Derivative. Reminds me rather unfortunately of Christopher Golden's the Veil trilogy, and Terry Brooks' Landover series, neither of which I enjoyed.

Bear with my summation, so that I may explain the multitude of ways in which this book alternately irritated and bored me.

30-something Theo is lead singer in a garage band, contemplating changing his life as his girlfriend has a baby on the way. Except, of course, he's not going to change it tonight, despite generally disliking his bandmates; he's going to go home late without returning her calls and sneak in. Asshat. He discovers sneaking doesn't matter, as she's been bleeding out in the bathroom after a miscarriage. Although he tries to support her, she breaks up with him and her mom whisks her away. Its the first bud of sympathy I develop for him. He takes refuge with his mom, who is dying of cancer, and she states "I never loved you I should." The seedling of sympathy inches a little taller, and even sprouts a leaf. She dies, he goes through her things and discovers a mysterious safety deposit book holding a book written by his great uncle. 'Hey,' he thinks, 'I'll read it.' To his surprise, it's all about his uncle's adventures in Fairyland. Perhaps it's a fiction book.' Well, maybe it's worth something,' he thinks and keeps reading.

Meanwhile, he decides to sell mom's house, live off the proceeds and go find himself in a cabin in the woods. 'Good idea,' I think. 'Time to focus on some personal growth.' Then one night he gets really drunk at a bar, drives home (ass) and wakes up to discover Tinkerbell Applecore the sprite hanging out in his room. They start talking but are rudely interrupted by Big Body-snatching Evil knocking on the door (very polite Big Evil). Evil, of course, realizes the bathroom window is open, so heads there next. Dumbass opens the door to the bathroom to verify Big Evil has indeed entered the house, thus forcing Applecore to fight on his behalf because he's too stupid stunned to react. She opens a door to Fairyland, he goes through it and pulls her with, spoiling her intentions about where they would land in Fairyland.

Part two: Fairyland. Every trope you've ever read. First we had the trash-talking-adorable-Tinkerbell stereotype (which might have been funny the first time someone thought of it twenty years ago), followed by the I'm-not-the-one-to-answer-questions trope, which leads to the take-action-before-you-understand-consequences device. Action starts off with the faceless-band-of-thugs-chasing-me contrivance, which continues the no-time-for-questions ruse. Then there's the mysterious/sexy-stranger-saves-me-on-the-train device (the only acceptable example of this is in North by Northwest), a beautiful goth-looking chick that you just know is destined for him after a misunderstanding, just to round out the tropey-tropes.

Character-wise, Theo remains an ass. Despite being told early on that his saying, "Jesus Christ" all the time is physically offensive to the fae (causes them pain), and despite not having a shred of evidence as to his Christianess, every other exclamation is some version of "Jesus," or even "goddamn." Applecore tells him about ten times, but he still doesn't listen. As I said, an ass. Meanwhile, all this time he's carrying around his uncle's little guide to fairyland travelogue, but he doesn't bother to open it because he's too frustrated and tired of not understanding anything (!?!). He gets the hots for the fairy on the train and gets pissy with Applecore for ruining his chances, despite earlier suspicion and dis of nearly every creature in Fairyland--especially the ugly ones. He's so sure a ogre is hitting on him that he thinks he's being kind when he says that he doesn't her type when she was just trying to be nice. Any sympathy generated in his rough beginning is soundly stomped into dust by this time. Applecore says it best when she says, "hey, if I wasn't working for the good guys, I would consider joining the bad side after meeting you."

Plot and characterization aside, how was it? Well, it rather picked up around page 300 or so when it stopped focusing so much on the whiny lead and started focusing on the plot, when a small alliance of fairy houses makes a bid to take control of the fae world and ours. Then it goes into some oddness about the goblin revolution, and suddenly the tone is quite serious. I might have kind of d that part if I didn't have to read about Theo, who suddenly looks inside and discovers a heart that grows three sizes at the end.

Overall: Quite possibly beyond redemption, except for one or two phrases and the singularly interesting idea of a 'goblin's tale'--it will always have a hole in it.

Much this one.



Cross posted at: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...fantasy urban-fantasy yuck69 s Paul Weiss1,334 372

“We are none of us promised anything but the last breath we take”

THE WAR OF THE FLOWERS is a member of the rare breed of current novels in 21st century literature, a stand-alone fantasy. As novels within the fantasy genre go, much of Tad Williams’ novel is not a surprise – a magical portal to another world; an allegory representing good vs evil in one of its many forms; and romance, love, hate, courage, fear, strength, friendship, lust, greed, among a lengthy list of other feelings. But his pick of racism and xenophobia as the specific evil theme of choice to be pilloried and his use of goblins as the beleaguered “race” subject to slavery and the bigotry exhibited by the upper crust power elite in the world of Faerie was perfect. Modern readers will find these themes particularly relevant, timely, and appropriate in the aftermath of Trump’s presidency and the decline of democracy under McConnell’s grip on the US Republican party. His metaphors within the over-arching allegory even included weapons of mass destruction (dragons) and failure of infrastructure (loss of the entire world’s power grid) in a world war that provides the possibility of ending with no winners at all.

Some readers may criticize THE WAR OF THE FLOWERS as being wordy and excessively rambling, (and, frankly, I’m inclined to agree) but nobody will disagree with his take on the corruption exerted by power, privilege, wealth and influence. Well done, Mr Williams. Definitely recommended.

Paul Weissfantasy urban-fantasy27 s Jimmy154 622

The adult fairytale I didn't know I needed. I wish there were more standalone novels that were this deep and we'll executed. I think this book will stay in my head for years to come.26 s Nicky4,138 1,074

I read this book a long time ago -- it was the first book by Tad Williams that I read -- but never wrote a proper review for it. Both times I've read it I ate it up in about two days. The writing was pretty good -- or it tasted good, anyway, from a synaesthete's point of view -- and the plot was interesting enough to draw me on and make me read it in great big chunks. There was something unmemorable about it, though. I have a pretty good memory, my dad, and my dad is one of those guys who can tell you what happened in an obscure episode of the old series of Doctor Who that hardly anyone even remembers seeing. But I just didn't really remember what happened in this book, so reading it again was actually mostly discovering things all over again.

