Ser Scot A Ellison Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 Finished this morning... wow. I can’t wait for the next book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 As was the case with TWC, it doesn't look as though EoG is selling well from the get-go. Talked about this with Tad's agent following the first volume's release and he believed that given the decades between the series, Tad now had to "do it all over again." So it appears that a slow burn is all TLKoOA can hope to be at the moment. Perhaps the time elapsed between installments and word of mouth will put the final volume on the bestseller lists like they did for TGAT. . . Will be reading the book in the coming weeks, but lots of reviews say that it suffers from pretty much the same shortcomings that plagued TWC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 44 minutes ago, Lord Patrek said: As was the case with TWC, it doesn't look as though EoG is selling well from the get-go. Talked about this with Tad's agent following the first volume's release and he believed that given the decades between the series, Tad now had to "do it all over again." So it appears that a slow burn is all TLKoOA can hope to be at the moment. Perhaps the time elapsed between installments and word of mouth will put the final volume on the bestseller lists like they did for TGAT. . . Will be reading the book in the coming weeks, but lots of reviews say that it suffers from pretty much the same shortcomings that plagued TWC. It is much less, plodding, than the largely introductory “The Witchwood Crown” was. This one moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 About a hundred pages into my re-read of TWC. Tad writes quite nicely, but he simply writes too much, at times. While I bristle at the often ambiguous criticism of "show, not tell" (because there's a place for both in strong writing), a lot of the political ensnarements and the Prince Morgan, Boy Wastrel stuff hinge a bit too hard on the tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 3 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said: It is much less, plodding, than the largely introductory “The Witchwood Crown” was. This one moved. I agree with that (not that I disliked TWC). I'd give this one 4.5/5, compared to 3.5 for TWC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 5 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said: It is much less, plodding, than the largely introductory “The Witchwood Crown” was. This one moved. Good to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 6 hours ago, Lord Patrek said: As was the case with TWC, it doesn't look as though EoG is selling well from the get-go. Talked about this with Tad's agent following the first volume's release and he believed that given the decades between the series, Tad now had to "do it all over again." So it appears that a slow burn is all TLKoOA can hope to be at the moment. Perhaps the time elapsed between installments and word of mouth will put the final volume on the bestseller lists like they did for TGAT. . . Will be reading the book in the coming weeks, but lots of reviews say that it suffers from pretty much the same shortcomings that plagued TWC. Haven't his sales been low for a while now? I remember you stating a long time ago that the Bobby Dollar books had not pulled in the interest they'd hoped. Might explain the bad photoshop job of the cover of the third novel of that series. I also thought the relatively low interest in his urban fantasy and Shadowmarch serial had pushed him back to more familiar ground, Osten Ard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 3 hours ago, SeanF said: I agree with that (not that I disliked TWC). I'd give this one 4.5/5, compared to 3.5 for TWC. Oh, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed The Witchwood Crown. It was just largely introducing the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 1 hour ago, kuenjato said: Haven't his sales been low for a while now? I remember you stating a long time ago that the Bobby Dollar books had not pulled in the interest they'd hoped. Might explain the bad photoshop job of the cover of the third novel of that series. I also thought the relatively low interest in his urban fantasy and Shadowmarch serial had pushed him back to more familiar ground, Osten Ard. Tad Williams last made the NYT list with Shadowplay in 2007. Shadowrise just missed it by debuting at number 33, so the Shadowmarch books actually sold well back then. The Bobby Dollar novels were probably Tad's most accessible works to date, but for some reason Daw Books never pitched them to the urban fantasy crowd and it certainly hurt their performance commercially. But it's obvious that everyone had high hopes for TLKoOA, and even though I wasn't thrilled with TWC I was convinced that it would debut on the NYT bestselling list. Advance praise was great and there had been articles about the series coming out every once in a while for a year or so prior to the novel's pub date. Shockingly, it did nothing really. And there was no other major speculative fiction release at the same time. Once again, based on advance reviews and now that the paperback edition of the first volume was out, I expected EoG to hit the charts. But no. Outside of threads dedicated to Tad Williams here and elsewhere, by and large