If you're a fan of massive fantasy-adventure epics and you have never heard the name, you are missing so much. I first came across Williams three years ago, when I read Tailchaser's Song, which is about cats and clearly influenced the Erin Hunters of Warriors. Tailchaser's Song amazed me, but I wasn't very proactive in finding other books of his (too enraptured at that time by Deeper by Roderick Gordon, perhaps). But about a year ago, I started searching for more Tad Williams books, and I found quite a lot. He hasn't written as much as Terry Pratchett, but Williams' books are all far longer. (Example: My copy of The Dragonbone Chair is 766 pages long, not counting the various introductions and forwards and the appendix with character lists, place names, things, creatures, pronunciation guides, translations...)
Now, I may disappoint by admitting that my experience of Tolkien is basically nonexistent. No, I have not read The Lord of the Rings. Yes, I read The Hobbit--half of it--before being so utterly bored that I could not go on (which almost never happens to me). But I feel like Williams' books are probably like TLotR, since so many people say that they are. Besides, I may not have read the classic fantasy series, but I do know a little of it, so infused with it is our culture.
Maps! Languages! Dragons! Elves! Adventures! Trolls!
Lots of people associate those words with Tolkien. They should also be associated with Williams--at least The Dragonbone Chair.
My introduction may outdo the rest of the review in length, so I shall shut up and get to the summary soon. As a last word, this is only my second Williams, so my style of praise may seem weird--like I've actually read everything he's written, which I absolutely have not. But I can't imagine him writing a bad book, so...I'm justified.
Osten Ard. The known world. The huge empire united and ruled by King John Presbyter when he was still a young man. It is a land of many countries and people: To the south is Nascadu, Wran, Thrithings, Nabban, and Perdruin. To the north, Hernystir, Rimmersgard, and Yiqanuc. John rules his vast empire from the Hayholt, an ancient, ancient castle in Erkynland. The Hayholt has had several mortal kings, but before that, it was called Asu'a, and ruled by the Sithi--Osten Ard's elves. But, humans being as they are, the Sithi were slowly wiped from their lands--Asu'a fell to a Rimmersgard king, and both the Sithi and their Hernystiri allies suffered great losses in battles during the Sithi's last great days. Now the elves are in hiding; some say that they are gone altogether. But Osten Ard is happy and perfect under John's rule. How could a man who killed the terrible dragon Shurakai and saved his people not rule well?
Unfortunately, John is dying. He has lived to an absurd age, but his time has come, and soon the great Dragonbone Chair will be passed on to the eldest of his two sons, Elias.
Simon is a castle scullion, fourteen years old, uneducated, and dreaming of a soldier's glory. Under the watchful eye of Rachel the Dragon, Mistress of Chambermaids, he's frequently caught being idle, and consequently beaten. Simon loves going to see old Doctor Morgenes, a man who Simon just knows is a wizard of some sort, and, hardly able to believe his luck, Simon ends up apprenticed to Morgenes--spending most of his time learning to read (not doing magic).
But with John's death comes terrible change. Elias takes over as High King, bringing with him his homesick daughter, Miriamele, his eerie "priest" companion, Pryrates, and a host of bad decisions. Elias taxes to poverty not only other countries of Osten Ard but also baronies of Erkynland. His younger brother, Prince Josua of Naglimund, ends up in the dungeons for seemingly no reason at all. Day and night, Pryrates seems to be whispering in his ear. And, topping off everything else, the Storm King--Ineluki--of the Norns, a strange race dwelling in the far, far north, is, after five hundred years, rising again...
Circumstances throw Simon from everything he knows and out into the forest, embarking on an adventure of which he scarcely understand the meaning, meeting Binabik and Qantaqa, troll and wolf of Yiquanuc, along the way, and even encountering Jiriki, a Sithi prince. Meanwhile, war roils throughout Osten Ard, with kings and princes and dukes and duchesses dying and being imprisoned left and right, and the Storm King grows stronger. But hope can be found, even if in the strangest of places.