One of the things I a lot about the book is that it isn't some great multi-volume epic with hundreds of characters. You stay focused on one main character throughout and don't go off on too many tangents. Speculative fiction seems to, by default, come in trilogies, which drives me a little mad when I want a relatively simple/quick read. Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a pitfall, too. The War of the Flowers is pretty dense, and the main character, Theo Vilmos, is a bit slow and a bit of a jerk. He seems to sort of mean well, but he keeps saying and doing the wrong things.

There are some pretty awesome supporting characters -- particularly Applecore, who is a little sprite with a foul mouth and a temper and, despite an odd soft spot for Theo, she calls him on his behaviour a lot. There's a lot of other interesting characters, both good and bad, although some of them are more concepts than fully realised characters -- for example, the Terrible Child.

There is also a lot of world-building packed into the book. Because parts of it rely on political machinations, there's a lot of social/historical background packed in. It's also complicated by the fact that Williams uses the old stories about Faerie, but his Faerie society is what we would consider to be more advanced: out of the medieval era into the world of "electricity", etc. I d the world he built quite a lot, although the obvious parallels with our modern world were somewhat intrusive. I don't know how much it was intended to be a commentary on our world, but some parts felt rather pointed.

Overall, I think it could have been a shorter, slicker read, but I kind of d the slow build. I'd say it's just good summer holiday reading, but I know the first time I read it I read in the gaps between classes and so on, so it's not something you can only stand if you settle down with it in the evenings or whatever. Depends how you read, I guess.fairytales fantasy15 s BenAuthor 6 books435

What a sweet, wonderful book. I loved it. The plot moves right along, the characters are endearing, and the world-building is fantastic. I've read a fair amount of Tad Williams now and this is my favorite.

Also, it sounds funny to describe an 800-page door-stopper as concise and tight, but in a world where most fantasy comes in series form, it was refreshing to read a one-and-done novel with a beginning and a middle and an ending, all in one book.

Highly recommend.9 s Ahdam60 15

WOW this was a good one

I've only read 2 of his books but Tad Williams is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors I'm amazed how he can make the world in his books so magical and breath taking, it just amazes me what he can do and I haven't read many books about fairies but this one really sets the bar for fairy related books for me. With a great story, an amazing world and some great characters (Applecore is officially on my favourite female characters list)

However, what stops this from getting a 5 is the main character now he isn't unable or a horrible person, he just wasn't strong enough for me Theo to me felt an outsider or an onlooker to event and while it fits the story, I really struggled to feel something for him because he didn't really show much progression in character apart from the beginning and the end and it honestly wasn't enough for me and I was waiting to see if he would improve but not by much yeah that was a bummer.

Other than that I enjoyed this book and despite the small hitch I still love this magical world Williams created and I'm excited to read more from him.ahdams-fantasy-journal9 s Julia Sarene1,425 171

It did take me quite a while to get into this book. I bought it because I've heard Tad Williams reading from it, and fell completely in love with that part. When I finally had the book in my hands, it started off a bit slow for my taste, but I kept going, waiting for that great scene I've heard before.

Before I noticed it, he got me hooked after all! This story has such extremely funny parts that I shed some tears while reading... If you fantasy, that isn't action from the first page, and strange humor, I can only recommend this one wholeheartedly!fantasy-all-subgenres fantasy-epic-or-high favorites8 s PetrosAuthor 1 book163

What a boring read this one was. For the number of pages it had, there was close to nothing going on in it. 80% of it is literally world-building, which does not count as plot.

Was it good world-building? Hell no, they were just talking about it instead of organically integrating it into the plot. Most of that 80% I mentioned above is the characters talking about what is going on in the setting, instead of showing it to us.

Was at least the setting interesting? Nope! Despite the hundreds of characters and the dozens of factions, you are given no reason to care about any of them. Why? Because you are just told what or who they are instead of seeing them doing something interesting in the plot.

Whatever plot there is left, it suffers from serious tonal whiplashes. One moment it’s silly a fairy tale, the immediate next it’s grimdark. There is no proper transition and comes off as cringy instead of variable.

Not even the main characters are interesting. One is a 30 year old dude who is acting a complete jerk all the time, and the other is a Tinkerbell-wannabe acting sassy and bossy all the time. Most of their interactions come down to bickering and teasing, usually sexual in nature. When they are not doing that, they are just infodumping the setting in the most dull way imaginable.

By the way, there is a war going on, as the title of the book implies. There are also corpse-possessing slug monsters. There is also a dragon and an elf king and a bunch of goblins. And none of that matter because you are wasting your time, in reading hundreds of pages about a jerk, bickering with a bitch, while explaining the magical realm, instead of seeing them going through cool adventures. Plain insufferable. 7 s Tim Martin783 46

_The War of the Flowers_ by Tad Williams was a very enjoyable stand-alone fantasy novel. Though long, I found it a fast read; it could have easily been much longer, or part of a series, and I still would have very ly enjoyed it, though I do admit one of the things that attracted me to the book was the fact that it was a stand-alone novel. Too often I have gone to the bookstore, seen some promising looking fantasy novel, perhaps the name of a certain author or some particularly pleasing cover art catching my eye, and found that instead it was volume such-and-such of this or that cycle, either forcing me to find the previous volumes in the series if I wanted to read that novel, or more ly meaning I won't read the book at all. Also, I do tend to get weary of never ending fantasy series, as there is something to be said for a story that wraps up in a simple trilogy or even a single volume. Though I would very much enjoy the author revisiting this setting and these characters, the story does neatly wrap at the end with little in the way of loose ends.

