A Thorn in the Memory of Sorrow 

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've finished reading Memory, Sorrow, Thorn by Tad Williams. And the first impression is, the book is too long. I've never thought I'd say this of a fantasy novel/series, but here it is. It's not too long in the truly monstrous terms of Jordan's TWoT. It's just that out of four (relatively long) books which make the series, there's three and a half books of inert filling and a half of a book of something significant actually happening. And here comes the spoiler... Which is because the good guys think they should do something, and try to do it, without having any idea why they do it, and that makes everything they do meaningless. When the whys of it finally get revealed in the last half of the last book, the reasons turn out to be the most obvious ones. The resolution, once it finally arrives, is also a cliche one, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if he didn't take so much time getting to it. The character development, especially the main hero's, consists of character being one way, and then the readers being informed how the character has changed, period. The only positive thing which can be said about this book is that some of the (good) characters actually get killed. A sad thing to have as the only redeeming quality, especially when it there isn't nearly enough of it to save the day...

No, this review isn't a shining example of inspiration. Nor is it nearly as venomous as I intended it to be. I suppose I've spent too much time doing tedious paperwork lately...