World-building, world-building, world-building! Most important thing in a giant fantasy! And Williams does it perfectly. There are five maps, hand-drawn by the author, in The Dragonbone Chair--one in the very beginning of all of Osten Ard; one at the beginning of Part One of the Hayholt; one at the beginning of Part Two of the Aldheorte Forest and surrounding lands; one in the middle of Part Two of the southern lands (Nabban, Perdruin, Wran, and Thrithings); and one at the beginning of Part Three of the Frostmarch, Hernystir, and surrounding lands. When you have a long, complex book with a large, complex setting, maps are so important. They allow the reader to orient without having to go to great lengths reading explanations of the lay of the land and therefore losing the narrative. The only problem is that I think (or maybe this is just my not-too-great sense of direction) that there was one part that lasted for a few chapters where Williams confused east and west and therefore kind of flipped all of Osten Ard...
As well as the maps, the appendix is also a brilliant addition to the main book. In the appendix, you can find lists of characters by country, each list alphabetized. After that follows a list of places that may not necessarily be on the maps but are nonetheless important, complete with a little information about each place. Next you can find information on creatures and things, and then there's a pronunciation guide to every language that comes up in the book. After that is a list of exceptional names and how to pronounce them. The appendix finishes nicely with a complete list of everything said in a foreign language with translations. So useful throughout the whole book.
The whole book is just amazingly well done, but I think that one of the best parts is chapters 13-14 (Between Worlds and The Hill Fire). I'll try to not give away too much, but in these chapters, Simon is lost, terrified, confused, and friendless. He travels beneath the Hayholt in ancient, hidden tunnels, and his head is filled with voices. Some on them are his own, and some of them seem to be quite outside his head... When he finally emerges into the light, it is only to stumble upon even more horror! The voices were absolutely spectacular, and they made the two chapters both terrifying and captivating. Examples:
"Simon lost...Simon lost lost los..."
"Dead mooncalf. Ghost mooncalf."
"Ghost of a mooncalf!"
"Mad! The boy is mad!
Have pity, he's lost, lost, lost...!
We will have it back, manchild! We will have it all back!
Mad mooncalf!"
"Ruakha, ruakha Asu'a! [Dying, dying Asu'a!]
T'si e-isi'ha as-irugú! [There is blood on the eastern gate!]
The trees are burning! Where is the prince?! The witchwood is in flames, the gardens are burning!"
"Jingizu! Aya'ai! Jingizu! came a wailing cry." [Thank you, Tad Williams, for not telling us what "Aya'ai" means. Anywhere. Not even in the appendix.]
"Jingizu, a voice breathed. Jingizu. So much sorrow."
"Jingizu, a voice whispered in Simon's head. Jingizu..."
"The Devil is here! Sorrow, his name is sorrow...! The king has brought the Devil! Morgenes, Holy Usires, save me save me save me!!"
At this point, you still don't understand what's really going on, but just the thought of that disembodied voice breathing Jingizu... in dark tunnels... Shivers.
Now, allow me to extol some characters here. Every single character in the entire book (and there are so many) is different and a distinct individual. No two named guardsmen who have but a page or so of time are alike. But of course the main characters are all very, very detailed and special, and a lot of them are so easy to love. Simon is a little bit annoying, but then again, that's what makes him so real. He is a teenage boy, after all. Besides Simon, his companions are the characters who are most detailed and interesting. Binabik, a troll from Mintahoq in Yiqanuc (which is a country of trolls), becomes Simon's best friend, and he has a delightful wolf companion named Qantaqa, who provides protection and also transportation for Binabik. Binabik is amazing--wise, funny, and intelligent. He's one of my favorites. I also love Maegwin, who, even though she doesn't get a lot of pages, has a personality that comes through in the few times that we are graced with her point of view. She's the princess of Hernystir, unusually tall for a woman, and strong besides. She's fantastic.
Then there's Jiriki.