The other thing about this book that caught my attention was the fact that the novel involved the realm of Faerie, telling of the visit of a mortal human, a semi-employed garage band musician named Theo Vilmos. Theo finds his destiny in another dimension, one of sprites, pixies, goblins, ogres, brownies, and many other types of faerie. Similar in some ways to Greg Bear's excellent _Songs of Earth and Power_, the Faerie realm in this book has a great many more variety of denizens, a much larger population overall, and its politics and culture in many ways is an odd, shadowy version of our own world, albeit with many twists. Both novels feature fantastic realms dominated by beautiful, elven- (in the Tolkien sense) beings, often haughty, cold, and capable of small kindness or great evil.

I found the book quite enjoyable for many reasons. I books that explore the reactions of people from our world to exotic realms. I also enjoy books on the Faerie, a topic that doesn't get explored nearly enough in fantasy fiction I think. I also d several of the characters in the book, particularly one of the very first faerie we meet, a scrappy, brave sprite by the name of Applecore, though others were quite interesting. Williams did some great world-building in this book, as his realm of Faerie is filled with many wonderful details that help it come to life.

I have very few complaints about the book. The only one that really comes to mind is that the first part of the novel, before Theo gets to the realm of the faeries, is very depressing, as Theo has two terrible tragedies happen to loved ones. If you can make it past that, you have a great read in store.faerie fantasy reviewed6 s William BentrimAuthor 59 books69

The War of The Flowers by Tad Williams

This is a unique perspective on a Faerie that sadly emulates or mirrors our own society.

You can depend on Tad Williams for both a good story and a skewed perception of normalcy. Normalcy in regards to how we see and perceive the land of Faerie is one of the lynch pins of the plot. Williams provided a story whose protagonist wasn’t the classic anti-hero but more of a wimpy hero.

Theo had it all, good looks, great voice and loads of potential that he totally ignored. Characterized by a wealth of self pity, Theo was not particularly able. His involvement in the political turmoil of a very foreign world forces him into self evaluation and possibly even moral fiber growth.

Williams provides a digital view of a strange world. By digital, I simply mean his detailing is superb. You can almost smell the organic aroma of natural technology, the ozone of sentient power tickles the nose and the vistas of difference stun the eye. The author gives tons of detail but that simply provides the structure to let the imagination run amok.

Tad Williams also drives home multiple messages in this book. Exploitation of the masses for the benefit of the few is, in my mind, a perfect mirror of our current self centered politicians refusing compromise in order to benefit their own agenda. Of course practically any third world dictatorship also supplies a similarity of outlook to Hellbore, the main villain.

Intolerance and exploitation are clear in this book and the devastating impact those twin sins visit upon a society is made abundantly clear. Lots of messages in this book to anyone who wants to see them.

This is an excellent book that was darn difficult to put down and at over 800 pages I just couldn’t finish it in one sitting.

I highly recommend it
6 s Masha ToitAuthor 16 books41

What if Faery had an industrial revolution? Class warfare - and an energy crisis?

Theo Vilmos is a musician, a bit of a loser, passively drifting through life and apt to blame others for his troubles. Tad Williams takes this unly hero and places him in the middle of a developing crisis between our world and Faery.

This is a dark book, filled with vivid and strange places: the Faery realm is a warped reflection of our world. There are trains, but they don't work quite they do in our world, the time-table being dependent on the weather and the phases of the moon. Guards carry semi-automatic weapons that shoot metallic hornets, and magic gloves to scan your access card. One of the central events in the story is an eery echo of the 9/11 attack although Tad Williams claims he had it planned out some years before that attack.

Faery is ruled by the "Flower Families", the aristocrats of the Faery world, who are divided between the "choke-weeds" who want to destroy humanity and the "creepers" who would prefer a less violent solution. Theo is caught in a power struggle between these families and spends much of the book just trying to survive and make sense of his surroundings.

I loved the characters: Theo is a most un-heroic hero, just on the edge of being too self-pitying for my liking. Then there is Applecore, a foul-mouthed female sprite. Also the earnest Cumber Sedge, a lower class fairy who aspires to be a scientist. Mud Button, a sort of Goblin Ghandi, or maybe a Goblin Jesus would be closer to the truth. Also many interesting ideas, particularly the one that "A Goblin Story always has a hole in the middle".

The kind of fantasy book I , that shows me fascinating places and asks interesting questions that touch on the problems of our own world.




6 s Connie JaspersonAuthor 18 books34

Today I am revisiting one of my favorite books of the last twenty years, The War of the Flowers by +Tad Williams. Originally published in 2003, I first bought this book the day it was released as a paperback. I've often said I will always buy a book for its cover, and I d the art so much that I bought the book despite the rather lackluster blurb. The REAL reason I bought this book—Tad Williams has an incredible ability to write a tale that grips the reader and drags them in, blurring the lines between the real and the imagined with his trademark virtuosity.

The Blurb:
Theo Vilmos' life is about to take a real turn for the worse.
He is drawn from his home in Northern California into the parallel world of Faerie, for, unknown to him, he is a pivotal figure in a war between certain of Faerie's powerful lords and the rest of the strange creatures who live in this exotic realm.

My review:
This is a REAL fairy tale. Theo Vilmos doesn't know it, but he is a changeling. Switched at birth, he suffers from a disconnection from the world of Northern California, always feeling as he lived somehow outside of the rest of society. He is a rock musician, and pours his heart into his music.

His life has somewhat gone to hell, and at the age of thirty he's a washed up rocker reduced to playing with a bunch of young wanabes. His mother (or the woman he'd believed was his mother) is dead, his unborn child has died and his girlfriend blames him for child's death.

After his mother's death, Theo discovers a book written by his great-uncle, Eamonn Albert Dowd, among his inheritance. Theo's imagination is fired by the book. He assumes the book is a work of fiction as it describes a character who travels the world and eventually discovers an ancient passage into another world full of fairies and other mythical creatures. He quickly discovers the true nature of his uncle's book as he is rescued from the clutches of an ancient disease-spirit known as an irrha by a small fairy named Applecore.

The World of Faerie is not such a pretty place either. The very rich use the very poor in the most literal sense of the word, with no compassion and no regrets. The powerful houses have long been at war and all of the magic creatures are caught up in it. Fairie suffers from all the blight of the mortal urban world, and then some. Fairies come in a range of humanoid and nonhumanoid forms. The more powerful fairies look extremely beautiful humans with elvish features and, un fairy commoners, lack wings.

