books 2008: The War of the Flowers, by Tad Williams
I read Williams's Memory, Sorrow, Thorn trilogy many years ago--read it several times, even, and liked it a lot--but it never really occurred to me to go out and get anything else he wrote until I saw this book on clearance at Atlantic Book Warehouse. Definitely a good pick. It's an entirely different fantasy universe than in the other books I read, but Williams is a good tour guide and this book was a really enjoyable read. I liked how the endgame fit together, how certain pieces that had been in play from the very start came together at the end. And I like how Williams gives us the aftermath, too. For example, I griped last year about how Garth Nix doesn't give you enough of the aftermath--well, Williams gave us a good 30 pages of what happened after the final battle. I felt very satisfied. Recommended.