Product Description

In Osten Ard, the evil of the Storm King covers the land and the country is riven by war. Nature, unbalanced by the tide of evil, slips into a permanent winter. Simon, once a kitchen boy, now a hero hiding in the troll stronghold of Yiquanuc, has prophetic dreams. Only he and his companions can save the land, but to do this he must embark on the second part of his quest ...to the Stone of Farewell.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #172313 in Books
• Published on: 1991-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 876 pages

Customer Reviews

Farewell boredom!
It is the second in a epic of four books, but there is a review at the front of the book giving an overview of the past novel. This book though was amazing to read, Tad Williams is a great writer and you lose time as he sends you through the travels of the characters. The prince who should be a king, commanding a hill, helping those in need, while his brother, the king, gets into even more trouble. Simon stays for a while in another world (almost). Trouble brews all around. It is a gripping tale and one that will leave you pleading for the next book.

Seminal sword and sorcery
The second book in the trilogy, the quest has now built up to breathtaking levels of unsuperable doom! This should be a standard text for would-be fantasy authors. It has everything, magic swords, dragons etc.etc., beautifully realised in 'a world gone mad' (tho' no elephants yet!). The pivotal character, Simon, starts off in the kitchens, as is only right, proper and traditional in these sagas but is soon caught up in a world threatening conspiracy which aims to ensure the return of the evil (and technically dead) Storm King, a vengeful, disembodied elf-prince. Williams' deft touch with ongoing cataclysm hurtles you through interesting quantities of weather and slaughter without letting the pace drop and spits you out breathless and hungry for the next instalment. The fact that this trilogy is barely portable is an advantage in my view, as it's so difficult to find books that last longer than a snack but don't get bogged down in 'on the three hundredth day of our quest we saw lots more grass and some mountains'. If this tale has a fault it is only that, in common with his other yarns, it takes a little while to warm up at the beginning, once its feet are under it, the actions never lets up. A superior example of its genre.

The masterpiece evolving!
The second part of this fantasy masterpiece never stops to surprise you!
It gives many many new acquaintances, a deeper plot than most stories can offer and so many ethnic and religious details, which give the story a deeper plausibility than most contemporary fantasy novels.

Williams' work is rapidly overtaking many other read fantasy series and climbing ever upwards on my top ten.