The War of the Flowers / Tad Williams

The War of the Flowers

category: fantasy, author:

Tad Williams

published by Orbit,
original copyright 2003, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Lost of pages -- but good enough to keep on reading.

Although I did find it a bit of a slow start. That's because I don't go in for the personal angst introduction to a story... Not unless personal angst is the central theme of the story, anyway. And if it is -- I will probably not want to read the book at all.

This book is good fantasy. Once the good fantasy began -- the book improves.

The Faerie of The War of the Flowers is a good variation... with we-are-ruining-the-world overtones. Faerie has followed the mortal world into an industrial revolution, using magic rather than electricity as the industrial fuel. The care-for-the-environment message is there -- but it does not detract from the story.

The all-human-like-creatures-should-have-equal-rights message is also there, even more strongly. This is a standard theme of fantasy (and science fiction). The variety of magical creatures (or aliens) makes equality of thinking creatures a natural. Again, however, the theme does not overpower a good story.

Good characters, good character development, a good mix of action and wonder (that is, the new-to-the-reader world of Faerie), all adds up to a good book.

Overall, the best part of this book is the "modernisation" of the traditional Faerie. It is essential to the plot, there are some clever ideas and the power of magic is not overdone. I would have liked -- and I expected to see -- the hero's musical ability linked more closely and more often to the plot. The music was underplayed to the extent that its final power had a touch of deus ex machina.

Still... there is plenty of time for that. I guess... [pause] Well, that does surprise me! A quick Google and I find that there is, in fact, no sequel to The War of the Flowers!

The last few chapters of the book are clearly setting the scene for more adventures in "post-modern" Faerie... Don't worry, the last few chapters also nicely wrap up the plot and provide closure for key characters. Still... the potential for a sequel is clearly there.

Maybe it's still being written. Or planned. War is a big book, it could take a while to write another.

Meanwhile: read this book. Nothing fancy, but it's a book which provides a very enjoyable and quite long read.

..o0o..

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