to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's kind of a Martin-lite, but it does get some props for coming out earlier. If I had read this before aSoIaF, I think I would have liked it a lot more. MSaT is well written with good More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Connie rated it:

Tad Williams' masterpiece, the Dragon Bone Chair is the first book in the epic fantasy series, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I first read this book when it came out in 1988 and had to re-read it again immediately upon finishing it. This book and indeed the whole series had a profound impact on my own style of writing.

Just like the best and most enduring of love affairs, The Dragon Bone Chair begins a bit slowly, as the author establishes the background to the tale. However, once you are i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Gemma rated it:

More than one person recommended this book to me with the assertion that it was as good as Tolkien. So of course this influenced my reading, and as I read, I evaluated each chapter against Tolkien. It was easy to do because I recognized so many of the same elements; many of them were the same ones Tolkien himself took from the Scandinavian mythology. There was a lot of T.H. White in there,too. I kept score in my head, tallying up fantasy elements in two columns. There was Merlin/Gandalf/Morgenes More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Throop rated it:

This is one of my all-time favorite series and I reread it almost every year. That being said, I can understand why many people have given it negative reviews. There are two things that are cited most often 1) the slow start and 2)that there is nothing new (no new magic system, cultures are copies of Earth cultures, main character follows scullion to hero story, etc.), and I want to briefly address both those concerns before giving my final recommendation.

Whenever I recommend this s More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2010

Crperry13 rated it:

My introduction to Tad Williams was the Otherland quartet, which rank among the very best books I ever read. Otherland had strong characters, an engaging plot, and a fast-paced movielike quality about it. I expected the same from other Williams works, so I picked up The Dragonbone Chair for some summer vacation reading.

And I was incredibly disappointed. The utter lack of engaging dialog and prevalence of weak, forgettable characters ruins this book. I found myself flipping past 2 More...

0 comments like

Aug 13, 2011

Joshua rated it:

Well, I tried to write this as positives and negatives, but the two were too intermingled to be separated.

Style:
On the whole, good writing, with some excusable mistakes and awkwardness (the one unexcusable writing mistake he does is have his main character use the word "mooncalf" two or three times every time he talks to himself. So sick of that word). He sounds like Tolkien, except a bit easier to digest. His descriptions really work usually, and sometimes strike me wit More...

0 comments like

Jul 16, 2010

Harmonybites rated it:

This is highly thought of by fantasy authors. Tamora Pierce rates it five stars on GoodReads and this was the series that inspired George RR Martin to try his hand at epic fantasy.

This first volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn consists of 766 pages of such tiny print I feared for my eyesight. It's the kind of book with maps up front and an appendix and glossary in the back, written in omniscient point of view, populated with elves, giants, dragons and trolls, and studded with songs an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2010

Yesterday's Muse rated it:

Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series is definitely in my top five for fantasy adventure epics. Everything one could ask for from an engrossing epic is here -- an unlikely hero, a mysterious wizard, a dwarf whose dialect sounds like English translated from German, elves, twisted demonic villains, religious symbolism, druids living in solitude, long-lost underground cities... the list goes on and on.

While some with whom I have discussed these books, and Williams's other nove More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Kevin rated it:

Well, it's a fantasy novel. It's the first in a series of four thick books and is essentially 700+ pages of exposition. The exposition I understand, I just reread Eye of the World and it was essentially the same thing, but what I don't understand about this book, and likely the sequels, is why, with the rich cultures and races of beings he's created, why does Williams cut corners with his vanilla humans, the majority of Osten Ard?

It struck me early on in the books when he named the m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2011

Jenny rated it:

I am inordinately pleased that I finally finished reading this one--I'm glad I read it, though. A decent epic fantasy that included all the usual cliches (much to my chagrin) and a few surprises (much to my delight).

The good: Our Hero is accompanied by a Troll named Binabik, who's witty and streetwise and currently my favorite character ever.
The fantasy world is made up of many different cultures, each with its own system of naming and religious beliefs.
So much love f More...