These members of the noble houses are known as Flowers and are divided into several influential families, each named after a different type of flower.

Seven great family houses rule over the rest of the houses: Thornapple, Hellebore, Violet, Lily, Daffodil, Hollyhock and Primrose, but the Violets are now extinct, having been wiped out by an alliance of the other six great houses in the last War of the Flowers. Other prominent families include Daisy and Foxglove. The families are divided into three factions, those who believe that the fairies should coexist with humans, called Creepers, those who believe that humans should be eradicated, called Chokeweeds, and those who are uncertain what to do, called Coextensives.

Passage between the worlds is restricted by the Clover Effect. Each person, human or fairy, has one exemption from the effect; in other words they can only travel once to the other world and then back to their own.

Theo Vilmos is a great character—slightly flawed and rather naïve for a man of 30 years of age. He makes many friends and enemies in a very short space of time. He does stupid things and regrets them. Still, we find ourselves rooting for Theo, and enjoying the ride.

Applecore is a wonderful character. For such a tiny creature, she is full of fire and passion, loyal to a fault and is my favorite character in this tale. She's a gutsy, gritty heroine who also has her flaws.

In The War of the Flowers Tad Williams created a Faerie Land un anything you ever read. It’s Faerie on steroids, urban, dirty and nothing is what it seems. This book doesn't get the sort of attention it deserves, in my opinion. The War of the Flowers is the sort of book that people will read twice— I've read it 3 times myself.

So far as I've been able to find, this book is not available for the Kindle, but it is available in paperback. I know +Tad Williams is NOT an indie, but stretch your wings, readers. Go mainstream for a moment and enjoy the journey! This is the sort of writing with the plot development and world building we indies aspire to. Williams is a master, and it is a nearly physical pleasure to sink into a corner of the sofa with one of his books in hand, and ignore the real world for the day.
5 s Helen422 99

It's slow, boring and more than a little bit depressing, but the worst thing about it is main character, Theo. He whines his way through the entire book and gives not a single care about the people around him.

I really disd him and I can't understand Poppy falling for him. He thinks about her she's a spoiled rich kid, and he treats her that way too. Despite not giving a damn about other people himself he condemns Poppy because without getting to know her he decides that she is that too. But to be fair Poppy seems to be there only to give Theo a bit of escape from the grinding depression of the rest of the story. She is an extraneous addition to the actual story, only popping up now and again to help Theo show his "kind side".

If fact, all the women are present only to have things happen to them in order to motivate the male characters. Theo's mother, his girlfriend cat, Applecore, Eamonn Dowds girlfriend, they all suffer terrible things so that the men in the story have reasons to act.

The story itself moves super slow and consists of 600 pages of Theo thinking "I'm stuck in a world that could kill you at any moment and I know nothing about it" and talking about how he's a super awesome amazing musician / singer.

Fairyland is not a happy place to be. There are six ruling families with all the power and the money, and the rest of the population are treated as slaves to be used up until they die. The ruling families are fighting amongst themselves and Theo is stuck in the middle running from something trying to kill him with nowhere to go, no idea why he's been chased, and no one he can trust to help him.

It feels hopeless from the start, Theo does not find anything out, no one will tell him anything. Almost all the characters Theo talks to - "I'm not the one to tell you about this". But Theo doesn't really try very hard, and he's slow to pick up on things when the clues are laid out in front of him. The Clover Effect is mentioned 50 times through the book, Theo never asks what it is! It's frustrating to read.

Overall it's just boring and slow. In fact, Theo saves the world by thinking!

Why did I keep reading? Well, I'm not sure, but at one point dragons showed up and it got interesting for about a minute. Also, Poppy is kinda cool, I was hoping she might get to do something. If the story had been told from her point of view, it could have been good.

Recommended if: you're too happy and want some relentless grinding depression to bring you down a bit.depressing fairy-tales fantasy ...more5 s Althea Ann2,240 1,121

I thought War of the Flowers was lame for the first chapter or so (which deals with a loser rock-&-roll musician first dealing with his girlfriend having a miscarriage, then his mother ill and dying...), then I changed my mind - once Faerie came into the picture, and William's quirky world-building skills were given the chance to shine... A remarkable picture of a glamorous yet corrupt land, where, in imitation of humanity, fairies cut off their own wings, enslave one another, and will do anything in the pursuit of power... much our own land. Constantly on the run from terrifying monsters and any number of plotting and amoral lords of the land, Theo Vilmos must find his true identity and a place for himself.... 5 s Vivone Os627 22

