The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1) in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Oct 01, 2010 Cee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, adult-fiction, wizardy-magic, faeries, dragons, series-that-are-finished

What a fantastic story. Some people can't stand special snowflake Simon, but I love it all.

The Dragonbone Chair is takes a long time to build, and therefore it's hard to give a spoiler free premise. Our main character is Simon, a young orphan boy living in the Hayholt castle. He is a dreamer, someone unfit for the dreary castle life. When he becomes the apprentice of the fascinating Morgenes, he feels like he might finally become part of the adventures and grand life he has always fantasized abo What a fantastic story. Some people can't stand special snowflake Simon, but I love it all.

The Dragonbone Chair is takes a long time to build, and therefore it's hard to give a spoiler free premise. Our main character is Simon, a young orphan boy living in the Hayholt castle. He is a dreamer, someone unfit for the dreary castle life. When he becomes the apprentice of the fascinating Morgenes, he feels like he might finally become part of the adventures and grand life he has always fantasized about. However, he doesn't know that he will become part of a journey that isn't nearly as glorious as he expected it to be.

In many ways, The Dragonbone Chair is a classic fantasy story. Simon as special snowflake-y as they come - there is no denying it. However, I love following his development from a naive scullery boy to a responsible young man. Simon is a dreamer, an idealist, which is something I can relate to. He develops from someone that things happen to, to someone who becomes more in control of his own fate. He finds bravery, friendship, and through hardship loses his naiveté. His is a typical coming of age story, but a heartfelt one.

The world of Osten Ard slowly unfolds like a scroll being opened. When Simon is young, our perspective is limited to the capitol. As Simon's scope broadens, so does ours. We learn more about the different tribes inhabiting Osten Ard, and the tensions between them. Instead of dumping this whole world on the reader at once, we're being taught its mythology piece by piece. There is a lot of background to learn, and I would not call the book a fast-paced one, but I feel all the background adds to the story. The scope of the book is truly epic, and without the sense of history the world building provides, the whole book would fall flat.

The Dragonbone Chair is published in 1988, and its story might no longer appeal to the modern sentiments of contemporary fantasy lovers. If you're looking for a classic story with clear Tolkienesque influences, give The Dragonbone Chair a try. A good fantasy story is timeless after all. ...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, novels, ultimate-reading-list

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 and poems. I 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 and poems. It took a long time to get into--for 170 pages in the paperback edition we pretty much just follow, Simon, the 14-year old orphan scullion, dodge his duties about the castle before Something Happens. He acts fourteen--a flighty, whiny annoying pain--but does grow in the book. My favorite secondary character was the Yoda-like Binobik and his wolf--once he shows up on page 252 the book was a lot less of a slog.

Despite reviews calling the writing "beautiful" I didn't find the prose lovely: convoluted sentence structure, overdescriptive, overuse of italics and bold. The only other place I can ever recall seeing bold used for emphasis is bad fan fiction. Although good enough to keep me reading, I didn't find the style graceful compared to fantasy writers such as Peter S. Beagle, Tanith Lee, Ursula Le Guin, Mary Stewart or T.H. White. Moreover, the book could and should have been half the length; a great deal of the material was repetitive and unnecessary for world-building or character development. (And I would have appreciated far fewer dream sequences.)

I looked on my bookshelves for my fat fantasy books: Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart is 912 pages; George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones is 835 pages; Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule is 820 pages; Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is 734 pages. Did I feel the weight with those books? No. But Dragonbone Chair definitely needs a diet. With Carey and Goodkind the length of the first books and those that followed didn't daunt me--I eagerly pounced on their next books. But I look at the equally fat Stone of Farewell and then at the conclusion To Green Angel Tower--split into two books and each still over 700 pages--and I whimper. Don't know when or if I'll get the nerve up to finish this four book "trilogy," despite Dragonbone Chair ending on a cliff-hanger. ...more

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Jun 13, 2010 Matt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, own

This was simply put not a very good book. First off, the main character (Simon) is so extremely annoying throughout almost the entire book that I almost gave up on it. I know that Williams wanted to show is growth throughout the series by showing that he is a child in the first book but no author in his right mind should ever create such an obnoxious main character. Secondly, nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) of interest happens in the first 200 pages of this dreadful book. So you have to ...more

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Jul 01, 2008 Megan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, read-as-a-kid

Slow to get started, but once it picks up, this book is an exciting adventure. I remember reading it when I was younger and it's so interesting to see how my memories compare to the actual story. I really only had vague impressions of it and was surprised all over again by the vastness of the world and complex characters! ...more

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