The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Book 1)

Guys theres so much to talk about with this book I dont even know where to start. Phenomenal, phenomenal work of art is this book. I will try to do it justice with my review. This book first and foremost, is an epic fantasy, that is, epic with a capital 'E'. This clunker of a novel is around 630 pages long and, as a lot of people will have mentioned previously, the writing style that Tad Williams likes to use is extensive and very meticulously detailed. For some people this would lend the reading to a more slower pace and some might determine that to mean that the reading pace is too slow to enjoy. That is something to keep in mind when picking up a book such as this, that it can take you some time to get through it. Personally, I picked up this book around the 15th of October and finally got through reading it on November 11th. But at the same time, I found this book to be enjoyable and I read through it daily. I don't think the slow pace is bad, and in fact it helps you to really get inside the mind of the characters and the worlds they live. The world of Osten Ard is vast and expansive, with a large set of characters all with their own backstories and points of view. The world has several distinct regions all with their own cultures, languages, beliefs, rulers, etc. The list of characters is so extensive that Williams had to include an entire list of characters in the appendix of the book (lol). Needless to say, the scope of this book and this series is big and lends itself quite well to multiple rereadings. Its quite difficult to follow the enormity of the story only on the first read-through and Im sure when I sit down to read the story again that it will be even more clear to me. I enjoy William's writing style which is quite different from other established authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien. William's writing style is more direct, focused and richly descriptive, lending the reading to be very engaging and simulating. You can envision grand worlds and vivid images with the language he uses in this novel. I thought the lore in the book was phenomenal especially the Aedonite religion which appears to be quite similar to Christianity (Usires hanging upside down from a tree, making the sign of the tree, etc. ). I was not expecting to encounter that as I read this novel and it made for an interesting surprise. [PLOT] The premise of the story is that there is a civil war that is beginning to brew on the horizon. The old kind of Osten Ard is near death and the reign goes to his first born son, Elias upon his death. But as usually tends to occur in royal families, betrayal and back stabbing begins to take place and Elias imprisons his brother, Josue in the dungeons below the castle. Unbeknownst to almost everyone at the time, he ends up making a pact with the undead storm king of the Sithi, Ineluki, together with his maniacal priest-warlock, Pyrates. This sows the seeds for the foreshadowing for a larger looming conflict that is to plague the world of Osten Ard later on. At the same time, the story also follows Simon (also known as Seoman) who is a lowly kitchen worker in the castle at the Hayholt. The beginning of the story follows Simon as he apprentices under the great Scholar called Morgenes and his life working under the supervision of Rachel a.k.a, 'the Dragon'. Through the chapters, Simon begins to learn more about the history of Osten Ard and the very city he lives in and we get beautiful descriptions of the castle and the castle life he lives in during the beginning chapters. But eventually, things begin to take on a much darker tone and Simon eventually is forced to go on the run and escape to Naglimund where the prince Josue attempts to head up a resistance. The story follows him as he progresses and goes on a personal quest of growth and exploration, amidst a world of dangers. The story builds tension and dark undertones as the book progresses and by the time you reach the end of the novel, the book has a much different feel and tone than it did at the beginning of the novel. The ending in particular I found to be quite climactic and cinematic. It was really intense to say the least! I especially enjoy reading thick, meaty and complex novels that require you to think and engage with the story. And I also like it when a book has good reread value such as this one. I enjoyed this book so much that I will definitely be reading it through a second time at some point in the future. Williams set this book up wonderfully for the next book in the series and I will absolutely be getting the next book in the series as soon as possible! I can't recommend this book highly enough especially if you are even remotely interested in reading and epic fantasy in particular.

