Shadowrise by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series continues to be something of an enigma, but not in the usual sense of the word.

Sure, there's a number of great reveals in this volume that let us dive deeper and deeper into what the gods are and what they were and how they work. We understand the god's children, the Fae who are bursting out into this fantasy land and displacing or killing the lesser, or rather, quite equal humans.
There's even a great deal of good action and epic battles and tons of court intrigue and traveling on the road if hobnobbing with gods isn't your thing. It is my thing, however, and I count that part of the storytelling to be some of the most interesting. By far. Keyword STORYTELLING. Those of you who've read this will understand what I mean. It's quite beautiful how the gods and their lands work.

Dreams, imagination, passing on of immortality, the difficulty of children... all of it wraps up into something quite delicious.

And then there's the enigma.

How can something with such core awesomeness in an epic fantasy wind up having so many tedious passages? I'm sorry, but the book is too long. I might have said the same about the other two and by the look of things, the fourth is the worst.

Unfortunately, some storylines lost my interest. I might have perked up with the assassination attempts and the escapes and the times of good dialogue where reveals were being had, but the rest was full of sad tedium.

And yet I still rate this as a four star because on the whole, I love the story. That's the strength of Tad Williams and it's why I'm willing to slog a bit. It's worth it in the end. Especially this novel. The end was pretty fantastic and has me rearing to pick up the next. :)

But I shall wait a little. I need to recharge. :)

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