Jump to content

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn/The Heart of what was Lost/The Last King of Osten Ard


Ser Scot A Ellison

Recommended Posts

Oh yeah, for some reason I was looking at my shelf of all his big series releases and not thinking. Which is weird cause I got Rite sitting right here looking at me. But yeah I uh, I don't see how the success of this book is going to affect DAW in any way.

Also my re read is stalled til my eyes heal more, cause damn, does TGAT have a tiny font(I have the original hardcover). :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, yeah, all the big, thick books have been published by DAW, but lots of the smaller works and stand-alones have been other publishers.

Even with a small font, TGAT is quite the doorstop! And the original hardcover is the only way to read it, IMO. Rest those eyes, DR!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
17 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I finished the book.  I enjoyed it but it was set at a very slow burn.  As others have noted the entire book seemed to be largely introduction.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.  

I'm looking forward to the next book as well. I didn't feel like it was a slow burn (since the book introduced the Norns and Nakkiga by chapter 5, rather than 200 pages of introduction to the world), but there definitely was a lot of set-up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Jiriki said:

I'm looking forward to the next book as well. I didn't feel like it was a slow burn (since the book introduced the Norns and Nakkiga by chapter 5, rather than 200 pages of introduction to the world), but there definitely was a lot of set-up.

Jiriki,

It was a slow burn in the sense that much of the wider story that explains what is going on in the background is still concealed.  We have no idea what the "Witchwood Crown" actually is.  Jiriki explained that it is a move in shent that suggests surrendering to win and it is another name for the ancient witchwood groves that grew in places where the Sithi and Norns lived but neither explanation makes much sense.  We were given the quest to Ursmheim to gain living dragon's blood and we don't know the purpose for the quest or outcome of that expedition.  We have been introduced to some very interesting characters and given glimpses of where they may be going as the story progresses, or (very late in the story) given the sense that someone who is close to Simon and Miriamele is quite dangerous.  

Yes, things happened but the major story has not been pushed very far along by the end of this book. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/25/2017 at 5:43 AM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Jiriki,

It was a slow burn in the sense that much of the wider story that explains what is going on in the background is still concealed.  We have no idea what the "Witchwood Crown" actually is.  Jiriki explained that it is a move in shent that suggests surrendering to win and it is another name for the ancient witchwood groves that grew in places where the Sithi and Norns lived but neither explanation makes much sense.  We were given the quest to Ursmheim to gain living dragon's blood and we don't know the purpose for the quest or outcome of that expedition.  We have been introduced to some very interesting characters and given glimpses of where they may be going as the story progresses, or (very late in the story) given the sense that someone who is close to Simon and Miriamele is quite dangerous.  

Yes, things happened but the major story has not been pushed very far along by the end of this book. 

Understood!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The Witchwood Crown

Thirty years have passed since the Storm King's War. Simon and Miriamele have ruled Osten Ard well, keeping the peace between the nations that make up the High Ward and the noble families within them, but their life has been tinged by the tragic death of their son. Their grandson Morgan stands to inherit the throne, but he is a wastrel more interested in drinking and wenching than in learning what he needs to rule. The heroes of the old war are passing and a new generation is coming to power, one that is less impressed by stories of old conflicts that they only half believe.

But in the far north, Stormspike is stirring. The Norn Queen has awoken after a long sleep and the lust for vengeance against humanity is resurgent. A band of Norn and half-Norn warriors strikes out on a quest they only barely understand. In the far south the kingdom of Nabban is on the brink of civil war. The Sithi have gone silent, their last messenger shot with arrows within sight of the Hayholt. The long peace is coming to an end, and the fate of the world again hangs in the balance.

The Witchwood Crown is the first novel in the Last King of Osten Ard trilogy, which sees Tad Williams return to the setting of his classic original trilogy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower) and the short novel The Heart of What Was Lost, published earlier this year. It's been twenty-three years since Williams last wrote in this world, the author wary of "franchising" his earliest and most iconic work until he had a story that was worth telling.