Zadovoljna sam s ovom knjigom. Nisam znala što da o?ekujem i nisam uop?e pro?itala o ?emu se radi vjeruju?i da ?e Williams i ovaj put napisati dobru pri?u. U potpunosti je druga?ija od serijala koje sam dosad pro?itala (Sje?anje, tuga i trn te Sjenovita me?a). Jedna od glavnih premisa je putovanje iz svijeta smrtnika (našeg svijeta) u vilinski, a to me podsjetilo na Kayevu Fionavarsku tapiseriju. Ali sli?nost tu prestaje.
Iznenadila sam se što je standalone jer je pri?a toliko zanimljivo kompleksna da mi ne bi smetalo i da ima nastavke. Theo je pomalo luzer, bavi s glazbom, ali nekako nigdje ne dospjeva u životu. Zareda mu se nekoliko teških i bolnih životnih situacija i povrh svega još biva šokantno preba?en u Vilinski svijet koji nije ni blizu našim predodžbama o svijetu iz bajke. Vilinskim svijetom vlada sedam Cvjetnih vilinskih ku?a, koje valjda sve imaju neku svoju ra?unicu kako ga se domo?i i iskoristiti ga. A zašto ga svi traže i što žele s njim, to i Theo i mi saznajemo tek u drugoj polovici knjige.
Sam Theo mi se nije posebno svidio, u po?etku gubitnik, beski?menjak, cendrava kukavica koja se stalno samosažaljeva. Kroz pri?u se polako razvija, ali do samog kraja ostajemo u neizvjesnosti ho?e li donijeti ispravne odluke. Na svom putovanju kroz opasni svijet vila Theo susre?e razli?ite osebujne, ponekad i strašne likove (koje je Williams posudio ve?inom iz irskih legendi). Vilenica Jabu?nica mi se jako svidjela, oštra na jeziku, ali i prva kad treba prisko?iti u pomo?, vodi? je Theu kroz zamršene obi?aje, povijest i politiku Vilinskog svijeta. Srce od minijaturne žene.
Ideje koje je Williams iznio u knjizi su mi bile zanimljive, iako definitivno smatram da bi bilo dobro da je bilo još bar dva nastavka jer je zaista natrpao svega i sva?ega, magija koja je vilenja?ka „znanost“, elektrika u vilinskom svijetu, politi?ki ustroj, mnogi obi?aji koje bi bilo dobro više razviti kroz pri?u. Razne spodobe koje se pojave u dva poglavlja, a zaslužuju ve?i dio pri?e. Jedno vrijeme su Theo i Jabu?nica samo mijenjali prijevozna sredstva u bijegu pa smo tu brzinski dobili nekoliko informacija i ne baš jasnih objašnjenja o predjelima kroz koje su putovali.
S obzirom da sam ?itala na hrvatskom bilo mi je teško popratiti imena Cvjetnih lordova i ?lanova njihovih obitelji. Kukurijek, Kužnjak Ljiljan, Ljubi?ica, Zelenkada, Glog, Sljez... za neke od tih cvjetova nisam nikad ni ?ula i trebalo mi je pola knjige da pohvatam tko je tko.
Neke su mi stvari ostale nerazjašnjene, recimo Dowd i Odstranjiva? te oni Šupljikavci, kralji i kraljica te tko je letio na zmaju. Osim toga su mi nedostajale perspektive drugih likova. Ve?inom pratimo Thea, a uporedo s njegovim pustolovinama doga?aju se i neke druge stvari važne za pri?u o kojima saznajemo tek kasnije ili eventualno usput preko „vilinskog TVa“. Malo nezgrapno.
Pri?a je zaista imala puno potencijala i zaista je slojevita i zanimljiva, ali definitivno je trebala još puno stranica da bi sve lijepo i jasno sjelo na mjesto.

Buddy Readathon sa Zdravkom – 7
Kumski Book Club 2023 – 5
Orilium Adventure – Brew a Potion of Sleepless Night: read when it's darkbuddy-readathon-with-zdravko globalni-ciljevi-sf-fantasy kumski-book-club-2023 ...more4 s Anne PettyAuthor 10 books21

Every now and then I love to sink my teeth into an epic fantasy of many pages that will sweep me off to somewhere that temporarily seems more real than the world I live in. I read Tad Williams’ Tailchaser’s Song years ago and have dipped in and out of his monumental Otherland series, so I expected to enjoy this standalone novel (kind of rare in fantasy publishing these days)and wasn’t disappointed.

Let me just say, I was not prepared for this vision of fairyland—-as Dorothy Parker reputedly exclaimed, “What fresh hell is this?” There is a term some reviewer applied to The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick that fits here as well: cyberpunk meets faerie, producing fairypunk. Massive factional intrigue, raging battles with B-25 dragons, constant danger that never lets you relax, and two of the most memorable characters I’ve encountered in years make this book a genuinely satisfying (if terrifying) escape into another world. The human Theo and the sprite Applecore are just about as good as it gets for well-developed, fully rounded characters, and I loved being in their company for the whole roller-coaster ride of the plot.

I also loved the twisted, inside-out perspective on global fairy tales and magical lore. Nothing is sacred in Applecore’s estimation, and her wry take on just about every trope fantasy stories are built on keeps readers and Theo continually off balance. One person’s science is another person’s magic, and vice versa. I laughed and shivered at the same time. The nobility of the goblin Button at the climax is as heartrending as a Greek tragedy.
4 s Spens (Sphynx Reads)592 29

This is my first Tad Williams book and will probably be my last. I just never really vibed with his writing style and I would have DNFed this book pretty early on if I hadn't been buddy reading it. Still, I d the story somewhat despite it being criminally too long. The heartwarming ending was also the main reason this book was redeemed from my previously 2/2.5-star rating.2022-reads fantasy3 s Philip Grace20 1 followerRead

Ever wonder how the Fairy world was impacted by the Industrial Revolution? Well, they also had an Industrial Revolution...
That's not a spoiler; that's just the world-generating premise. I found the invented cultures, imagery, and even plot (normally the least of my concerns) to be innovative and compelling.
Also, plus ten points for a deeply chilling allusion to Goodnight Moon. 3 s Tristan Rambarran9

I never read one of tad Williams books before, but I guess I was getting a little burnt out on Sci fi and had a big fantasy itch that needed scratching; and this book was the perfect back scratcher. the world building here is unbelievable , the rules and "science " of fairy remains both deeply fascinating as well as consistent even till the very end; the world also has a deep dark history despite being stand alone, and along with the chaotic flower politics and strife of the common folk, it creates a environment that feels lived in and is slowly losing its own magical identity and is becoming more brutal and utilitarian . the characters, who admittedly do take time getting used to, end up being deep with engaging arcs up to its explosive climax and happily ever after. if I were to give some criticisms, Theodore Vilmos seems a bit to whiny throughout a lot of the novel, that is until the end where he does finally become more heroic and less self centered. that and this is a very depressing and mean spirited novel at times, it might be a bit of a turn off for a lot of people. Edit: also in retrospect, the romance between vilmos and this fairy lady, it's terrible. Actually, nearly every female character in this book acts a bipolar sociopath towards him, his girlfriend i get, but Applecore and the other main chick?

