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The Shadowmarch Sequence – Book IV
Tad Williams
Orbit (Little, Brown)
February 2011/ ISBN 184199234
Fantasy
Amazon
US
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
The prince of Southmarch, Barrick Eddon, has some hard decisions
to make. Following the momentous events in the last book, he isn’t
exactly a human any longer and must make the choice of where his
loyalties now lie. His father is being held captive and his sister,
Briony, and brother, Eneas, are determined to save him from the
hands of a madman. Meanwhile, their home of Southmarch is in the
hands of a certain relation…everybody has a lot of work cut
out for them in this fourth installment of the epic tale.
But at least they have plenty of space to do it in as you could
wedge a door open with this tubby tome. There is a fair bit going
on most of the time in this novel, and comparing it with the first
volume, I would say that this series has picked up its pace admirably.
Williams has set all his main characters tasks to do in an assortment
of locations, which means that if one story thread flags, there
is another one along in a moment. Expect some evocative writing
too, as this author has a rare way with words, especially when describing
a scene that is the next best (or worst) thing to actually being
present. He isn’t afraid to sacrifice characters, either,
but not to the extent that they become walk-ons before their place
is taken by another, which is often a flaw of authors who boldly
shed characters. In this fourth and final volume, some losses are
only fitting, and everybody does not go home. This was going to
be a trilogy, but in true Otherland
style, it ended up being longer. There has been a lot in this series,
whether there was enough to fill four huge books is perhaps up to
you to decide, but if you are still reading at this point, you have
presumably, like this reviewer, found plenty to entertain you.
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