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Tad Williams announces THE LAST KING OF OSTEN ARD, a sequel to MEMORY, SORROW AND THORN


aidan

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Tad Williams announced today that he is returning to Osten Ard after a 21 year absence.



In this new trilogy, Williams journeys back to the magical land of Osten Ard and continues the story of beloved characters King Simon and Queen Miriamele, married now for thirty years, and introduces newcomer Prince Morgan, their heir apparent. Also expanded is the story of the twin babies born to Prince Josua and Lady Vorzheva—a birth heralded by prophecy, which has been the subject of feverish fan speculation since the release of To Green Angel Tower in 1993.

In The Last King of Osten Ard, Williams returns with the ingenious worldbuilding, jaw dropping twists and turns, and unparalleled storytelling that have made him one of fantasy’s brightest stars for more thirty years.

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Tad Williams announced today that he is returning to Osten Ard after a 21 year absence.

Williams embarks on the greatest writing challenge of his career, i.e. to transform the whiny pissant teenage Simon from MS&T into a beloved and respected full grown ruler of men.

Also, while it'll be cool to get updates on the lives of all the characters mentioned, for me it's Binabik or GTFO.

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Based on GRRM's recommend, I tried to read this series, but got so bored halfway through the second book I ended up returning the trilogy to the library unfinished. Should I give it another try this summer? Williams just never seemed to be willing to move the plot along!



Am I the only one who feels this way?

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Based on GRRM's recommend, I tried to read this series, but got so bored halfway through the second book I ended up returning the trilogy to the library unfinished. Should I give it another try this summer? Williams just never seemed to be willing to move the plot along!

Am I the only one who feels this way?

You're not, but at the same time this series also has a very large share of fans, and many people have been waiting for Williams, now matured as a writer, to return to this fantasy world with a sequel series. I'm interested in this for sure.

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Based on GRRM's recommend, I tried to read this series, but got so bored halfway through the second book I ended up returning the trilogy to the library unfinished. Should I give it another try this summer? Williams just never seemed to be willing to move the plot along!

Am I the only one who feels this way?

That has been my experience with every Tad Williams book I've tried to read.

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Also, while it'll be cool to get updates on the lives of all the characters mentioned, for me it's Binabik or GTFO.

Binabik is a favorite of mine as well. I want to find out if he married Sisqinanamook (and if so, did Nunuuika and her husband allow Binabik to stay on as the Singing Man?).

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Williams embarks on the greatest writing challenge of his career, i.e. to transform the whiny pissant teenage Simon from MS&T into a beloved and respected full grown ruler of men.

Maybe it's Miriamele that does most of the actual ruling, she'd probably do a much better job of it.

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I absolutely loved Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn -- one of my favorite fantasy series ever. I could see why GRRM was inspired by it.



Also, for those who don't really like Tad because of the pacing of his books, his new Bobby Dollar series shows that he's been moving away from that, and I suspect he'll continue that trend with this new trilogy, given that's one of the few complaints that people seem to have against MS&T -- I never had a problem with it, and actually consider it one of the books strengths, as there's a lot foreshadowed there that comes together beautifully later in the trilogy, a lot of great character and world building. I don't think the book would have been as good without it.

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Can anyone point me to a place I can read a plot summary of these books? I checked them out of the library last summary on GRRM's recommendation but gave up halfway through the second book because I realized I was having to force myself to continue, and I had too many other interesting things waiting to be read to put up with that. But I understand that despite the writing not being to my taste, the plot eventually picks up and takes some unusual twists, so I'm curious what those twists were and why they were considered interesting.



I've already picked up on:




1) The three swords aren't for defeating Ineluki, they're for helping him, though I don't know how that worked


2) Simon is Sir Camaris' kid, and somehow ends up being declared the heir to the throne and marrying Miriamele (not clear why Camaris' kid would be an heir though.)


3) Simon is instrumental in defeating Ineluki by being understanding of Ineluki's motivations (which, I admit, even by only halfway through the trilogy I was wondering if I shouldn't be rooting for Ineluki to actually get his revenge...)





Before you response with "Go finish the books!", consider instead that if I do find your plot summary interesting, I may give Williams another chance when the new set of books start coming out, so consider it promotional! ;)


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2) Not quite:


Joshua is Camaris' son (with the Queen, which I think kind of undermined a lot of stuff) Simon is (or is at least proclaimed to be, it's ambigous wheter or not it's strue) a descendant of the Fisher-king. Although Isgrimnir pretty much acknowledges that it doesen't really matter if he is or not: He's a hero of the rebellion, he looks the part, he'll marry the princess, etc.


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2) Not quite:

Joshua is Camaris' son (with the Queen, which I think kind of undermined a lot of stuff) Simon is (or is at least proclaimed to be, it's ambigous wheter or not it's strue) a descendant of the Fisher-king. Although Isgrimnir pretty much acknowledges that it doesen't really matter if he is or not: He's a hero of the rebellion, he looks the part, he'll marry the princess, etc.

Hm, I could have sworn I heard it the other way -- but I suppose that's what I get for not actually wanting to plow through the real text.

What was up with:

The High King (Josua's crazy bro whose name I'm blanking on) and Pryrates? I heard it was some plot to bring Miriamele's mother back to life or something? What was Pryrates' deal anyway? He seemed to be a really cartoonish villain who lacked only a mustache to twirl.

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I'm excited for the books. I really enjoyed them and didn't mind whiny Simon so much. The parts of the book I didn't enjoy were the endless wanderings - Simon in the woods, under the Hayholt, the female character who discovered the underground cities or something ... there was a lot of words dedicated to being lost and wandering. When I re-read the books, I skipped those things and it became much better for me. I am going to pray he eases up on that type of narration.


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I absolutely loved Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn -- one of my favorite fantasy series ever. I could see why GRRM was inspired by it.

Same here; I love the little hints and nods that GRRM puts in ASOIAF: the red-robed advisor to the king, who needs sacrifice, the tailed star, the feuding brothers vying for the throne, the girl who dresses like a peasant boy, etc, etc.

Also, for those who don't really like Tad because of the pacing of his books, his new Bobby Dollar series shows that he's been moving away from that, and I suspect he'll continue that trend with this new trilogy, given that's one of the few complaints that people seem to have against MS&T -- I never had a problem with it, and actually consider it one of the books strengths, as there's a lot foreshadowed there that comes together beautifully later in the trilogy, a lot of great character and world building. I don't think the book would have been as good without it.

I can see why people don't like book bloat, but for me, a long tale with tons of characters and place-names is exactly what I love. It's why I love ASOIAF and it's why I love MS&T.

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Hm, I could have sworn I heard it the other way -- but I suppose that's what I get for not actually wanting to plow through the real text.

What was up with:

The High King (Josua's crazy bro whose name I'm blanking on) and Pryrates? I heard it was some plot to bring Miriamele's mother back to life or something? What was Pryrates' deal anyway? He seemed to be a really cartoonish villain who lacked only a mustache to twirl.

Elias was trying to become immortal. To rule as King forever, without need for heir or wars of succession.

In reality, Pyrates is preparing him to be the vessel for Ineluki's spirit. Although Pyrates tries some sort of double-cross on the Storm King at the end but gets slapped down.

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Having just read/reading the books now (via random coincidence) I don't know if I'd exactly call them bloated. They are slow and bloated in some parts, but not so much in others.



Mostly I find them not terribly gripping most of the time. It's not a bad story, but it's rarely what I'd call a page-turner. I'm still mulling over why that is.


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