I read this book because I wanted to re-read a book I have mostly forgotten. This was one of the possible options I found. I still don't know whether I have read this before or not. Many things were familiar but not as much as they should've been. Maybe it was just familiarity with the themes and tropes in this book.
In any case I did enjoy it. Some lengths here and there but overall a nice read. Recommended if you enjoy portal fantasy and a good standalone fantasy novel. God knows those are quite rare.
I read this book because I wanted to re-read a book I have mostly forgotten. This was one of the possible options I found. I still don't know whether I have read this before or not. Many things were familiar but not as much as they should've been. Maybe it was just familiarity with the themes and tropes in this book.
In any case I did enjoy it. Some lengths here and there but overall a nice read. Recommended if you enjoy portal fantasy and a good standalone fantasy novel. God knows those are quite rare.
What if Faery had an industrial revolution? Class warfare - and an energy crisis?
Theo Vilmos is a musician, a bit of a loser, passively drifting through life and apt to blame others for his troubles. Tad Williams takes this unlikely hero and places him in the middle of a developing crisis between our world and Faery.
This is a dark book, filled with vivid and strange places: the Faery realm is a warped reflection of our world. There are trains, but they don't work quite like they do in our world, the time-table being dependent on the weather and the phases of the moon. Guards carry semi-automatic weapons that shoot metallic hornets, and magic gloves to scan your access card. One of the central events in the story is an eery echo of the 9/11 attack although Tad Williams claims he had it planned out some years before that …
What if Faery had an industrial revolution? Class warfare - and an energy crisis?
Theo Vilmos is a musician, a bit of a loser, passively drifting through life and apt to blame others for his troubles. Tad Williams takes this unlikely hero and places him in the middle of a developing crisis between our world and Faery.
This is a dark book, filled with vivid and strange places: the Faery realm is a warped reflection of our world. There are trains, but they don't work quite like they do in our world, the time-table being dependent on the weather and the phases of the moon. Guards carry semi-automatic weapons that shoot metallic hornets, and magic gloves to scan your access card. One of the central events in the story is an eery echo of the 9/11 attack although Tad Williams claims he had it planned out some years before that attack.
Faery is ruled by the "Flower Families", the aristocrats of the Faery world, who are divided between the "choke-weeds" who want to destroy humanity and the "creepers" who would prefer a less violent solution. Theo is caught in a power struggle between these families and spends much of the book just trying to survive and make sense of his surroundings.
I loved the characters: Theo is a most un-heroic hero, just on the edge of being too self-pitying for my liking. Then there is Applecore, a foul-mouthed female sprite. Also the earnest Cumber Sedge, a lower class fairy who aspires to be a scientist. Mud Button, a sort of Goblin Ghandi, or maybe a Goblin Jesus would be closer to the truth. Also many interesting ideas, particularly the one that "A Goblin Story always has a hole in the middle".
The kind of fantasy book I like, that shows me fascinating places and asks interesting questions that touch on the problems of our own world.