no one is really talking about this series and so far it hasn't managed to pick up any momentum. Odd given the vast amount of Osten Ard fans. One would think that even if just a fraction of them had pre-ordered these books, both would have made the NYT list. It's as if people are waiting to see how it's going to end or something. To give you an idea, TWC only garnered 2048 ratings on Goodreads in 2 years. Mark Lawrence's Holy Sister, which was published just a few weeks back, is already at 5225 ratings. A return to Osten Ard should have generated a huge amount of interest. For some reason, it hasn't. EoG came out a little over a month following the Lawrence book. It only has 228 ratings thus far. And it's not due to negative reviews. Both TLKoOA installments have an average of more than 4 stars. Fantasy fans at large just don't seem interested. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 This is anecdotal but I’ve seen almost zero promotion for these last two books. I did t even know book two was coming out til I saw it in stores. Compare that to Holy Sister which I saw adds for EVERYWHRRE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Could be. Then again, TWC should have benefited from the shitload of publicity it received and it did not perform well. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I dunno, I saw zero publicity for TWC as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 It wasn't just ads, it was also gushing articles in various online venues. Whatever it was, I'll never understand how TWC failed to sell more than it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Well, Williams' lifetime sales are ~30 million (17 million in the US alone), so he's not starving any time soon. I think that this series has been pushed out in a very low-profile way, and they may make more of a fuss for the final volume. In addition, Williams seems to be having problems picking up new readers for his classic works. Both Sanderson and Rothfuss mentioned and pushed The Dragonbone Chair, but a lot of their fans came back and said it was far too slow for them (which for Sanderson fans makes sense, but felt a bit rich coming from Rothfuss ones). I also think this sequel trilogy really doesn't work as a stand-alone series, you need to have read the first trilogy and The Heart of What Was Lost to appreciate it, and that's a big ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 On 6/10/2019 at 7:17 PM, Darth Richard II said: I dunno, I saw zero publicity for TWC as well. I’ve not seen much publicity either, and this is at a time where i’ve noticed an increasing advertising presence by my local Waterstones for their SF/F releases. I mean previously i’d need to hone in on the SF/F section to see what new releases there were and ask for recommendations but lately i’ve been seeing big window displays and *gasp* fantasy books displayed lovingly by the entrance rather than out of the way downstairs in a corner. But Tad Williams i’ve not seen advertised in this way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 37 minutes ago, Werthead said: Well, Williams' lifetime sales are ~30 million (17 million in the US alone), so he's not starving any time soon. I think that this series has been pushed out in a very low-profile way, and they may make more of a fuss for the final volume. In addition, Williams seems to be having problems picking up new readers for his classic works. Both Sanderson and Rothfuss mentioned and pushed The Dragonbone Chair, but a lot of their fans came back and said it was far too slow for them (which for Sanderson fans makes sense, but felt a bit rich coming from Rothfuss ones). I also think this sequel trilogy really doesn't work as a stand-alone series, you need to have read the first trilogy and The Heart of What Was Lost to appreciate it, and that's a big ask. I would find it hard to follow without having first read The Heart of What was Lost. I only read Memory Sorrow Thorn for the first time last year, so I just went straight into the new series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 14 minutes ago, SeanF said: I would find it hard to follow without having first read The Heart of What was Lost. I only read Memory Sorrow Thorn for the first time last year, so I just went straight into the new series. How is it reading new series right after MST? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 32 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said: How is it reading new series right after MST? I thought the Heart of What was Lost was great, The Witchwood Crown not so good, but readable, and Empire of Grass very good. The new books are considerably more adult than the earlier series, which I'd say was definitely young adult, but I've enjoyed them all as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 About 80 pages into EoG and man it's a slog so far. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 3 hours ago, Lord Patrek said: About 80 pages into EoG and man it's a slog so far. . . That's not... hopeful. I'm mixed on TWC, halfway through this re-read. The Norn stuff is pretty good, but everything with Simon and Miri and Morgan just drags. So much repetition. It feels like half of it could have been cut out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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