Jiriki is probably my absolute favorite character. He is a prince of the remaining Sithi, and if you want to know his relation to Ineluki, Storm King, but don't feel like working it out, I did it. He's Ineluki's great-nephew. Anyway, you first encounter Jiriki in chapter 16, but he doesn't have a name until chapter 37 (you practically forget about him). The Sithi in general are just fascinating, but Jiriki is a great character as well. Elves... They're always fun to read about. Especially elves who look a bit like cats and braid their hair. You will read The Dragonbone Chair and you will love Jiriki and you will comment on this review saying how much you love him, and I will agree with you, and we can all be happy about the existence of Jiriki.
Finally, I must mention the languages and cultures of Osten Ard.
Yarp.
This is creativity with clear inspiration at its best.
The Erkynlanders practice the Aedonite religion, which came from Nabban and was spread throughout the land in the days of the Nabbanai Empire, with varying success. The Aedonites follow the teachings of Usires Aedon, Son of God. Practically anyone should be able to see the inspiration for this religion immediately.
All of the countries of Osted Ard and their languages also correspond to languages and places found on Earth. Erkynland is England and Erkynlandish is Old English (although all Hayholt folk and most of Erkynland speak Warinstenner, the languages of John's native island, which is basically modern English). Rimmersgard corresponds to Scandinavia, and their language is Germanic. Nabban is--obvious from the stories of how they conquered Osten Ard and were ruled by an Imperator until the empire fell--the Roman Empire, and their language is Romantic. Hernystir is based on Ireland and their language is Celtic. Yiqanuc is northern Canada (oh yes, northern Canada, did you know that trolls live among you?) and they speak an Inuit language. The other places and languages that are not as prevalent in the book are a little harder to identify, but I'd say that the Wran is maybe the southeastern US and their language is something Muskogean (I am not good with the less-well-known language families!); Thrithings corresponds to eastern Europe and their language is Finno-Ugric; Nascadu is probably North Africa or the Middle East (no scenes have taken place there and no one from there has come into the story yet); and Perdruinese is something Romantic, as well--or maybe Greek. So far only a couple of Perdruinese names and place names have come into the story.
Sithi language is another matter altogether. It's so very different, but at times I could detect Japonic and Indo-Iranian influences. I can imagine that it would be a very beautiful language, but of course it's so hard for people to speak. In the pronunciation guide, Williams informs us that the apostrophe (a clicking sound) should just be forgotten about by mortals. But despite that, I will still try. The only thing that I'd like to know is what kind of a clicking sound it is.
Speaking of apostrophes in Sithi, it's time for me to complain. I don't have a lot of problems with The Dragonbone Chair, but this is one of them. Tad Williams, please decide where the apostrophe goes in the Sithi word meaning "arrow"--and if there's an apostrophe at all. In the appendix, it's written "staja"; the first time it's mentioned in the book it's "staj'a"; and at some point it becomes "sta'ja." Staj'a/sta'ja/staja needs to be consistent so that we can know how to say it in our heads--if not out loud, since apparently people aren't allowed to say the apostrophe... Humpf.
The other issue is pretty much directly connected to the previous one. If you read my review of Sophie's World, you might remember how I complained of typos, but understood that they might be more likely to occur in a book that had been translated into English. But The Dragonbone Chair has no such excuse. I found certainly more than three times as many typos in this one than in Sophie's World. Yes, the book is long. Yes, it's complex. But that does not excuse missing or incorrect punctuation, misspellings of names, using the wrong word, leaving out or adding letters into words, incorrect capitalization, etc. It wasn't usually so bad that I couldn't understand the part, but it was very, very irritating and I have no idea why it was so bad. I have never come across a published novel with this many mistakes. In an absolutely wonderful, engaging book, this was really quite a disappointment.
In short, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy epics such as those written by Tolkien and Paolini. It's a story of adventure and magic with a likable hero and a detailed, carefully-thought-out world with characters to match, and I cannot wait until I read the seven or so other books that I've got on my shelf...plus maybe working on some of the Dickens on my dying Kindle...oh dear... Anyway, can't wait to read the next book! And the next book! (To Green Angel Tower, the last book in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is so giant that it had to be printed in two volumes in paperback. Well, at least Williams kept his promise that it would be a trilogy.)