Where should I begin with Tad Williams?

[Prebe]

Well over half way into The Stone of Farewell, I'd have to say that I am not disapointed. I love the allutions to catholicism norse and european populations (and Inuit population to).

[Cameraman Jenn]

I just picked up the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series.

[caliope]

Going back to Otherland - I thought the first book was brilliant - mind blowing and I couldn't wait for the next one to come out. What a disappointment - I got about halfway through and gave up. It was such a slog

[Prebe]

I just picked up the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series.

Methinks you will not be disappointed. The first half of The Dragonbone Chair is all about character development (which is really one of TW's biggest fortes IMO), but then things start to pick up the classical fantasy style.

Caliope:
You are the first I have heard of who loved only the first book...
I am looking forward to getting on to the Otherland series now.

[fleshharrower]

I got about halfway through Stone of Farewell before I found the book grinding to a halt. TW is excrutiatingly slow at pushing the story forwards, though his character development is brilliant.

Spoiler

The sinister Pryrates is brilliantly written

[Prebe]

Spoiler

Cadrach is a nice multi-faceted personality too

I'm about halfway through the first part of To Green Angel Tower, and now the action is picking up. But I felt that the first half of that volume was the slowest read so far.

I feel confident that I'l make it through the last part too

[Cleburne]

i found the otherland series to be good i couldnt put the book down and then there was the little continuation story in the legends 2 book havent read the sorrow memory series yet just started shadowmarch

[Prebe]

That's it. Finnished M,S & T.

Good read. Two minor problems with TW:

1: He clearly has a problem with topography, and the way water flows.
2: It's perhaps a little bit TOO classic formula. At least untill the final half of the last book, which is clearly the best part of the series. That's where I couldn't put it down any more.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I'm a little over half-way through The Dragonbone Chair right now, and I love this book. I really enjoy chase narratives in general, and this is one of the best that I've read in a long time. I also love the fact that there's no Gandalf (or Allanon) in this book, who shows up in the beginning, and basically tells the main character (and the reader) what the hell is going on, and what they need to do over the next three books to fix the problem. Bit by bit you get info on what's happening (actually, most comes from the back-cover of the book, which I wish I hadn't read), but it isn't that clear where things are going. You look at the title of the final book (kind of wish I didn't know that, too), and you're like "Crap! That's right where this book started! What the hell is going on?!" I really like this style of story-telling; it's just so unique not to have a road-map for the series laid out for you right at the beginning.

With all that said, there's no way in hell I'm reading anything else by Tad Williams when I'm done with MST. I want to quit while I'm ahead.

[wayfriend]

I agree, Ur-Ted. Williams in this series strikes a great balance between classic and new. The style is classic, but it's always a surprise.

The title of the last book(s) didn't phase me as they weren't out when I read the first book.

(Now I have to call you a rapscallion or a whippersnapper or something.)

[Cameraman Jenn]

I really liked MST. I thought it was a good fun read.

[Prebe]

Now I have to call you a rapscallion or a whippersnapper or something

Or Mooncalf

Hey! You're done Jenn. Glad you liked it.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Now I have to call you a rapscallion or a whippersnapper or something

Or Mooncalf

[Cameraman Jenn]

I actually finished it awhile ago, just forgot to post. I am now a little over halfway through the third Malazan book by Steven Erikson, "Memories of Ice"....

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Ok, I'm getting near the end of To Green Angel Tower. First, I've read that somewhere in the middle, this book bogs down. I'm still waiting for that to happen. Second, I just read the part where we find out

Spoiler

that King John didn't kill the dragon, but found the dragon already dead, and pulled out Minneyar from its carcus.

.
This is driving me nuts! I would swear that I just read a series that had the exact same plot point, i.e.

Spoiler

near the end of the series, we find out that a heroic king hadn't killed a dragon, or something like that, but had stolen someone else's glory.

It may have happened in one of Hobb's trilogies; I read them this summer (Farseer, Liveship, Tawny Man). It could've been in the Malazan books (up to MT), but I don't think so. Has anyone else read the same thing elsewhere? It's just so damn familiar, when I read the passage, I'd swear I had read it before (maybe I'd had a dream ).

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I finished M,S and T last night. That series was awesome. I actually had trouble sleeping, because I kept thinking about the book. I promised myself I wouldn't read anything else by TW, for fear of hitting the dreaded diminishing returns region, but I'm probably going to have to do it. I love his writing style. There were so many mysteries in the series. With 60 pages to go, I seriously had no idea how the story was going to end. The only thing I'd change about it is that I'd have Richard Morgan write the final sex scene when moon-calf finally gets laid, and maybe make it 10 pages long (although S&M better take baths first, considering what Morgan would have them doing).