In the land of Osten Ard, humans, Sithi (elf-like creatures), trolls, and other beings live in various states of tense peace. Young Simon, a human orphan, lives a humble life inside the Hayholt's walls, performing odd jobs under the shadow of the Green Angel Tower, a mysterious relic from a bygone age. Life gets better once he is apprenticed to Morgenes, a strange but wise old man, but it is not to last. The King, Prester John, has died, and his son Elias assumes the throne with suspect counselors. Has a long-slumbering evil awoken? Elias soon turns the kingdom against itself with his mad edicts, and forces his brother Josua to oppose him. Caught in the fray, Simon finds himself escaping the castle and making his way north, where strange companions will join him and he embarks on a greater quest: to recover the three lost swords of legend, needed to stave off worldwide disaster. Can he and his companions do so in time?
Highly regarded by many, book one of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn quadrilogy (technically trilogy, but the final volume is split into two book-length works), failed to grab me. It was neither horrible nor great, pretty much across the board. The characters were okay, the story was okay, the pacing had some problems. I saw some similarities to The Wheel of Time and Celtic stories. Some elements annoyed me due to their prevalence in fantasy literature* or their portrayal in this instance. Ultimately, I feel indifferent towards it, which means I won't be reading the other volumes (though I will look up a summary to see how it all ends).
Rating: B-
*maybe I'm reading too much of this genre . . .
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