The Dragonbone Chair is the first volume of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy.The Hayholt, a giant fortress, once belonged
to the Sithi, aracesimilar to Tolkiens´s Elves. Driven away by force and with no homebutthe woods, only few of them are left. The new king Elias neglectshissubjects while pest and famine are spreading in thevillages.Hissinister advisor, the false priest Pryrates, is a masteroccultist.Orphaned, unloved and bumbling, 14-year-old Simon has to domenial,boring tasks as a scullion. He
dreams of becoming a knight oramagician and is waiting for a great opportunity to prove himselfaromantic hero. This might happen sooner than he had anticipated, forhestumbles upon a conspiracy. Simon flees the Hayholt where he hadspentall of his life, having to fend for himself in the wilderness.Beforesetting out toward the dark, shadowy forest Aldheorte, thehorroroccurs when he observes a ritual involving the magicswordSorrow.Pryrates tries to enter his mind- since that night hehauntsSimon´s dreams.Lonely and homeless like the Sithi, the boy has toendure cold andhunger. During the story, Simon develops his hiddenabilities. Mountaintroll Binabik, who is a wise hunter, and otherallies help him in thequest. There are nightmarish creatures to fightand secrets to unveil.There are also touches of romance, because Simonfalls in love withprincess Miriamele. There is the mysterious womanbehind the mask-theNorn Queen.Simon realizes that he has to play animportant role in the history ofhis land Osten Ard. The great danger isthat the leader of the Sithiwants to take back what was stolen from hispeople. His name is InelukiStormking, and he was supposed to be deadfor 500 years. Somehow hisdark spirit survived and is plotting revenge.In order to rid the worldof evil, three magic swords have to be found-Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.The Dragonbone Chair is acoming-of-age storyin a carefully drawn world of many differentcultures. Concerning themeand action, it could be compared to The Lord of Lies by DavidZindell.Rather descriptive than dramatic, it lacks the wild imaginationof the author´s Otherland saga.Mainly a milieu story, there is muchtime devoted to background,atmosphere and minor characters. The book isquiet and beautiful,written in a fluent style.
Readers will easilyrelate to Simon, whosestory is sensitively told. Themes includepersonal change, coping withhardships, belonging and identity. Simon´sstory is the mostinteresting, therefore readers may be irritated by thesudden switchesof perspective to princess Maegwin of Hernystiri andDuke Isgrimnur. Onthe other hand, the book gains added depth throughthe contrastingworld views and social backgrounds of the otherviewpoint characters.The trilogy continues with Stone of Farewell in which Simon is tested to the full.