Nope, it basically just boiled down to: "Theo, you're an asshole for not returning her affection even though you just met this lady and I am also the one who his forcing you tell her to nicely to piss off because i dont trust her and our adventure even if she could be trusted could probably kill her. But....you're still an asshole, for letting her rest her head on your shoulder and get comfy with you and not saying anything which ended us in this awkward situation even if you didn't say or do anything to make her cozy up to you and she was just being frisky in her intoxicated mind and therefore you didn't really exploit her at all. Also you're an asshole all other men because you use what you dont say against women in a game of mental gymnastics, yeah so you're screwed if you do say anything and screwed if you don't because women expect you know exactly what you have to say to them 100 percent of the time to make them feel special or happy and have near psychic emotional clairvoyance i guess. Aren't double standards fun?". And if you think i'm being harsh, i read this to my mom and even she had no idea what these insane women want from Theo. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would to see what Tad has to offer next.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review3 s Caitlin448 12

The War of the Flowers follows Theo Vilmos on his life changing experience, leaving the world he’s always known and going to the world of Faerie. Theo is thrown into a world he’s unprepared for, meeting things he never imagined were real, and becomes entangled in a political battle between the upper Faerie families.

The War of the Flowers is one of those really rare standalone fantasy novels. I can count only a handful of standalone fantasy novels that I’ve read, which is unfortunate because generally I’ve enjoyed all of them I’ve read. The War of the Flowers is no different, and is well worth the read if you’re looking for something that you can get sucked in to without committing to ten to fourteen other books.

Despite being a standalone novel though, The War of the Flowers still manages to have everything you would expect for a gigantic fantasy series. The world building is brilliant, mixing a touch of urban fantasy with a fantastical land. The sheer amount of different fantastical creatures that are found within the book is amazing too. The characters are all well thought out, well developed characters. Theo experiences the most character development throughout the book, but the stand out character is really Applecore. If you’re a fan of sassy, brilliant characters, you’ll love her.

The political intrigue and societal differences within the world of Faerie is fascinating too. I’m always a fan of politics in fantasy settings, and The War of the Flowers really pulled me in. The high society environment mixing with the lower faeries is reminiscent of ours, and Theo’s, world, and the comparisons were fantastic. Getting to see Faerie through Theo’s eyes was a fantastic experience, allowing the world building to be built gradually, and for us to see Faerie society as he does.

The War of the Flowers is one of those books that I want to recommend to every fantasy reader, it’s just a beautiful, well written book, that is hard to put down. It’s a beast of a book, but worth every page. The writing evokes that nostalgia from older traditional fantasy, while standing on its own and being its very definitive own world and experience. Tad Williams is one of those authors I never hear enough about, but everyone should read, and The War of the Flowers is an excellent place to start. 3 s Dhuaine195 27

A 30-year-old good-for-nothing musician finds his uncle's diary and gets sucked into fairytale world where all sorts of magical creatures are real and flower-named elves wage war with each other... err, something that anyway.
Doesn't sound good.

I actually don't remember why I bought this book. It doesn't sound my type of thing. Someone must have recommended it; but then, I remember one of my friends saying that it took her a year to finish this book. Tad Williams is the only author whose book I couldn't read in one chunk, had to leave it for two months, but actually came back and finished it, so I took the risk with this one.

It starts fairly nice. Unfortunately, once the tension dropped, I found myself stuck around 50th page. I was slogging through diary-reading and later through lengthy descriptions of Faerie. There were occasional gems here and there (Williams writes nice horror snippets, I was amazed), but generally nothing significant happened in the first half of the book. The only thing that kept me reading was the humor. Main character has a surprisingly nice sense of humor and it was really enjoyable to follow his narrative.
The climax is great though. I didn't expect something so... creepy? Williams is certainly amazing with words, I could imagine the scenes in perfect detail. The resolution is somewhat random, but not that jarring. I could do without the epilogue though.

All in all, the world and its fairytale-ish qualities is well-drawn and pleasant to experience. I didn't mind its similarities to our world. There were some interesting (and dark) twists, mainly regarding characters' personalities. The main plot line is rather simple though, and many threads were gravely underdeveloped. Many things get referenced only to stay as mere references, which is rather annoying in a novel that long. This book is simply too wordy while not much happens.

I've seen some people complain about swearing in this book. I haven't noticed anything that - quite the contrary, there are traces of serious censoring in Polish translation, which is awful by the way. And sprinkled with tons and tons of typos. Polish readers - do yourselves a favor and get the original. Polish version is horrible.fantasy other-fantasy3 s Jeffery MoultonAuthor 2 books25

The War of the Flowers was a frustrating book for me. I read it after finishing Tad Williams' amazing Otherland series and, in many ways I was not disappointed. The world in War is rich, detailed, and fascinating. The character motivations feel real and are not rushed, and the descriptions were incredible. Honestly, the only thing I didn't was the main character, who whined way too much and was thoroughly unable.

War takes Theo, a musician in our world, and sends him to that mysterious land where fairies are real and have created a world that is eerily similar to our own and yet dissimilar all at the same time. The world of Fairy has cars and phones and even computers, but they run on something different than electricity: They run on magic.

But fairies has a problem: Magic only works as long as mankind believes. With belief waning in the modern world, the world of Fairy is suffering power outages and political infighting.

To reveal much more would be to give away a very intricate plot and fascinating world. Both of those things make the book more than worth reading.

At the same time, the book has a big problem: the main character. As a protagonist, Theo is thoroughly unable. He is whiny and incompetent. As a reader you want to strangle him and almost root for him be devoured by some nasty creature along the way.

Other than that, the book is amazing and the world in the book is so fascinating that it is possible to overlook the main character.dark-fantasy3 s Debs354 16

I absolutely adored this book, it was delicious in every sense of the word, and I couldn't wait to get home from work each day to spend time with it. Though I found it a bit slow at the beginning, the pace picked up quickly, and I finished it in a few days because I *had* to know what was going to happen next.