It’s always hard to rate the first book of a series. You don’t have enough time to bond with the protagonists and the beginning is somewhat slow. Well, this book is more like 2 books in 1, it’s quite large, so there is time for much. Our protagonists is a young orphan (orphans make a good case for main characters!) who is thrown sort of unwillingly into the thick of tremendous changes (for the worst) on the kingdom. Peace is no more and evil descends, slowly but surely. He bands with a handful of friends into a series of adventures while at the same time learning about himself (slowly). I did not overly enjoy the prose. The language and descriptions are rich, very rich, but since I am not a native English speaker, sometimes it tires me to truly understand. The pace is - not slow - relaxed more or less. Things do happen, but it’s like the author deliberately tries not to give too much. There are signs and tells about our MC that are not explored, or the story itself does not let him understand - no one to teach him, and no time to be frank. So if you wait for our MC to throw fireballs and cast down lightning, well, you are not getting that, yet(?). It’s also interesting to note that we do get other people’s side / story on many sub-chapters. It’s not just the MC Simon’s side we are exploring. This is done due to the fact that the whole kingdom affairs are progressing and Simon can’t be everywhere. I don’t consider any other a true protagonist, maaAybe the prince. The “bad guys” are quite well made. They are not morons, they are relatively realistic and scary each to his own degree. We don’t actually meet the endgame boss, but we do hear a lot about him - it feels like Sauron in a sense. In any case, the sense of urgency to fix the wrongs is there, humanity is truly in peril. What I did not expect is the amount of character evolution there was in a first book. It usually takes longer to show, but we see both our MC and the prince show signs of evolving - not forcefully because the writer mandates it, but because of their experiences in this part of the story. I did not lose my sleep over this book. That’s a good indicator for me on how good the story is and if the fifth star is worth it. That being said, whenever I picked it up, I enjoyed reading and was not bored at all. It was pleasant though not supeeeerbly engaging. This book has the ingredients to make a splendid “soup” so I am thrilled to move on to the next one !!

I first read Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn on paperback in the early 1990s, when I was living in Baltimore, Maryland. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging. I love these books. They gave me an escape from the pressures and genetics research. I haven't read them since I returned to Ohio in '94. This book is every bit a good as I had remembered it being. In the three decades since I've forgotten the details of the story. Now, I'm reading it on Kindle, and I'm finding it every bit as engrossing as I did, when I first read it.

"Maybe we have seen the better days. Maybe there is nothing left now but a losing battle against creeping darkness." It is interesting. I have noticed other fantasy series I've read have stolen a lot of stuff from Tad, even pulling multiple names directly! This is the real stuff though. I mean to be fair Tad himself is borrowing from stuff like the LOTR in some ways, but he makes it his own. I love the writing style. All the characters are interesting. There is a feeling of depth to the world. The story is entertaining. Feels refreshing to read this after plowing through stuff inspired by this that simply isn't as good. I may have to lower the stars of some of my reviews for other books for consistency.

The Dragonbone Chair is an interesting animal. It was not only Tad Williams' first entry into the Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn series, but it was his first major published work. This becomes obvious when you begin reading it. For starters, the pacing is slow. Terribly slow. Glacially slow. Williams obviously wants to paint the young scullion Simon as just the irresponsible mooncalf that he is. Unfortunately, Williams' effort to really explain, and I mean really and fully show, the depths of Simon's immaturity turns the first 60% of the book into a slog. I can appreciate good characterization, but eventually the continual admonitions from Rachel the Dragon become an overused plot device for Williams to set up Simon's inevitable coming of age later in the series. The prose is also clunky. Williams fumbles around with oddly obtuse metaphors that force the reader to stop and mentally try to make the connection instead of painting a vivid picture. Worse, there were a few metaphors that wreaked of anachronisms. This really pulled me out of the moment and left me scratching my head, wondering how a medieval society could describe something using terms that would not have existed in their time (even given that this is a fantasy story). Editing on this book (and the entire series) is atrocious. Words are commonly misspelled where they were spelled correctly before, or names spelled differently, quotation marks are missing or misplaced, carriage returns are missing during important parts of conversation making it hard to know who is speaking. I'm not sure if this is a shortcoming of the editing process or an artifact of the translation to the Kindle edition, but it really detracts from the book. The plot itself, however, is fairly pleasant once it finally picks up around 60-65% (assuming you have the fortitude to make it that far). Yes, similarities to Lord of the Rings abound, but Williams keeps the turns and twists fresh and engaging once Simon *finally* leaves the Hayholdt. At that point, the plot finally picks up and the book becomes, you know, interesting. After slogging through it, I can honestly say that the only reason I read it was to get to the rest of the series. It can't be skipped, unfortunately, but if an abridged version existed, I would have rather read that.

