Books fantasy Movies Novel-Idea Post sci-fi Tad-Williams top-100-movies

The Novel Idea: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (Williams, Tad)

Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower Part 1 and 2. Ranked #54 on the Fantasy List
Dragonbone Chair I've noticed that a lot of the reviews that I have read on this series are very negative saying that this series is very boring and hard to "get in to". I have to strongly disagree. This series is an exciting story with memorable characters who are full of life, with an intricate storyline that keeps the reader engrossed in this exciting saga. If you don't like to read long epics, then this series is probably not for you. But if you love grand stories where the characters seem to come to life, this is a great series that you will not want to put down.

Summary

Click here, you know you want to see how it scored!

Overall Readability: 17 out of 20. I feel that this series (I read the whole series, aren't you proud of me!) is one of the best fantasy series that I have read in a long time. Seriously I love it when I can become completely engrossed in a book so that I don't even realize that I have been reading for hours. You know what I mean. When you are sitting up in bed reading and you look at the clock and now it’s 1 am and you have been reading for hours but it doesn't feel like it. Tad Williams just has a certain flow to his writing that makes it so easy to read and feel like you are right there with the characters in their journey. Story Quality: 18 out of 20. What can I say that I haven't said already? This story is complex. It's a great story that gets you tied into it so far that you need to keep reading to find out what happens next. I know that it's kind of vague, but it's just hard to put into words how much I enjoyed this story. It might bring a tear to my eye. Originality Quality: 13 out of 20. I think that this is going to be the toughest category. I mean, how much of fantasy can really be original? This series has all of the highlights of the fantasy genre: trolls, fairies, dragons, evil kings, evil wizards, learned scholars, elves. Oh, wait; there are no unicorns or griffins. So, I guess it gets a bonus point there. Or does it? Character Believability: 18 out of 20. I love these characters. I felt their pain and their joy. I completely enjoyed the ride with them and miss them now that the series is over. It makes me a little sad. Overall effect of novel: 17 out of 20. I really enjoyed this series. I don't think that it's the best fantasy novel ever but I feel that it was done an injustice by placing 54th on the fantasy list that I am using. It is definitely higher that that in my opinion. If you add all the scores up the final grade for the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series is 83%. I feel that that's pretty good. Way to go, Tad Williams! Read it and tell me I am wrong. Or right. Because you know I'm one or the other.

The Beginning of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy top 100

Recently I have felt that I have not been reading enough. I already feel that I have become very stupid since I graduated from college, but now I feel even dumber. My job is simple and under stimulating, so I really don’t have anything to keep me from becoming slightly less intelligent each day. Anyway, I just wanted a short introduction to why I am doing this, not a personal bio on myself which I am assuming you could care less about (I know I wouldn’t). So….I have decided that I want to read the entire top 100 list for BOTH fantasy and sci-fi novels. I also think I would like to watch the top sci-fi movies. Now, mind you, I realize that this is quite a lofty goal seeing as how I have 200+ novels and some amount of movies ahead of me. And recently I have also come to realize that there aren’t a lot of authoritative lists of the top 100 novels in either category. I have found a few on the internet but I don’t know that I agree with the lists. I understand that these lists are all rated on someone’s opinion but I feel that it would be much better if we could come up with some way to create a rating system to make it a little more scientific. Anyway, I am rambling. Basically through this blog I want to do three things: 1st: I want to read and review the ‘supposedly’ top 100 novels in both lists (here is the link to my lists, if you wanted to follow along. Top 100 sci-fi novels: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html Top sci-fi movies: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html Top Fantasy novels: http://www.geocities.com/area51/cavern/6113/t100256.txt). These are the best lists I could find, and actually my friend gave me the Sci-fi list. Anyway… 2nd: I want to create a rating system to neatly rank the novels so the rankings are a little less opinionated and a little more scientific. It is science fiction. I am still playing around with the ranking topics but I think that basically it will fall into these categories: -Overall readability (if you can’t get through it, it doesn’t matter how good it is), -Story quality (is it just cut and paste basic plot or is it creative and different) -Originality quality (have you heard this story before) -Character believability (do you feel for the characters, sympathize with them, love/hate them, feel part of the story because of them) -Overall effect of novel (does it compel you to continue reading the series? 3rd: I want other people’s opinions of my rating and possibly other people’s ranking of these novels so we can create an authoritative list. Also, if people have novels they want to add to the list (both of these lists aren’t exactly updated regularly anymore and don’t include newer books) that would be awesome. Well, I think that’s it for my first post. It would be really cool if people wanted to participate. Please leave me comments!