Why is Shadowmarch on my TBR?

I read Memory, Sorrow and Thorne by Tad Williams a few years ago and I found myself quite in love with the series; the series had a classic feeling and incredibly vast world and a very intriguing plot. In fact, I gave 5 stars to book two Stone of Farewell (which is usually not a surprising rating for me in trilogies; book two is where I find myself invested in the story, the world and the characters and the ending of the book is not the ending of the story) and solid 4 stars to both the first book, The Dragonbone Chair, and book three, To Green Angel Tower.

Despite how much I loved this series (and there is a continuation in this world too, with The Last King of Osten Ard which I plan to read but only after a re-read of Memory, Sorrow and Thorne), I have not tapped into Tad Williams work. Granted, there is just so much good content in fantasy and the bar is constantly rising in this genre, yet this does not justify why I did not pick up another series by this author. And this is the mistake that I plan to rectify with Shadowmarch in 2023.

Why Shadowmarch? Really, I have to credit Brian Lee Durphy, probably the biggest fan of Tad Williams. While there are plenty of works to start from, Brian Lee Durphy recently read (actually re-read) and reviewed this series (and he reviews each book independently, here the review for Shadowmarch) and I was looking forward to starting a new series by Tad Williams without having the pressure of wanting to re-read another series.

The second factor is that it is a completed series, with four books: Shadowmarch, Shadowplay, Shadowrise and Shadowheart, all published by Daw books. All of them are also quite lengthy in the Kindle edition: Shadowmarch with 816 pages, Shadowplay with 784 pages, Shadowrise with 593 pages and Shadowheart with 881 pages. Originally, it was set to be a trilogy but the last installment was so complex and long that the author and the publisher decided to split the book into two different installments of the series (in case you were wondering, as I did, why book three is relatively short compared to the others).

With that, I also read the blurb of book one, Shadowmarch. This blurb hits a few cords that work for me: there is a feeling of a grand world (and it seems that there are two prologues that introduce the story and geography of the world), with a few races, humans and the immoral race of the Qua (and this also makes me wonder what makes them unique; is the immortality? Are they also magical? Do they have super strength? There also seems to be a slave army and there should be an Autarch. Just these few world building elements just make me engaged in the story immediately!).

It is a story of family, and the plot appears to focus on the two siblings (twins) with very different story lines (at least it appears so from the blurb); and it seems that this book also focuses on characters with disabilities and I am curious to explore a take on this (as this is an underrated topic in fantasy, in my opinion). Not to mention that there seems to be political intrigue!

Finally, this seems to be a set-up that leads to world ending events, with enemies fighting on all sides of the conflict. And, fun fact for me, it also seems that mythological creatures are part of the story.

So why is this series on my TBR list? Well to summarize there are a few things. Tad Williams is the very first one. I am also looking forward to a 2024 dedicated to Tad Williams and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn plus The Last King of Osten Ard. Another few items that work for me are the classical fantasy elements to the story, space to the development of the story and for world building. I also find that Brian Lee Durphy makes a great case for being an absolute fan of Tad Williams. You should really watch his videos dedicated to Tad Williams’ books.

If you read the series, please feel free to comment below, with a castle emoji, and a few lines as to why this series should be on the to-be-read pile of (fantasy) readers!

If you did not read the series, are you considering it? If so, why? Feel free to comment below with a mist emoji!