Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Travel into another dimension is a popular fantasy ploy, but rarely accomplished with such humor, terror and even logic....Williams's imagination is boundless, and if this big book could have been shorter, it could just as easily have been longer." Publishers Weekly
Review
"[A]n intriguing new twist on old legends. Strong storytelling and memorable characters make this standalone cross-world fantasy the author's best work to date and a priority purchase for fantasy collections. Highly recommended." Library Journal
Review
"Williams has a supremely powerful, if not altogether disciplined, imagination, so that, like Theo, readers may feel they are encountering much that is dreary and dull on the way to the good parts." Roland Green, Booklist
Review
"Williams displays a deft hand, creating an addictive world with its own history, mythology, internal rules, and rich, intricate culture....The world of Faerie turns out to have everything a fantasy fan could desire....Even as he weaves his 'make-believe' world...Williams simultaneously delivers moments of grandeur and potency that fit snugly into a Tolkienesque tradition. But he does it with a modern sensibility imagine a Tolkien who listened to Metallica and he has more up his sleeve than thwarting the legions of doom....The evil fairy lords are appropriately nasty, the mystery of how the king and queen died in the Giant Wars several centuries earlier is acceptably intriguing, and the sidekick sprite Applecore is a sassy delight....[W]hile readers will relish a fantasy novel that belongs in the top tier of those currently being produced, that masterfully plays with all the tropes and traditions of generations of fantasy writers, they will also become absorbed in Theo's real quest, which has nothing to do with sword wielding or inner powers or 'greatness' by any commonly understood definition. His real quest is to become, basically, a good guy and a stand-up mensch." Andrew Leonard, Salon.com
Review
"A big, involving adventure...an accomplished and ambitious fantasist." San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
A fascinating stand-alone novel by the
New York Times best-selling author of the
Otherland series.
Theo Vilmos's 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.
Synopsis
This standalone portal fantasy transports unsuccessful rockstar Theo Vilmos from modern California to a land of magic and mystery. Returning to the fantasy genre that made him a coast-to-coast best-selling phenomenon, Tad Williams writes this stand-alone contemporary fantasy novel, set in Northern California--and also in the strange parallel world that coexists in the farthest reaches of the imagination.
Theo Vilmos is a thirty-year-old lead singer in a not terribly successful rock band. Once, he had enormous, almost magical charisma, both onstage and off--but now, life has taken its toll on Theo.
Hitting an all-time low, he seeks refuge in a isolated cabin in the woods. While there, he reads an odd memoir written by a dead relative who believed he had visited the magical world of Faerie. And before Theo can disregard the account as the writings of a madman, he, too, is drawn to a place beyond his wildest dreams...a place that will be, and has always been, his destiny.
Synopsis
"A masterpiece of fairy-tale worldbuilding, with a Faerie land that eerily mirrors the real world. The tone is often dark, but rich, building a wondrous set in a fascinating world, with a classic reluctant hero and a cause worth cheering for." Locus
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Tad Williams has held more jobs than any sane person should admit to singing in a band, selling shoes, managing a financial institution, throwing newspapers, and designing military manuals, to name just a few.
He also hosted a syndicated radio show for ten years, worked in theater and television production, taught both grade-school and college classes, and worked in multimedia for a major computer firm. He is cofounder of an interactive television company, and is currently writing comic books and film and television scripts as well as novels.
Tad and his wife live in London and the San Francisco Bay Area. They spend their occasional microseconds of leisure time engineering world peace and making sarcastic remarks about their pets.
Table of Contents
Prologue 1
Part 1 Goodnight Nobody
1 Clouds 7
2 The Silent Primrose Maiden 23
3 Descent 26
4 The Hungry Thing 44
5 Book 51
6 A Corruption of Moonlight 69
7 Woods 74
8 Runaway Capacitor 89
9 Visitors 95
Part 2 Last Exit to Fairyland
10 Larkspur's Land 111
11 A Disturbance in The Forcing Shed 127
12 The Hollyhock Chest 139
13 A Change in the Weather 160
14 Penumbra Station 179
15 The Plains of Great Rowan 201
16 Poppy 221
17 The Hothouse 240
18 Sidewalks of New Erewhon 246
19 A Holiday Visit 269
20 Among the Creepers 273
21 In Thornapple House 295
22 Status Quo Ante 302
23 The Shadow on the Tower 324
Part 3 Flower War
24 The Bus Stop on Pentacle Street 347
25 A Million Sparks 356
26 Losing a Friend 371
27 Button's Bridge 388
28 Goblin Jazz Bandwagon 411
29 The Hole in the Story 430
30 Family Matters 447
31 In the Bloom Years 458
32 Trendy Fungus 481
33 The Last Breath They Took 505
Part 4 The Lost Child
34 Interlude with Van Gogh Stars 523
35 A Sort of Reunion 534
36 changelings 550
37 The Ebony Box 565
38 The Broken Stick 579
39 Stepchild 591
40 Strawflower Square 605
41 The Cathedral 622
Part 5 Fairytale Ending
42 Farewell Feast 645
43 The Limits of Magic 665
Index of People, Places, and Things 677