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Posted By: tommy kidwell Feb 03, 2000 - 10:02 pm

I'm just getting through the first book in a four part series by Tad Williams. Its called the DragonBone Chair.
I have found this book to be a good read so far... its a little boring at times (there was about 3 chapters in a row that I had to force read my war through) but all together I'm finding the book very interesting and looking forward to the next.

Has anyone else read this series... It includes.
1 The DragonBone Chair
2 Stone of Fairwell
3 To Green Angel Tower 1
4 To Green Angel Tower 2

Posted By: Lisseut Feb 06, 2000 - 05:19 pm

Thoroughly enjoyed the series, although I read it when it first came out and had to wait ages for the books to come out. It was originally intended to be a trilogy, hence To Green Angel Tower parts one and two. Notice that each volume was larger than the previous one. Perhaps the story got a little out of control!

Pretty standard fantasy, but the writing's good enough to lift it above the formula stuff.

I've heard his Otherland series is excellent, but very different. It's more of a surreal urban fantasy.

Posted By: Rena Feb 21, 2000 - 12:30 am

The first book I read by Tad Williams was
the 1st volume in the Otherland series.I have no words to describe it!I liked so much,that I bought the MS&T series by the same author.It was good,but a little boring(especially when Simon wanders underneath the castle).
The Otherland series is completely different, a more mature work by an excellent writer.I have read the first 2 books and I can't wait for the next 2 to come out!

Posted By: Darkglass Mar 07, 2000 - 08:22 pm

I've read the full Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series and I have to say I've never been more involved in a fantasy trilogy since Lord of the Rings. The story might drag in a few places but I think it just paints the picture of the scenario and helps for character development. I did have a few issues with the last book, other than that, the writing was excellent. I have Otherland right now and am looking forward to actually sitting down and reading it.

Posted By: Daisy Apr 15, 2000 - 07:15 pm

I'm in the middle of reading the second volume of Otherland. I agree with Rena - it is a much more mature work than his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, and I'm enjoying reading it. What impresses me the most, though, is that Tad Williams suddenly broke away from fantasy to write sci-fi.:) Not many authors do that...
Very creative author. $)

Posted By: jiriki Nov 24, 2001 - 08:57 pm

i loved the ms&t series especially the last book the few unexpected twists and turns were good but it did get a bit boring at times but otherwise very good

Posted By: Baze Apr 09, 2002 - 02:49 am

Just finished the Otherland series. Oh. My. God. Words do not exist to describe how awesome this is. Huge, obviously, but worth every second spent reading- I ended up finished the Sea of Silver Light at 4am crying my eyes out.

Things I was most impressed with: the original setting. How well the SF view of the future is developed, and rooted in the present.

The characters, all of them. With so much time and space to play with these characters, they are some of the most richly developed I've ever had the pleasure of following. Renee especially was just a joy to read.

The villains- how cool is Dread? Deeply, deeply threatening. The tension he created was unbelievable.

The worlds in the Otherland. The Xanadu world?! Fantastic. The little vignettes of other worlds do occasionally feel rather self-indulgent, but as Williams is indulging me as much as him, I really don't mind. Also loved the War of the Worlds world.

Anyway, enough of this raving. I recommend that if anyone's got the time to read four really quite hefty books, then they go out and buy Otherland immediately. This is landmark material.

Posted By: Odrade Sep 07, 2002 - 04:01 pm

Tad Williams is, in my opinion, one of the most diverse authors out there. The jump from the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series to the Otherland series is huge. But i think he does a good job in either fantasy or science fiction.

I like both of his sets, yet as different as they are, i like them for the same reasons. He goes out of his way to create characters with some depth to them. It makes his characters seem more real, and made me care more about what happens to them. Also, he creates the worlds around the characters so carefully, with so much detail, that i picture myself in them.

I think i like the Otherland series better. Not because they are better books perhaps, but becasue they are so different from everything else i have read. Otherland lets me see the benefits, and the major problems that might arise in a world where computers and VR take the place of human interaction and the real world.

I also love Tad Williams because he makes strong female heroines. Women, in his stories, are as strong, in their way, as men. And fight for justice/truth/the moral high road as well or better than men. Sometimes they do what men cannot. Who shot the evil priest in To Green Angel Tower? Who was Beloved Porcupine? In Tad William's worlds, women don't always need to be resuced, they can do the rescuing themselves.

Posted By: rag Sep 30, 2002 - 04:04 pm

I read alot of sf & F , imo , I believe TW too be better at writing the sf side of it . I read the memory sorrow and thorn serie quite a few years ago , now and enjoyed , but wasn't overly impressed to be truthful . Maybe this was because I had just read the belgariad series ... and I found they were too alike in some ways , with belgariad having much more likable characters .

However , his Otherland series I found stunning , the depth in his characters which each portrayed their essences I found was stimulating , and most captivating . The immense detail into the vr worlds set in a futuristic world which was quite believable I thought was superb . I just found it was an intersting read in which you were always wanting to experience new vr worlds , and want the characters to come into themselves , plus loving their personal traits .

personally I found Gardiner to be my fave character , but thats the boy in me

Anyway first time i've added here , but I haven't ever met any1 thats read it so been nice to say a few words .

cyas

Posted By: templar Jul 11, 2003 - 05:29 am

Even if Felix Jongleur never had time to "wake"
his grail process copy ain´t it still left somewhere on the net and can be activated later?

Posted By: The_Khan Dec 02, 2003 - 02:15 pm

Here is the character sketch of the Heron King Sulis, the apostate from the upcoming Tad Williams comic book adaptation of The Burning Man, enjoy

Sulis:
http://www.roaringstudios.com/for_the_web/tw/Sulis.jpg