I finished EoG a few days back, so I finally came here to the spoiler thread, only to find there were no spoilers!ĭespite the misleading thread title, I came to discuss the story. etc) really contribute to this uneasy feeling that, while there is a story here that could be told and told really well (the Sithi/Norn & Unbeing backstory), a lot of this feels middling or unnecessary.Īnd though there was very little action in The Dragonbone Chair, that novel contains an impressive atmosphere of discovery and gradual revelation, allowing the descriptions and overall prose to come across as necessary in constructing the novel's themes and development, rather than-in TWC and EoG-feeling like constant bloated diversions perpetually staving us off to the next artificial climax or authorial indulgence (lost in the woods again, hey ho!). The obvious retreading of old ground (Urmshiem, Naglimund, Hjelden's tower, etc. With The Witchwood Crown, we already know these characters and this land and there's not a whole lot which is new, outside the Norn mountain-city. The biggest contrast I can give is that, in the late 80's, reading The Dragonbone Chair imparted a sense of mystery and depth, probably much more depth than the text itself contained.
#Tad williams otherland cliff notes series
In the last thread, someone asked to compare this series to MS&T. I didn't hate it or really dislike it, I just thought the writing was weaker than the original trilogy. When I muster the energy, I'll present a critique as to why the first trilogy remains superior to the second. Someone asked how this compares to The Dragonbone Chair / first series to a long-term reader in the last thread. Nothing like concluding an epic sequence with a cliffhanger, only to find a whole chapter of Simon or Morgan or (shudder) both looming ahead! While nothing here was to the excess of Mountain of Black Glass, where Orlando + co were abandoned in dire straights for like a hundred pages, it's still not very well done or necessary, IMO. TW has this fondness for leaving a chapter at a cliffhanger and then shoving 50 or more pages in between, as if this generates tension rather than annoyance. I didn't care for how TW railroaded the events after Unvar became the Shan, reminded me of the worst parts of Otherland. Feels like a last-minute appearance in book three is going to happen.
I didn't care for the fact that Joshu is still MIA. Chalk it up to authorial style, but it creates this sheen of repetition where you already know what Tad will write paragraphs or even pages before it arrives. Repetition - Most of the characters have the same "voice" when reflecting or conversing. If not for the lore and the underlying threat of Utuk'ku's plan, a lot of this would feel like an unnecessary exercise, sort of like Donaldson's third attempt at Covenant. Repetition - we're hitting all the locales and events of the first trilogy, to the point that it sometimes feels like a retread - Urmshiem, Naglimund, Dai'a Chikiza, etc. It was a "As you know." scene, and this sort of bloat is interwoven throughout both books - meandering conversations, repetition of information already presented, sometimes excessive descriptions, etc. In TWC, there was a scene about halfway through the novel where Simon and Miri and Eolair and Tiamak discuss the plot of the novel for around 3 pages before reaching a decision of action that moves the narrative forward slightly. Of course, this disease afflicts so much epic fantasy - making doorstoppers simply to make doorstoppers, without much consideration to what would make the books stronger, tighter, more effective - that it's almost expected. See: Erikson, Sanderson, most Big Name fantasy authors, really. This felt like a good 400 page novel woven into 600 pages. I felt the drag of it mostly in the beginning and around the 50-60% mark. Just like TWC, this one is overwritten and under-edited. There are great little moments scattered throughout. Has better pacing than TWC, though it shares the same problem of that novel (see below.) As a kid, I always wondered what Stormspike was like, and the various weird/creepy environs of Nakkiga were well written. Like in TWC, I enjoyed reading about the Norns the most. Miri was enjoyable to read, once she was separated from Simon. Not enough info to parse this, yet, and I think the answer lies somewhere in between. Also of interest are the discrepancies in the myths regarding Unbeing, with the creatures under Nakkiga claiming the 'Vao' summoned it (implied, the Tunukeda'ya), while Tanahaya tells Morgan that the Norns were responsible. Kinda tired, so I'll boil this down to some bullet points.Įxpands upon the underlying lore from the first book, and that lore is threaded throughout the novel rather than kept at the back end.
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