I d the fact that the Faerie World wasn't typically Fairy-Fantasy (all pixie dust and light), but had a huge undercurrent the dystopian and political, and drawing on issues that have plagued us for some time. It was an incredibly complete, textured and vivid world, which impressed me because that's more common in long, ongoing series. Speaking of which, though I'm sad there isn't another book, I am very glad that this is a stand alone book because I didn't have to fight through thousands of pages to come to a resolution, which made this book all the more satisfying.

Loved the characters, the twists, and pretty much the entire thing. Who'd have thought Flowers could get so violent?2008 from-borrowed genre-fantasy3 s Joshua PalmatierAuthor 50 books139

I felt that this book was a good read, but had a few parts that were a little too slow. It took me a while to get through the first 300 pages or so, simply because what occurs at first is rather grim, followed by a section once the main character travels to Faerie that just needed faster pacing. However, once the dragon arrives on the scene the pace picked up tremendously. The second half of the book is much better by far, with some rather cool and interesting ideas (which I don't want to spoil). An interesting and different take on Faerie, with some rather horrible touches, such as where the power the Faerie use comes from.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to other fantasy readers, but would also say that Tad Williams has a few other fantasy books out there that are better, such as Dragonbone Chair and The Stone of Farewell.3 s Tuula11

I was a bit disappointed with this book. I've read Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn, which I loved - in part because of its skillful narrative, which I thought was nearly flawless. Unfortunately the same thing cannot be said about this book. The dialogue in particular was disturbingly contrived in places. It didn't exactly help that the protagonist, Theo, is such an idiot that after the first 100 pages or so I was already secretly hoping that someone would strangle him for me.



However, I quite d William's portrayal of the Faerie, and some of the more original ideas and characters. Those made it worthwhile to continue reading until the end.3 s Valjeanne JeffersAuthor 53 books98

Wonderful imagery and creation of a world just outside our own.3 s Tihana89 2

Right, here's my review, or rather my incoherent ramblings which I tried to sort into a somewhat coherent order!
Note: I will try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, so any descriptions of characters or events in the book will be taken out of the book's context as to not reveal any important plotlines.
There are two things I'd to mention before I actually delve into the review itself. First: for the last 2 or so years I haven't read anything except required reading for college classes so jumping into this as my first 'just-for-my-enjoyment' book was scary. The length was very intimidating (the Croatian translation in hardcover has around 660 pages or so), but the fact that I finished it in just a few days - even with all my college work stopping me from spending hours on end reading - should tell you that the narrative flowed smoothly and held my attention all the way till the end. So I give it bonus points for that. Second: I love Tad Williams' writing style and his books in general, so as much as I wish to be as objective as possible, I might unconsciously point out more positives than negatives and look past some smaller issues in the story. Just a little warning.
Now let's get into it.
I'm not good at summarizing plots because I have a tendency to accidentally spoil some parts, so you'll have to reach for the official blurb for this one yourself. That said, I can safely say that despite its size this book has not bored me ONCE - the beginning felt a little drawn out, but the action picks up fast and the small moments of apparent peace don't last long before the locomotive of events starts churning on once more. When it comes to the story itself, the characters' ambitions don't feel overly unrealistic and the way events play out seems logical, or at least most of the loose ends are resolved by the end of the book.
One of the negative sides of the book I've seen people point out is that the book is filled with overused tropes. I can understand why some people think that, but I will strongly disagree with that being considered a negative thing. Williams crafts his worlds masterfully and no amount of tropes can ruin that for me - even when "overused" tropes appear they don't bother me at all. They fit the world they reside in, it makes sense that they are there and that they exist in that environment. Plus, this book was released in 2003, and, sure, at that time some of those tropes were overused as well, but not nearly as much as when you read it in 2021, you know? I think it's important to keep in mind when a book was published and what kind of literature was prevalent at the time of its release. Or, let me be more clear on this - no, not all books need to have a factor of "timelessness" to be considered good. Let yourself enjoy some good old tropes. (Even now while I'm talking, or rather writing, about it I genuinely fail to realise which tropes in the book are so overused that it ruins the experience completely for some people - but that might be because I haven't read anything in so long).
Let me focus on some things that caught my attention (and earned my appreciation, in some cases) while I was reading:

The worldbuilding
As I've said before, Williams is a master when it comes to creating and building worlds. No matter which book of his I read, it always surprises me how thoroughly described and imagined they are - he simply KNOWS these worlds, he understands them on such a level that everything makes sense and fits into place, as if he's lived there for a very long time and is now telling us about these fantastical places we can only dream of. His worlds feel lived in - the geography, the population, the culture, history and politics are all so fleshed out and ALIVE. An interesting level of this is found in this book because the fairy world which our main character, Theo, finds himself in is somewhat mirroring our own, human, world (in positive, but also many many times in negative ways...). We as humans are used to our own world, nothing really contains much wonder when you think about it - because it's something we see all the time, because it's something we live through every day of our lives. So we imagine these far away places, different dimensions or planets, full of wonderful creatures and trinkets and nature - utopias. But let's have a hypothetical visitor who's seeing Earth for the first time, someone from some other, much different, world - even the smallest of things will be astonishing and interesting to this visitor. So, as much as we fail to realise this, this wonder goes both ways - much of our world is "magical" as well. Basing the fairy world as somewhat of a mirror image of our own was smart - because the things being mirrored weren't the animals or creatures or nature, the things being mirrored were social, political, industrial. It gives the world a special, in some instances heartbreaking (and eye-opening), twist. It turns this human idea of a fairy utopia right on its head and shatters all our positive expectations of a fantasy realm that are planted in our minds since childhood. Much of the world we encounter in this book is absolutely delightful and I would give anything to visit it, try some of the cuisines (minus the honeyed rats, thank you very much), try operating some odd machines (Guns that shoot out metallic bees? Trains that somehow arrive at different places every so often even though they use the same tracks? Sign me up!) and hang out with some of the characters. I absolutely loved all the different fantasy species introduced to us and Theo's unreliable (because truly some of them were hard to explain in a logical enough sense for a human to understand) descriptions gave them a special kind of oddity. It was nice to see some Slavic creatures appear, albeit briefly - I feel writers rarely use them as inspiration for their works so this was a pleasant surprise. The machinery, trinkets and gewgaws used were so interesting and imaginative, it was such a delight reading about them - and about the odd, and sometimes grotesque, eating, drinking and drug habits of the realm's inhabitants. But don't expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows because some things in this world disturbed me deeply - disturbed me because they were so reminiscent of the human world in their suffering and injustice.

