Stone of Farewell (Osten Ard: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #2)[January 1, 2025]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams starting on January 1, 2025.


Happy Reading!

[Nirkatze]

Thank you!

Proposed Schedule:

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
1) The Dragonbone Chair (Sept 1) [link]
--People got busy, rescheduled for new year--
2) Stone of Farewell (Jan 1)
3) To Green Angel Tower (Feb 1) [link]

Middle books--King of Osten Ard prequels
1) The Heart of What Was Lost (Mar 1st) [link]
2) Brothers of the Wind (Apr 1st) [link]
---Requests Made Up to Here---

---NEED REQUESTS---
Last King of Osten Ard
1) The Witchwood Crown (May 1) [linkTBD]
2) Empire of Grass (Jun 1)
3) Into the Narrowdark (Jul 1)
4) The Navigator's Children (Aug 1)

[Nirkatze]

Started! Excited to be back in the world. And very thankful that the book has a "What has come before" section at the beginning--I'd certainly forgotten where most of the players were at the start of the book... Through Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[I'm sure Binabik will be OK, but that doesn't keep me from feeling grrr at the Trolls for condemning him. Especially that one specific dude who was accusing him of neglecting his shamanic duties. How are they going to get out of this mess, especially when Binabik himself isn't fighting it?

I'm waiting for Miramele to stop sitting around like a damsel in distress... though the scholar sounds like he could be of the Scroll... if they're lucky. He could also be the evil mage dude... but I don't think that guy is subtle enough to have the extensive spy network. That sounds more like the Order of the Scroll. Also glad that she's not alone with the fake monk dude. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Through Chapter 25--Really enjoying the language. Even on audio, where I have a harder time noticing such things, there are a few turns of phrase which I just have to stop and savor. I'm really glad I'm doing audio--I feel like these books are made to be read aloud. (view spoiler)[I love the parts with Rachel the Dragon--and how she's know by that name to like, everyone now... I have a feeling that when it comes down to the end, she'll be the one to push the evil mage out a window or brain him with an iron pan, all for her boy.

I'm really enjoying Caderach a lot more than I thought I would, considering how he started out--I never thought I'd actually start liking him. Learning about his past... and now he's getting a redemption, trying to help Miramele... he kind of reminds me of Dakar in Wurts's Wars of Light and Shadow.

I don't trust the Earl on the ship though. Miramele really needs to learn who is worthy of trust. I swear she just barely missed getting date raped. I like the navigator (?) though--it's interesting how we've been meeting different peoples, and none of them are traditional fantasy tropes.

So glad the Trolls finally saw the light with Binabik! Saved by the wolf and his master's scroll! And it's so cool his wife-to-be came with them!

But man, they are having a lot of creepy encounters. That Skodi with her gaggle of children... and did they eat the parents????

And then Simon ended up alone again--and ate bugs! A very realistic description, I thought... Now he's with Jiriki's people... seems similar to his time with the Trolls. He's kinda been going from a guest/captive of one group to another this book.

So glad that Josua's lady-friend was still alive! And he knows it! I really want to punch everyone in her clan though. Ugh! I'm glad she's feisty and isn't willing to give in to being a walking womb. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Finished! Really enjoyed this entry. (view spoiler)[I feel like Simon grew a lot--and Miramele still has some growing to do. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I might read this tomorrow... if I don't, I probably won't get to it until next week...

[Nirkatze]

Waiting for you... patiently... like a stone...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Went and read Black Company first... and now I don't feel like reading this today... read the summary of book 1 and opening and a bit of the first couple chapters, but I think I'll pause...

I'll eventually get to this...

Are others planning to join, or did this BR lose momentum from the 3 month gap since book 1?...

If others don't show up and make this a lively BR, I might just put it off until the next time the series comes around...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel bad for wanting to abandon you, Nirkatze... but, this was a BR I joined after it was requested, to tag along and take advantage of the high interest to read something that's been on my theoretical TBR forever... without that aspect, it's a good excuse to take a load off my overflowing BR schedule... especially knowing the next book is 65+ hours long...

I also don't want to do the series a disservice...

[Paula]

I am joining the BR. I'll start tomorrow, but I don't know if anyone else is still interested. I definitely want to finish the Orsten ard saga

[Nirkatze]

Same! And I'm really enjoying it!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm trying to be better about dropping things and not being perpetually overbooked and a week behind on BRs... I like having a little wiggle room for occasional random reads...

So, I'm gonna stick to my plans to abandon this for now, but at least I'm no longer causing the entire BR to collapse...

I wasn't sure anyone else was gonna show up, since the month is already half over, and nobody had come in and said they'd be joining eventually, until Paula... so many people have gotten quieter since September, when notifications broke down... I know plenty of people read book 1... Rob, MarieC, etc...