There is much to admire about The Witchwood Crown. Williams is telling a very large story from a large number of points of view. The original trilogy was very focused in the Hayholt and told a more linear, focused narrative which only gradually expanded outwards. This novel starts with a more George R.R. Martin-esque approach of having a larger cast in disparate parts of the world. One second we are with a slave living in the depths of Stormspike and then we're a thousand miles or more away in the palaces of Nabban, riven with Byzantine plotting. Old favourite characters return, including Simon, Miariamele, Tiamak, Eolair and Binabik, but there's a lot of new characters such as Morgan, as well as the return of characters like Porto from The Heart of What Was Lost. The worldbuilding is more in-depth, with reflections on time passing (Erchester is now a real city rather than the more modest town of the previous trilogy). Epic fantasy, as a genre, is at its best when it can indulge in "long-breathed storytelling" and The Witchwood Crown certainly does that. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and Williams develops his story with surety, confidence and time.

This does mean that The Witchwood Crown is a slow-paced work. Major plot revelations are separated by many chapters in which apparently little happens (although it does, it's just a lot more subtle). Although Williams tries very hard to make this book approachable for new readers, there's some instances of self-indulgence as Simon catches up with Binabik and asks about his family and his wolf, but this is generally kept to a minimum. The reason this book is so large (700 pages in hardcover) and so deliberately paced is because he is setting up a very big story and it's only towards the end of the novel that he fires the starting pistols which really get the narrative fired up.

This slow pace could be a bigger problem - and it's certainly put some other reviewers off - if Williams didn't also take his time to explore thematic ideas of ageing, grief and the passing of the years. Simon and Miriamele are now grandparents in their early fifties and apparently slightly baffled that so much time has passed so quickly. Those of us who read the original books when they first came out or shortly afterwards can sympathise: I finished reading the first trilogy on a fine summer afternoon in the park behind my old house almost exactly twenty years before I started reading this book, and a similar shock at the passage of time went through me. The characters are also haunted by the memory of the death of their son, John, and how this has impacted not just them but his son Morgan. Ironically, the joint grief they share has also divided them, with the natural lack of understanding between the generations preventing them from reaching an understanding.

This thematic idea gives the book a somewhat melancholy aspect. We also learn a lot more about the Norns and even sympathise with them (or at least some of them): they are a slowly dying race and their constant search for blood and vengeance seems pointless, corrupting further what was once a noble people. When they gain access to a new supernatural weapon, the reaction from some of the Norns isn't triumphant but instead weariness at the idea of yet another war, yet more pointless slaughter. The Witchwood Crown, on this level, is an epic fantasy that rejects some of the martial triumphalism and blood-letting that other epic fantasies revel in.

At the end of the book, some long-standing questions are raised, some long-missing characters return and other characters are left on immense cliffhangers, their fates unclear. Fortunately, we will not have to wait to learn more: the second novel in the trilogy, Empire of Grass, is already complete and should be published in late 2018 or early 2019.

The Witchwood Crown (****) is slowly, deliberately-paced and sometimes meanders or is allowed to become self-indulgent rather than being tightened up. It's certainly a slower novel than even the original Dragonbone Chair, and Tad Williams newcomers may be put off. But it's also wonderfully well-written and explores ideas of ageing, dying and living which are universal. For the most part the new storylines are logically extrapolated from the original trilogy without lazily rehashing it and confirms that yes, the return to Osten Ard is (so far) worth it. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Empire of Grass now in the editing process.

The book is huge, 460,000 words. This will come down in the editing process but that's still a lot longer than Witchwood Crown. Release date was originally September (Amazon UK is still showing that) but they don't think they can hit that, it's more likely to be first quarter 2019.

Still no confirmation if Williams will jump straight into The Navigator's Children or will write the second prequel novel first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Mayhaps some of you would like to have Osten Ard or Otherland related stuff: Tad is currently running a crowdfunding campaign for merch with original art on indiegogo. The first and prolly last time T'Shirts and maps and the like related to his worlds will be available.

If you are interested go to www.indiegogo.com and look for Tad Williams is making Merch.

Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Nothing much to add... other than before I start on the new books, I'm doing a re-read of the original trilogy (been a couple decades since I've read them).  About halfway through The Dragonbone Chair at this point... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did. I just love his style in this series. Some parts were really a joy to read. It moves along at a snails pace, though, and I did find myself skimming for pages at a time. I think I will enjoy it once things get going in the next novel. (Things will get going again, right? Haha)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...