Shadowplay by Tad Williams
Shadowplay is the second book in Tad Williams‘ massive epic fantasy series, Shadowmarch. The plot was just starting to get really interesting when the first book ended, so I was eager to start Shadowplay. Things have gone awry in the March Kingdoms… I’m not normally a reader of classic epic fantasy, since I often find things like family lineage, court politics and over-dramatic heroic battles boring. This series has all of this, but this time it seems to work for me. I’m being entertained despite the fact that this is territory I’ve visited many times before… There is a simple purity to Tad Williams’ writing that’s difficult to put my finger on, but the characters are what really make Shadowplay great… I listened to this on audiobook by Brilliance Audio. It was narrated by Dick Hill, who makes it a fun and exciting listen… Read the rest.
I’m like you Justin, with the doorstopper traditional epics -to a point anyway, there’s a few that I’m currently following.
I read Shadowplay when it first came-out and really liked it too, but it became the victim that I took my frustrations out on over long-waits between books. (Thanks GRRM and J. V. Jones..thanks ever so much). I ended-up using it as barter at my local used bookstore.. I regret that now. It was a beautiful book, if nothing else. Your reviews have got me wanting to take it up again.
One personal story about Tad Williams though,for anyone interested. My son who never became much of a reader – he just never got bit by the book-worm- loved The Tailchaser’s Song when he was about 12 years old. That has always stood-out to me, cause its about the only book I can think of that he read, cover-to-cover, just for the fun of it.