[Paula]

I get you Iain, I want to join a lot of BR now but then I am overbooked and I hurry to read everything at once and then I just drop everything. So better to have only a few.

And now I am focusing on finished series to at least finish something since last year I started way more series than finished. And nothing beats the satisfaction of finishing a series.

I also have high hopes for this series since book one was such a delight

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I do alot of BRs, but certain ones take longer and/or I keep putting them off in favor of other BRs… those are the ones I seek to abandon… altho it’s easier when early in a series, otherwise the prospect of catching up/finishing overtakes me…

[Rob]

thought this was for the end of the month?

[Rob]

I'm going to go at my own pace a lot this year and track back I think. I foolishly started my slow but stubborn stormlight archive reread rather late and am only first reading rhythm of war and haven't ever read yumi or sunlit even though I got them as soon as they came out. also have to check back on the black company, red rising,. and whenever we pick up with castell again.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Castell/Argosi is end of the month

[Paula]

I started a reread of Stormlight too but didn't continue. I wasn't in the mood then and I was quite late too. But I want to finish then, just taking it slowly

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I was dragging it out the whole qay myself… starting 2 weeks late and spending 2-3 weeks reading in bursts…

[Nirkatze]

I don't care when y'all get around to it, as long as we all get to read together! I'm looking forward to your thoughts when you get here.

[Rob]

Yay! Sounds good. I want to start up Castell on time though, since those are such quick reads. I forget what a slog R&W is (so many times it digresses/regresses and doesn't push the narrative forward ) and might *shudder* go to the chapter summaries so I get to Wind and Truth. I grabbed my copy of this buddy read and at least read the very nice "What has happened so far" synopsis. Too bad Stormlight archive didn't have one of those.

[Nirkatze]

At least there's so much information out there on Stormlight you won't have to dig far to find good synopses!

[Paula]

Until chapter 11 (view spoiler)[ I like how we see Rachel thinking about simon being dead but also alive and how she thinks elias destroying naglimund was rash. I want her to know simon is alive! And i also want her to help them somehow, as a spy maybe, or just being the dragonness and rebelling.

Simon being discouraged is quite normal. And he doesnt even know how literally every part of the continent is in elia's allies hands. Seing everybody else being quite calm and hopeful was quite suprising. But they relied so heavily on their gods and religion that that makes them hopeful.

I still dont know how three swords and so few people can defeat elias and the norns. Maybe the tribe of thrithingo that josua's lover is from and the hernystians deep in the mounts alongside the sitha could help. But they hernystians would have to convince the sitha to help first (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "Started! Excited to be back in the world. And very thankful that the book has a "What has come before" section at the beginning--I'd certainly forgotten where most of the players were at the start ..."

(view spoiler)[ Yeah, miriamele hasnt done anything except being handled from one person to the next. And simon isnt much better, everyone does the decisions for him and he just follows. The only noteworthy thing done in this book was killing the giant and relaying where to go next from the witch (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "Through Chapter 25--Really enjoying the language. Even on audio, where I have a harder time noticing such things, there are a few turns of phrase which I just have to stop and savor. I'm really gla..."

I really like this phrase (view spoiler)[ when pryates bald head was compared to a poisonous mushroom in the shadows of the house. It made me laugh at how accurate it was. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

LOL That's a great quote. There's a lot of great language in here.

Really enjoying your comments, Paula. It's a nice refresher. (view spoiler)[Totally agree on Rachel! I want her dragon-ness to make a difference in the story too. I can see her being a table-turner at some crucial point...

Simon and Miramele still have more growing to do... it's interesting though, how in a story with young MCs, they still have their mentors around them, mostly... (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "LOL That's a great quote. There's a lot of great language in here.

Really enjoying your comments, Paula. It's a nice refresher. Totally agree on Rachel! I want her dragon-ness to make a difference..."

(view spoiler)[ Simon has a lot of mentors but poor Miriamele is just being moved and only has Cadrech as a constant. Which could be good if he could teach her anything, but he is just so fishy. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Yeah... (view spoiler)[All of Miramele's potential mentors end up betraying her somehow... she does have the worse situation... (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Finished! (view spoiler)[ I like the book but every person was travelling and thats not something that i usually like. And Miriamele's storyline was the most boring too. Aspitis is the worst, he clearly was manipulating her and she was so lonely she ate it up.

Other than that i really liked how we got more points of view like Rachel and even Gunthulf. Just when he was going to join josua Pryates happened!

Simon's stay with the sitha was really well done: all wonder at first but then bored and mad at them for doing nothing. It just drives the point home of how different inmortals are

And finally everyone is more or less in place, so hopefully book three will be the best one.