In all my adult years trolling through the fantasy aisles of bookstores I routinely picked up Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy and put it back down again. It seemed way too complicated to follow, and I'll admit to being a little biased against male heroes and authors in my younger days. That changed gradually and then my opinion of Tad Williams changed completely when I read the first two novels of his latest fantasy trilogy Shadowmarch: Shadowmarch: Volume I and Shadowplay: Shadowmarch Volume II . And then this summer I fell in love with his absolutely incredible "Otherland" saga ( City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, Volume 1) , River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2) , Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Volume 3) , Otherland Vol. 4: Sea of Silver Light ). But I was still nervous about reading this particular series because there was such a vast difference from my beloved otherland-sci-fi versus pure fantasy, normal earth universe verses made up lands, modern tech and slang (and beyond) versus fictional religions, cultures, languages and histories. But in the end the fact that Williams wrote it override my fears. Which was a good thing because at first this book really did not grab me. The other Tad William's books I read always had some kind of action going on-if it wasn't completely related to the action of the plot then it was background that the reader would really need to understand the rest. But "the Dragonbone Chair" wasn't like that really. Like his other series "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" is pretty damm complicated. It involves multiple governments, races, magical beings and characters, who all live in the land of Osten Ard-a land that has a long history of settlement by different people. The first who came weren't human but Sithi-a long living magical species. But eventually the growing population of humans stopped being friendly (or even subservient) to the Sithi and started taking their land-including the ancient stronghold of the Hayholt- a castle that has been added too by each ruler but which maintains it's Sithi bones. For years Osten Ard has been at peace. Most people are united in one religion and all the diverse people seem to get along well. All has prospered under the reign of Prester John, a human man who became king when he retook the Hayholt from a fierce dragon. But John is old and dying-and his eldest son Elias is heir to the throne. Our main character is Simon-an orphaned servant of the Hayholt who is treated (and acts) like a fairly stupid young teen. But because of his upbringing Simon knows every surface of the massive Hayholt-from the cellars to the very top of the Sithi built green angel tower. Lacking purpose in life he is apprenticed to the castles doctor-a man who is much more then he seems to be. Soon life goes down hill from almost all of Osten Ard. Under Elias' reign the land literally suffers. People start to fight petty battles and soon there is a larger battle, for it seems that Elias has made a terrible pact with an evil that never died-and the only hope of opposing him may lie with an old league who is unprepared for such a task and Elias's brother Josua, who never had any interest in ruling the land. And Simon it seems has a role to play-one that will take him to farther and stranger places then he ever saw from the top of a tower. I'll admit to almost giving up on this book. And that's because the first two hundred pages or so are very slow. And not slow in terms of time line-there are big leaps in the time line for the first two hundred pages (they cover maybe two or three years) and then the rest of the book takes place in under four months. It's just that there's no real action in the beginning of this book. There is some information that is valuable for the rest of the book but it is spaced so thinly between Simon's daily activities and other people's political wheeling and dealing that it all gets a little boring. But I made it through. And the rest of the book is just what I would expect from Williams-amazing. Simon's evolution as a character and as a man is very, very real-he's no perfect hero at all but a boy who is thrown into events beyond his control or ability to truly understand. And all of the multiple secondary characters are equally well developed. Which is one of the most wonderful things about the way Williams writes-his characters may live in a made up land and battle made up forces but really they aren't so different from the average person on the street. So is it complicated- yes. Lots of stuff to remember-yes (including the usual weirdly spelled and pronounced fantasy names.) But all and all it's a fun book in a series that seems like it has a lot to offer. I'm on to book two, The Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Book 2) . Four stars. As a side note-I didn't really notice the kind of dark, sarcastic humor that flitted through the "Otherland" novels and "Shadowmarch"-but maybe that's because this is an earlier work. Hopefully it will be present in the latter part of the series.

