Book 50: The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

I love this trilogy. This is the start and it really gets off on the wrong foot. The first 200 pages are a drag, but if you get to page 200, the story takes off. The old king who united several smaller kingdoms has died and his eldest son takes over the throne. He is persuaded into making some poor decisions and the whole kingdom starts to suffer. The seasons are all out of whack and strange beings are wandering around the countryside. A kitchen boy named Simon ends up hearing and seeing more than he should. The book is mostly about his adventures first escaping the castle and then his journey to bring information to the king's younger brother Josua and beyond. It's a great book and I am glad the author chose to stop with only 3 books. It's good to read a story that ends. It gets frustrating when an author drags it out over 10-15 books, some of which have nothing going on in them. Or the author takes several years in between books. Or the author dies before completing the story. Anyways, this is probably my favorite fantasy series. I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings guy, and I might enjoy George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series more, but it's not complete and who knows if he'll ever get it done, so Tad Williams is the current leader.