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Dec 30, 2011

Tim rated it:

The bad: Possibly more typographical errors than any major fantasy novel ever published. The good: Just about everything else. The first volume of Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorry and Thorn" trilogy (four books in mass market paperback) really is a marvel; so is the entire series. Williams writes very well, and while not terribly original on the surface, the books feature well-known fantasy elements turned on their heads or twisted just enough to be interesting. The elflike folk aren't ent More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2011

Bearcatmark added it

There were many aspects of this book I really enjoyed. Tad Williams definitely has created a very well thought out world. The great enemy that threatens that world was wonderfully created and seemed very original to me. Much of the middle section and the concluding section were very exciting. Still those strengths cannot be mentioned without Tad Williams' faults. He is very wordy at times. I think he takes to long before stuff starts happening. The buildup seems to be to give you an idea More...

0 comments like

Jun 13, 2011

Bearcatmark rated it:

There were many aspects of this book I really enjoyed. Tad Williams definitely has created a very well thought out world. The great enemy that threatens that world was wonderfully created and seemed very original to me. Much of the middle section and the concluding section were very exciting. Still those strengths cannot be mentioned without Tad Williams' faults. He is very wordy at times. I think he takes to long before stuff starts happening. The buildup seems to be to give you an idea of who More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2009

Jason rated it:

I just completed this book yesterday. I tried once before, but was thwarted but Williams' long winded style. I am glad I tried it again.

Williams does a great job with character development in this book. Simon, the main character, starts out a careless child. He's not quite a brat but not exactly well mannered either. This book, while containing the beginnings of a world-destroying evil, is essentially about the development of Simon from boy to man.

The plot development i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2010

Mike rated it:

The Dragonbone Chair is the first book in Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series and one of the better traditional epic fantasies that’s out there. The novel follows the young castle scamp Simon an apparently unassuming and unimportant young man who gets drawn into a dire events far beyond his meager station. Apprenticed to the castle doctor Simon spends most of his days dreaming of being a hero but the machinations of an ancient evil soon creep into his own and Simon soon finds himself More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2009

Epistomolus rated it:

What's the opposite of a spoiler? I'm going to give away, in vague terms, something that happens, but only because if I don't say this I will be considered a liar with bad taste in books.

Here's the deal. This trilogy was very satisfying, inventive, not derivative, a genuine pleasure to read.

However, I'm passing along the same advice that was given to me by the person who recommended it.

In this book there is a long passage fairly early on that involves the main More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Dan is currently reading it

Looking forward to this series, highly recommended by my wife.

Edit on 1/26 - a bit of a slog. No, that's an understatement. I am not the fastest reader in the world, but after school ended last month, I was able to read three long tomes in three weeks. Most reviews said this one was slow for 100 pages and then picks up. Since I am reading this on my Kindle Fire, I don't always know my page count until I calculate it. When I was at what I thought was page 200 and the book was dragging More...

9 comments like

Dec 17, 2011

Olga rated it:

a little bit slow in the beginning,but i am somewhere at the 100ish page,so giving it more chance to prove...hope it will

***

Actually i will put the book a side and finish it some other time..
I have a feeling it deserves to be read but i am just not in the mood at this point.
****

giving up...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 15, 2008

Thomson rated it:

Memory, Sorry, and Thorn is better epic fantasy than Jordan's The Wheel of Time. The characters are fresh and real, the world is creative and beautiful, and the adventure is at times incredibly powerful. Read it - This trilogy is as mature as Tolkien and as adventurous as David Eddings.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

Chris rated it:

I enjoyed it. I liked the main character and how William's always reminded me that he had plenty of faults, even as he grew. He was almost despicable at first, and then slowly grew to only be pitiful, while gaining strength and maturity.

I was a little disappointed to recognize a lot of the old cliches, even if they were couched in interested names. I did enjoy, however, the mixing of Earth cliches (e.g. vikings) with fantasy cliches (e.g. elves).

The scenery was spectacular, More...

0 comments like

Jul 25, 2010

John rated it:

Admittedly, this review is based on my read through the book twenty years ago, and a look at a summary to refresh my memory.

I picked up this book at the same time I picked up the first book in another epic fantasy series: the first book in the Wheel of Time series.

The best thing I can say about this book and the rest of the series is that as slowly paced and overwritten as it and the rest of the trilogy is, at least it stopped after three books (well, four in paperback act More...

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Oct 15, 2008

Steve rated it:

One of the best contemporary epic fantasy trilogies. Treading in the same ground of course as Tolkein, Brooks, and many others, but yet with a freshness and emotion that many of his contemporary authors lack.

I have a signed hardcover copy by Tad Williams. :)

2 comments like (1 person liked it)