“The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful…think, oh…the Sidhe made of ice, something like that…a different sort of life…inhuman, elegant, dangerous.”
—GRRM
At first, as he saw their beautiful, cold faces and pale hair, Hengfisk thought them angels. Then, as he saw the fell light in their black eyes, and their smiles, he turned, stumbling, and tried to run.
Tad Williams, Stone of Farewell
Tad’s fantasy series, The Dragonbone Chair and the rest of his famous four-book trilogy, was one of the things that inspired me to write my own seven-book trilogy. I read Tad and was impressed by him, but the imitators that followed—well, fantasy got a bad rep for being very formulaic and ritual. And I read The Dragonbone Chair and said, “My god, they can do something with this form,” and it’s Tad doing it. It’s one of my favorite fantasy series.
—GRRM
