Like other epic fantasies, this book was slow to start as the world and characters were introduced in detail. Once things started going wrong with the land, and Simon had to flee his comfortable home to face the unknown, the story started picking up. I liked meeting all the characters, though sometimes I had trouble keeping them straight as the names are often similar to each other. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Stone of Farewell

Good. And long. A little slow at the beginning, but as Ron says, Tad Williams knows he has 3000 pages to get where he’s going, so he’s taking his time.
The writing was very good throughout, and I enjoyed the characterization. Good balance of character development and action, and enough surprising things to keep me from getting bored. A much better effort than The City of Golden Shadow, and an excellent start to a series that I’d like to continue with.