To Green Angel Tower (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: 3)

by Tad Williams
(1993 | 1066 p)

Simon, a once kitchen boy turned knight, is caught up in a strange tale. He and his companions are at war with the greatest powers in all of Osten Ard, not all of whom are entirely of this world. Their only chance for survival? A strange poem found in the notes of a long dead madman and an uneasy alliance with the immortal Sithi and the cave-dwelling Trolls of the frozen north. At one time Simon might have found his current circumstance to be exciting, adventurous. But he's long since left behind the mooncalf boy that he was. Being a hero is about survival, confusion and pain. Glory is the stuff of songs.

"To Green Angel Tower" is the final book in Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy. There's a lot of story tangled in these 1066 pages, making the task of writing a brief review seem nearly impossible. I feel I could construct a detailed dissertation on Williams' land of Osten Ard and still have a few plot points left unexplored.

The world that Tad Williams has created in this series is intricate and 3-dimensional. The characters are complex and believable, particularly that of young, brave, naive Simon. I sincerely enjoyed my time with the story and was sad to see it finally come to an end. On the other hand I was a little disappointed in how things wrapped up. After all of that world building and the intricately twisty plot, the ending seemed too tidy. It felt as though, even with 1066 pages, the author was rushing to find an end. Perhaps if "To Green Angel Tower" had been split into two novels Williams would have been able to give the ending the same flourish that I so enjoyed throughout the rest of the story. (The paperback edition of "To Green Angel Tower" was published in two parts due to its size. The story itself, however, was constructed as one book.)

But I so loved this series that I can't be overly critical for very long. I don't know how I only now found these novels (they've been out for years!) and I'll definitely be looking for more work by Tad Williams. I'd highly recommend this series to fans of awesomeness and epic fantasy.

(If you're curious, you can find my reviews of the first two books -- The Dragonbone Chair and The Stone of Farewell -- on my LibraryThing.)