(added 10/20/2015 - available on the AmazonUK site as an audible file, but Audible USA isn't even answering enquiries as to when/if it will come to the US market. Disappointed that Audible says 'We'll get right back to you' and over a month later... nada. Even with reminders. (added 06/16/2015 - Searched for this in Audible while on my Kindle - apparently the audio is coming out August 2015? But can't find the page while on my laptop. harumph.) Rehabilitating a 60 year old farm means I'm alone most of the time, moving around 30 acres, often doing repetitive labour. I listen to alot of free audio books from my library and have an Audible membership (soon to be dropped). I'd love to listen to these stories and have read them to my kids. I'm on my second set of paperbacks for these books and have gifted them to family and friends from 11yo to 58yo. I've stopped trying to review books for their literary worth - is it "good". I dunno - but I have found these books Entertaining. Good set of books for a gift to a young adult or older adult that enjoys humour and fantasy. A nice take on multi-culturalism - Elves, dwarves, royalty and wizards are shown to be people. The habits and culture may be a bit different, but they all lead very real lives of love, loss, hope and failure. It's funny how well a fantasy can teach your kids about the reality of life, compassion, honor and strength. As an integral part of the story, the glamour of legend and story is shown to be just a glittery reflection of reality. Alongside of Simon, you experience the hungry, dirty, frightening reality that is war and intrigue. Not to the point where I haven't allowed my thirteen yr old to read these - no graphic sex or gratuitous gore. The "lovestory" portions are a reflection of reality - Foot in mouth awkwardness and misunderstandings leading to over sensetive reactions. No glory of war or heaving bosoms here. I was homeless for almost a year 20 years ago (19yo, no family, no schooling - no... I was not a hippy/druggy/"soiled dove" - just unlucky and lost everything in a house fire) and as someone who knows the worth of dry socks and a safe place to sleep, the reality of hiking cross country is well portrayed. Hiding in trees, heart pounding so loudly you can't tell if someone is sneaking up on you, is a lousy way to spend night after night. Don't try to impress someone first thing in the morning with bug parts stuck to your sleep wrinkled face. Well... sorry if this isn't the best review I've written, but we're bringing in the hay, baby goats are being born and I just came in to cool off - so not much time to proofread this. Upshot is, if you enjoyed Redwall as a kid, you'll enjoy these. be well sf

This was an outstanding series with a compelling backstory, world, and well developed characters (main and secondary). The world is fresh, with great depth on the races, their history, and motives. I found many of the secondary characters extremely well developed whereas many writers merely let them languish. When I started, I had a very hard time getting into it, and was convinced, only in the beginning, I was, spending time reading a novel I'd rather not be reading (I think I've only ever stopped reading 1 or 2 novels In this, or similar genres, out of hundreds over the years, so I ride out and suffer some bad books versus putting them down). I'm not going into detailed plot summary and character analysis in a review, but the main character, Simon, started to feel like a bust at the beginning. Perhaps, he could have undergone his growth and metamorphose without starting quite so lame. Either way, that was a minor distraction only at the beginning of three compelling novels. Good thing for me, I stick with a book, because this book, and the two that follow, became outstanding in my view. This story, its world, and the backstory turned into a thrawling adventure I couldn't put down. The writing resulted in a lot of nights that went way too late for someone who is generally dressed and at work by 6:00 am, and that speaks to the gripping nature of the story and quality of the writing. A must read for serious fiction fans.

One of my favourite series, brilliant storyline. why is this not available in Australia on kindle? I was very disappointed when I found it on Amazon... But it's "not available in Australia", anyone know why ? Of if this will change ? Thanks

A classic fantasy epic. I warn you a slow start for Younger readers used to faster pacing, but once you are hooked don't expect to put it down. This is a re read series for me that stands the test of time. For fans of Feist, G Martin, R Jorden, Eddings, Sanderson - if you haven't read this completed series you are missing out.

Um dos melhores livros de fantasia

Preciosa historia, equiparable a la del Señor de los Anillos. Una delicia este libro y toda la serie de Tad Williams.

One of my favorite series!!! Politics, war, frendship, magic. Awesome saga.