I am also pretty curious what role Camaris will play, is his mind really gone? Will Isgrimder (its so difficult to remember how the names were spelled) going to wait for miriamele or search for josua? (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "Through Chapter 25--Really enjoying the language. Even on audio, where I have a harder time noticing such things, there are a few turns of phrase which I just have to stop and savor. I'm really gla..."

(view spoiler)[yeah! i can totally see Rachel braining pryates with a pan! I was cheering when Ramussen was excommunicating pryates even when i knew he was going to regret it. So pryates being killed by her would be awesome.

Cadrach is very mysterious. When he said to Miriamele something about the caves of the queen of the norns it made me think maybe he went there to investigate and it scared him so much he renounced the church

And the navigators will play bigger roles in the furute. Isnt there a book called the navigator's children?

But i think miriamele was raped. Maybe she doesnt admit that to herself but when cadrach went away aspitis went to her bed and toched her and she just gave up since she believe he will kee her safe (so much lying, i could hardly stomach that chapter)

Skodi took me by suprise too! I knew she was up to no good but eating the parents was disgusting. Simon and binabik sure are having a tough time. Aghh, the bugs!

Josua's lady, Vorzheva (probably), i am also glad she is feisty and i feel for her. She is in a bad position when josua doenst love her and he is distracted by being exiled and everything. But i hope she can kill her father like she promised (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "Finished! Really enjoyed this entry. [spoilers removed]"

Agreed

[Nirkatze]

I love your comments Paula! Sincerely needed all those recaps before going into the next one. (view spoiler)[I agree about how this one is mostly setup but has a lot of great scenes and growth too.

I'm glad you're getting name-spellings in here... I have a hard enough time remembering to keep folk straight on audio and remember any name at all much less the spelling.

I like your theory on Cadrach--there's definitely more to him than we've seen so far... He started out as just an annoying con-man, like a cautionary tale, but I'm really enjoying seeing through the cracks.

I think you're probably right about Miriamele too... ugh, I just didn't want to admit it to myself. That whole sequence with that Duke... I'd love to see Cadrach kill him or something. Better if Miriamele did it herself, but I don't see her coming that far... these books are from the 90s after all.

The Navigator's Children is the most recent Osten Ard book--just came out last year. The blurb says it's the finale, but I guess we'll see. Green Angel Tower was supposed to be a finale too. (hide spoiler)]

Getting excited for the trilogy conclusion now!

[Paula]

Nirkatze wrote: "I love your comments Paula! Sincerely needed all those recaps before going into the next one. I agree about how this one is mostly setup but has a lot of great scenes and growth too.

I'm glad you..."

Happy to help with the recaps (view spoiler)[ yes, audio is awful for names.

I hope we get to see even more of Cadrach in the next book. Its big enough that i hope so.

I would love to see Miriamele kill the Duke but i think you are right that she won't do it. At least i hope he will be killed somehow. It is war after all, there needs to be a few deaths (hopefully from the baddies)

True, maybe Navigato'r children will be the end of an arc and Tad Williams will continue with the Osten Ard world. I would be excited since the world is pretty big (hide spoiler)]

Me too! Pretty excited to get into this chunky one.

[Nirkatze]

I subscribe to the Broken Binding's Fantasy monthly book, and the last series they've been doing is Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn--I got my copy of To Green Angel Tower and was like ooooh, pretty! Then the next month I got another copy of To Green Angel tower, and I was like, what? Then I realized they split it into two books... and I was like OH that's why it wasn't a foot thick!

[Paula]

haha, that's almost like my experience. I went to my library and saw there were four books. I had to look at the English title to make sure the last two books were To Green Angel Tower

[Nirkatze]

The audio is about the same amount as the first two put together. ^_^ I'm excited though. I'll probably end up taking chunks out on different days, rationing my time.

[Paula]

Same with the pages, it's veeery long. Yes, better to take it slowly

[Rob]

Finally finished this after coming out of the Sandolanche. Enjoyed it quite a bit and will move onto see how this is all resolved. Didn't expect the entire book to be traveling book but to have some sort of climax, though there were certainly big moments.

[Nirkatze]

Travelling book is a good way to describe this one. Glad you're joining us for the journey!

[Paula]

Boon three is better since most of the travelling will be over

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Read 40% of this this morning, then watched a bunch of TV...

Not much to say... little bit lost, other than remembering that book 1 ended with some people up in the snow, and that plot picked up pretty quickly in book 2...

It's been like 6 months and 300 books since I read book 1, so it's to be expected...

Feeling sad/ominous seeing the POV of Simon's "mom" back at the castle...

[Nirkatze]

Lots of travel in this one, and lots of wanting to shake the protagonists, but some good growth.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Definitely lots of travel...