Politics
All I'm going to say is that, yeah, the banter between the politicians in this story was as realistic as can be - lies, manipulation, throwing each other under the bus. Seems about right. A certain character really reminded me of a prominent Croatian politician in the most unflattering of ways :)

Characters
Don't expect Theo to be a heroic badass - you'll see from the first few pages of the book he really, really doesn't fit that role. Don't expect him to have the usual personality traits of a fantasy protagonist either. He's not particularly adaptable to the world he ends up in, nor is he overly compassionate or comforting, he's confused and angry and very much annoyed by everything that's happening and he WILL let it be known. You might get angry at him, as have I a few times, because of his slightly cold, dismissive and sometimes even vain attitude towards certain individuals. But he's very much human in that regard and he truly does realise that his behaviour is rude and disrespectful many times. I say this because a lot of us to imagine how we'd react in situations these - finding ourselves in a fantasy realm in the middle of a complicated unfolding story, having no idea what our place in this entire puzzle is nor why exactly we are the one that has any value in solving anything at all. The truth is, we would probably often react Theo did because, let's face it, the 'us' whose picture we have in our heads is in many ways only an idealized version of ourselves. So yes, he's not particularly wonderful to be around, but that makes the "experiencing the world through the protagonist's eyes" part all the more interesting. And he does get better by the end, he does show more appreciation and sympathy. He's not heartless or stone-cold. I especially appreciated it when he asked questions we all would WANT to ask if we were in his place, but would be too afraid to because they'd seem really, really dumb or illogical.
What pleasantly surprised me was the amount of very good side characters. I'm particularly fond of Cumber Sedge, Applecore, Irrha, Mud Button, Streedy... well, quite a few of them.
Cumber Sedge is just the kind of character I'd take a liking to. I have a type, I guess. A lower-class elf with big ambitions and a sensitive heart, he starts off shy and stumbling over his words and grows into someone I genuinely felt proud of. I felt true happiness and sadness for this character. You could say I have a soft spot for these quiet, hardworking types that carry heavy burdens invisible to others on their shoulders. I just wanna give him a hug, man. And a smooch on the forehead, for comfort.
Applecore is a sprite with a sharp tongue and even sharper vocabulary. She WILL let you know what she thinks of you, be assured of that. And Theo knows that better than anyone. She's also fierce and loyal and a wonderful companion to have. It was a joy to read her interactions with the main character.
All I can say about Mud Button is that he's something of a... Goblin Jesus, you could say, in my eyes? I really don't know any other way to describe him. A smart, mysterious and calm character. "A Goblin's story always has a hole in the middle." It truly does. God I love that quote.
Streedy, oh Streedy. Give this poor soul a hug. And don't let him near any kind of electricity ever again.
Irrha was an interesting part of the story, a looming threat that always crouched and waited in the back of my mind reminding me of its existence and making me wonder when it will jump out of the shadows once more to ruin the day. Genuinely really creepy and I don't say that about many villainous creatures in literature.
The Child was a bit underutilised in my opinion, I think there could've been more done with it. Really creepy though, ew ew ew.
Poppy is probably my least favourite of the side characters simply because her behaviour is so odd and changes so suddenly. I don't know.
There's a specific character that I wish was developed a bit more. A spider- entity, in the sense that his webs of manipulation and meddling reach far and affect many. But I don't know how much I can say without revealing some plot points or important characteristics. I wasn't expecting the reveal that concerns him, but at the same time I kind of wish the author did something more with him, or at least shaped his story in a different way.

The romance
I didn't it, it felt it was going much too fast or came out of the blue in every single instance. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because I'm just not a fan of romance in literature at all so I might just be nitpicking here. Although, I guess it did show how dangerous and truly awful someone can become if they let love consume them to the point when it turns self-destructive and honestly looks more obsession and insanity than anything else. At some point "I've done all of it out of love" can't be used as an excuse, is all I'll say.

The ending
I'm unsure how I feel about it. It somehow passed way too fast but also slowly? It's a weird feeling. I don't hate it, I don't even dis it. I just don't think I imagined it ending the way it did, I suppose.

Most of the things I wrote down are just my ramblings and once I post this I'll probably remember a hundred different things I wanted to say, but yeah. Overall I really enjoyed this. The fact that Tad Williams managed to build such a developed world and story and incorporate all of it into a standalone book is honestly amazing, I really applaud him on that. Many high fantasy standalones feel they lack development, so this was really refreshing to read because of the amount of work that clearly went into presenting this world to the reader. Sure, some might not the protagonist that much, but I think the side characters and the worldbuilding alone make it worth reading.2 s D.M. AlmondAuthor 7 books43

Tad Williams reeled me in from the first page. I'm pretty selective about my portal fantasy these days as most authors get it wrong, but this is an example of it being done perfect. There is so much here to unpack, such an interesting fae world with great history and mythos that when you finish you just wish there was more. Theo is nuanced and you meet some colorful characters along the way. however, i did think he missed the mark on a main character, a faerie. She could have been really interesting and he touches on it when you get to see her perspective, but she came off a little bit too 2 dimensional and tropey. That said, the whole rest of the book is a fun and thoroughly satisfying ride that should not be missed.2 s Denise6,886 124

Standalone fantasy of the "regular guy gets dropped into fantasy world and embroiled in power struggles and intrigue" variety. A lot of time is spent on the worldbuilding, which is enjoyable but nothing out of the ordinary. The pace dragged a bit at times, but picked up again soon enough to keep me from getting bored. On the whole an entertaining read, though I probably would have enjoyed it more had I read it in shorter installments rather then blowing through the entire brick in a couple of days.own read-20212 s Harley Gesford53 1 follower

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