We have already talked about «The Dragonbone Chair» — the first part of the cult saga «Memory, Grief, and Thorns» by the popular American writer Ted Williams. Now, the publishing house «A priori», where this series is published, has released the second volume of the series, titled «Stone of Farewell». As a reminder, these books were the inspiration for Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin to write their famous series «Chronicles of the King’s Assassin» and «A Song of Ice and Fire». «Stone of Farewell» were first published back in 1990, and the series itself has influenced many generations of readers and writers. Finally, the entire series is being released in Ukrainian, and now we can join the golden fund of fantasy in our native language.
Author Ted Williams
Translator Olena Volosevych
Publisher A priori
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 744
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 150×220 mm
Website apriori-publishing.com
After the finale of «The Dragonbone Chair» teenager Simon, his friend the troll Binabik, Princess Miriamel, her uncle Prince Joshua and his troops, as well as other characters are scattered in different parts of Austen Ard. Meanwhile, the Norn King Ineluki and his henchmen are becoming more powerful. The world is covered with snow even in summer, and the battle with darkness is approaching.
It is very difficult for a small group of protagonists to resist such a force. They are all separated and need to get to the Stone of Farewell — this ancient place is where they have a chance to regroup and come up with a plan of action. They also need the help of the powerful Sith. It’s their former relatives, the Norns, who are organizing the end of the world, so it would be great to have such an ally. But the Sith have fenced themselves off from the world and do not interfere. However, the moment is coming when this ancient race must decide and join the battle.
«Stone of Farewell» — the most classic second novel of the trilogy (although much later it became a five-book series with prequels, etc.). Events unfold, the stakes are raised, and the tension builds. There is no slow, cozy beginning that «The Dragonbone Chair» had. Because the characters are already in place, the exposition is known, and now we just have to watch their adventures. However, there is nothing large-scale and powerful here. The heroes have to get from point A to point B for a decisive battle in the future, and they face various challenges along the way.
And there are a lot of events in the novel. All the characters are busy doing things, trying to help decide the fate of the local world of Austen Ard and find the strength to resist the Darkness. They are also constantly moving somewhere, doing something, feeling and transforming as individuals. Simon is no longer the naïve cook we met in the first novel. Princess Miriamel has also changed, and Prince Joshua has been revealed in the best way possible.
Now he is not just one of the main characters, but the true hope of humanity and a powerful force in the future. Joshua’s development is similar to that of Aragorn from Tolkien’s trilogy — here he is the Wanderer, a skilled warrior and a reliable friend of the hobbits, and then we see the King of the West and the White Tree.
Something similar, but not yet on such a scale, happens to Prince Joshua in «Stone of Farewell». Yes, he’s already a prince and a counterweight to his crazy brother Elias. But in the first novel, he didn’t want power and was kind of soft and just defended himself. Now he is ready to fight, even though he has lost almost everything, but we already see him as a real leader and a character who will be remembered for a long time after reading the book.
However, Evil is hardly revealed in the second novel, and there are few scenes with it. We are shown how it grows and becomes more powerful, but there are far fewer chapters with Pryrath and Elias than with other characters. And the Norn King Ineluki is simply mentioned, but does not yet enter the «scene». Probably, again, the most interesting things were left for the third novel.
Like the first book in the trilogy, «Stone of Farewell» is simply a pleasure to read. Ted Williams is definitely one of the best wordsmiths in his genre, so his novel is beautifully written, the world is carefully crafted, and the book creates a melancholy and lyrical mood. At the same time, there are battles and action, many events and new adventures, new characters and entire races are introduced.
Although Ted Williams uses the standard genre elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, and others, they take on a non-classical look, have non-standard appearance, motivation, and origin. For example, there are gnomes, but their name is different, and they look nothing like Tolkien’s. And the Sith are the closest to the elves, but there are also Norns, and there is something mixed with dark elves or someone else.
«Stone of Farewell» is a beautifully designed book. The style here is as restrained as in «The Dragonbone Chair», and the main color of the cover is blue instead of green.
I’d like to emphasize the beginning of the book, where we are briefly recounted the events of the first novel. Because even if you read it relatively recently, the events are still forgotten, and the characters fade from your memory. Especially when you read a lot.
And here we are conveniently reminded of what we have read, and it helps us immensely to immerse ourselves in the book from the first chapter. I don’t know if it was like this in the original or if it was an initiative of the «Apriori» publishing house itself, but I would really like to have such brief plot reminders in other large fantasy series. If I’m not mistaken, this was only in the «Eragon» series by Christopher Paolini and I’ve never seen it anywhere else, at least not by me.