The Dragonbone Chair

by Tad Williams
654 pgs  (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series #1)

The Dragonbone Chair is the first book in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, a series that originally began as a trilogy 30 years ago, but which he recently picked up and began expanding. The series is set on the fictional continent of Osten Ard during the reign of King John Presbyter.

This is an epic fantasy series, so there is a dozen-or-so page appendix at the end of the book to assist in keeping track of the different characters and races. But the primary character in this first book is Simon, a 14-year-old kitchen servant in Hayholt Castle. Simon spends every day going through the same mundane chores assigned to him until he's eventually granted a reprieve of sorts and assigned to apprentice Doctor Morgenes, the castle's healer. Morgenes takes Simon under his wing and begins teaching him how to read and write and about the mysteries of the natural world.

Soon after the book begins, King John Presbyter dies, and his son Elias becomes king. But Elias turns out to be little more than a puppet of forces whose goal is to end the reign of mortal men in Osten Ard and return it to the ancient races that inhabited it originally.

Simon eventually finds himself in the crosshairs of the machinations taking place on Osten Ard and is forced to flee Hayolt Castle. He embarks on his journey and is soon joined by an assortment of characters from other races. After they come together, they discover the true danger facing Osten Ard and they learn of the existence of three ancient swords: Minnear (Year of Memory), Sorrow, and Thorn, whose combined magic is the only force powerful enough to save Osten Ard. It's believed that the forces they're up against already have possession of one of the swords, so Simon and his companions embark on a journey to find the other two.

It's pretty clear Williams, like many fantasy writers, found inspiration in the works of Tolkien. But Williams took that inspiration and did something most writers before him didn't do...he raised the bar. George R.R. Martin has said this book was the one that made him realize what level fantasy writing could attain, and he credited the series as the inspiration for his A Song of Ice and Fire series. That should give you an idea of the breadth and depth of the series this book begins.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★