Dragonbone Chair

I have just started reading this monstrosity. The book is depressing me with it size and small print. I will finish it but I don't know how long it will take. Will probably read another book in the middle of this. How long did it take my fellow readers to finish this?

Not a reader of ASOIAF are you?

(Edited : Nevermind, confused with The Briar King, can't be of much encouragement as I found Memory... not to have much going for it except nice-sounding places and character names).

You have to get through the first 300 pages, my friends said and they were right, it's getting better. Keep on reading!

2- I own it but haven't gotten around to it.

From what I recall the first book is the most painful - get's way better.

I really enjoyed the series when read 20 years ago.

Same here--and it's so big, I've never gone back and re-read it. I will one of these days, though. I read each book as it came out--and probably read the ones before ere I read To Green Angel Tower.

I read the entire trilogy back when it was first published, but recently reread it.

Like The Lord of the Rings, The Dragonbone Chair starts slow, waaay slow, but it gets a lot better after Simon has to leave. That's all I'll say.

It still is very good, even 20+ years after I first read it.

Read it new in paperback whenever that was, and grabbed sequels as soon as they came out. Ah, for the days before you could anticipate publishing dates thanks to the Internet and had to scan the 'new' shelves, hoping, hoping ... it was fun to be pleasantly surprised. And one of the early instances of a book being split in two due to size (the third volume).

At the time I had nothing but Shannara, Belgariad and some other basics under my belt, so Dragonbone Chair blew me away. In my experience it marked a clear dividing line between Brooks, Eddings, Donaldson, Feist / Jordan, Goodkind, Martin. It was a big step in the right direction (okay, I'm still fond of Donaldson).

The opening chapters lack for action, I grant you, and Simon is a bit of a cliche. But I'd never seen fantasy heroes take a pummeling before like I did in this series, which made it really stand out. Lots of fun and memorable scenes to come; try to focus on enjoying the story and not on the size. Or take a look over at Steve Erikson's Malazan series and maybe you'll feel better by comparison.

I always recommend The dragonbone chair to someone who wants to try a "typical" fantasy novel. It contains all the classic tropes and story arcs, but is well written with interesting characters who grow and change because of their experiences. Belgariad may be an easier read, but I couldn't even get past book 3 because of the oversimplification of people and cultures ("All people from country A are sly and wily; all people from country X are big dumb lunks" etc.)

Finished Dragonbone Chair but I had to read 8 books to get in the groove before I started Stone of Farewell.

I read the first when originally published and then recently read the entire series. The odd thing is that I usually remember most of the novels I've read - at least enough to summarize - in this case rereading the first book I had no recollection of my original read, at all. Very odd - I'm guessing that I wasn't very impressed initially. I did think the series got much better and now I'm thinking of reading Shadowmarch...

-10 Cecrow I couldn't help but notice you put Jordan on the positive side of that equation. I assume you are referring to the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. While I agree that the Martin books are much richer than Eddings or Feist, I am not so sure about Jordan. I only read the first four or five of the books(totalling probably 4000-4500 pages) and nothing ever seemed to significantly move the story forward. In Stephen King's words "They just kept wagontraining". It seemed to me that he had come up with a popular setting and characters and didn't want to kill the golden goose.

I have to admit I enjoyed the Eddings books, even with their simplicity. I also enjoyed some of the Feist books. Of course I read them for the first time when I was in early highschool. I have enjoyed them in re-reads since. They are brain candy. sometimes I like candy.

>14 tjm568: Me too. I started The Wheel of Time expecting maybe four or five volumes. When no. 8 came out I was struggling with no. 4 or 5 (can't recall which), and decided I was being taken for a ride. Jordan was starting to develop more subplots than he could handle competently, and also issuing "companion"-type material, which seemed grossly premature for an unfinished series. I don't like just having my wallet shaken out, so I stopped. The first couple were good, though.

As for The Dragonbone Chair, I read it in a few days and liked it a lot. I was less impressed with the very end of the last volume; but you can't have everything.

14, 15 > I wasn't comparing quality, but rather generations. Eddings, Feist and Donaldson seem to be considered old school and need introduction, whereas anyone just getting into the genre quickly learns of Jordan, Goodkind and Martin. Brooks was a bad example, he's spanned both eras. Similar to your experiences, I read Eye of the World and left it at that.

Dragonbone Chair has been cited by Martin for inspiration of his Song of Ice and Fire series, and I can see why. I believe it broke out of the mold very well at the time it was published, although it seems to have all the tropes firmly intact by today's standards.

Eddings, Feist and Donaldson seem to be considered old school

Yeah, well, I guess I'm old school. I still remember Lord Foul's Bane as an exciting and mould-breaking new fantasy, and to me "old school" means Le Guin, Tolkien, Eddison, and Lord Dunsany.

I recall when The Dragonbone Chair was published, and I bought a copy after reading a review...

...I was so impressed with the book, I told others that I considered Tad Williams to be the 'new Tolkien'.

It's still very good stuff.

Yes, Tad Williams was briefly made one in a long line of 'new Tolkiens' thanks to this work. Presently it's Martin, later to be someone else. They could form a club.

>17 MyopicBookworm:, I'm quick to defend Donaldson myself. Mordant's Need is especially criminally overlooked, and I also liked his Gap foray into sci-fi. Waiting for the Last Dark before I start Runes of the Earth.

I like the "old Tolkien" okay (and Dunsany much better), but in general the LT "Will you like it?" calculator advises me to shun the new ones, including Tad Williams. Considering that these books are bulky doorstops promising nothing beyond entertainment, I'm inclined to trust the algorithm on this one.

ETA: LT says I "probably will like" The Lord of the Rings, and that I "will like" The Worm Ouroboros. I've read the former and not the latter, but I'm interested in Eddison.