Tad Williams is a strong, well-established fantasy author. In 1988 he published The Dragonbone Chair, the first volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. He’s the guy George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones, credits with inspiring “…me to write my own seven-book trilogy…. It’s one of my favorite fantasy series.” You can see where that influence comes from in Williams’ series, which predates Martin’s series by eight years, with characters like the Storm King of a cold, harsh northern people with supernatural powers, the horse people of the grasslands, high kings, secret societies, and even dragons. Two and half decades later, Williams picks up his story again with a new series, Last King of Osten Ard. As a contemporary of David Eddings, Williams follows the tradition of epic world-building that requires maps in the front cover, and an appendix in the back with character lists, pronunciation guides, and a glossary.

The book had a slow start for me. Not having read the series that proceeded this one left me scrambling to learn the geography and history. While I appreciated that there were no big information dumps, it took longer to learn the lay of the land and relationships between widely disparate groups. Frankly, there wasn’t a lot of action, just a lot of whining and complaining among the humans while the reader gets educated through immersion. I found the Norns, the greatest enemy of and threat to the human population which has grown and spread since the last war with the Storm King, to be much more interesting. Their empire seemed to be loosely similar to ancient Chinese dynasties, but the Norns are so long lived that they are effectively immortal. They might only have one birth, however, in a hundred years so their numbers put them at a disadvantage. With a long and lingering build-up, we finally get moving about 60% of the way through the book. We know the characters and places enough to see them split up into the multiple storylines expected of an epic fantasy. Unlike Eddings series, where each book is its own but contributes to the overarching storyline, the Last King of Osten Ard is clearly meant to be read in order as one enormous story. The Witchwood Crown was one long introduction. There is one heck of a plot twist right before the end which I will not spoil for you, but yeah, whiplash.

I’m impressed with Williams attention to detail. In every culture there is little pieces of minutia that find their way into everyday speech, expressions that are just understood, which you only know if you grew up there. People in California don’t understand the significance of a black and white cookie to someone in New York. In Utah you get fry sauce—not ketchup and in Massachusetts if you order a milkshake, you will not get a creamy drink with ice cream—that’s a frappe. The way we live our lives is so connected to architecture, religion, superstition, fears, food, and shared history that this kind of world building is difficult to make feel authentic. Williams does it very successfully. There is clearly no piece of minutia that he hasn’t given some thought.

This isn’t a read it all in one night, page-turning thriller. It is the escape you’re so looking forward to that you go to bed at 8:30 so you can travel to lands beyond and live another life until you have to go back to your own. It’s the kind of book that you parcel out so you don’t finish it too quickly, enjoying the journey. I’m on the road and looking forward to book two, Empire of Grass.

My Rating: A- Enjoyed A Lot

"The Dragonbone Chair, the first volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, was published in hardcover in October, 1988, launching the series that was to become one of the seminal works of modern epic fantasy. Many of today’s top-selling fantasy authors, from Patrick Rothfuss to George R. R. Martin to Christopher Paolini credit Tad with being the inspiration for their own series.

Now, twenty-four years after the conclusion of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Tad returns to his beloved universe and characters with The Witchwood Crown, the first novel in the long-awaited sequel trilogy, The Last King of Osten Ard.

More than thirty years have passed since the events of the earlier novels, and the world has reached a critical turning point once again. The realm is threatened by divisive forces, even as old allies are lost, and others are lured down darker paths. Perhaps most terrifying of all, the Norns—the long-vanquished elvish foe—are stirring once again, preparing to reclaim the mortal-ruled lands that once were theirs..."

A new starting off point or a return to a favorite land, depending on your point of view.

Wasn't able to download due to being approved after archived. Will hope to buy the book :)

Will highly recommend this title to my customers. I have waited for years for any more books set in Tad Williams wonderful world of Osten Ard and here it is!! Loved the story and catching up with old characters. Tad Williams dialogue and character interactions are really top notch and have improved greatly over the years. I cannot wait for new volumes in the series. Loved It!!!

Sometimes you really can't go home again.

I read "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" back in high school, which was 20+ years ago, for those of you trying to do the math. While I don't have strong memories of it, I think I enjoyed it. Otherland didn't work for me at all, but I chalked that up to my not being a fan of the whole virtual reality/gaming/scifi genre. The War of the Flowers was an OK read, but I figured my lack of enthusiasm was due to my preference for epic, multi-volume sagas. In that case, Shadowmarch should have been a near-perfect fit, yet I've been stuck on book 3 for years now. I abandoned it, and return to it, and abandoned it more times than I can count.

Anyway, that brings us back to The Witchwood Crown. I was looking forward to this, but when the read itself seemed to fall flat, I blamed it on the ugly PDF, wrestled onto an e-reader, format. Call me old-fashioned, but when it comes to epic fantasy I like to hold a big, thick book in my hands, flipping back and forth between maps, glossaries, dramatis personæ, and the story. So, I went out and bought the hardcover for myself . . . and have realized now that maybe it's time to stop looking for excuses.

To put it bluntly - and I realize I'm in the minority here - I didn't like it. Honestly. I found this new book to be very slow-moving, with only fleeting moments of excitement. Whether it's something new, or something I blocked from my memory of the original books, the emphasis on the 'new' pseudo-Christian mythology was beyond tedious to the point that it really started to eject me from the narrative. Worst of all, however, I didn't really like any of the characters. As interesting as it was to see Simon and Miriamele grown older, all they've seemed to do is suffer and linger on as royal figureheads. Whatever spark they had in the original saga is sadly absent here. It is Miriamele who bothered me the most, having gone from one the strongest women I can remember in epic fantasy to a sad Shakespearean figure, terrified by dreams, and wallowing in self-pity. Don't even get me started on Prince Morgan, perhaps the most distasteful, most tiresome character Williams has ever crafted.

Actually, when it comes down to it, I found the non-human characters far more interesting than any of the humans. I liked the scenes with the Norns quite a bit, and Binabik and his family provided the only real joy of the read - but that fact itself is problematic. Given a choice between old gods and new, occult power struggles and weak political maneuvering, and . . . well, just about any monster and Prince Morgan, I'm kind of hoping humanity falls, because they just don't seem to be worth saving.

Anyway, I slogged through several aborted attempts to read The Witchwood Crown, ultimately skimmed ahead, and forced myself to finish it, but I really do wonder why I bothered.

I'm happy to return to Osten Ard once again, and hear another tale of what happens after Green Angel Tower! Happy Tad Williams decided there was more to share with the world!

Tad William’s long-awaited return to Osten Ard began with the tasty appetizer that was The Heart of What Was lost, a bridge novella between the old series and the new. Now the first course of the main feast is here — The Witchwood Crown —and to be honest, I sort of want to order more appetizer.

Before I get into my reasons for being underwhelmed by The Witchwood Crown, I want to offer up a few caveats. The first is a matter of logistics. It’s rare for me to spend more than two sittings with a book; I greatly prefer fully immersing myself in a story for its entirety, reading start to finish in one go or, if necessary due to length, two at most. But due to circumstances, I couldn’t do that with TWC, and I readily admit that having to read it in more like 7-10 sittings may have colored my response, especially given the structure of the novel. Second, Williams, more than most authors I know, tends to start his series (at least the ones I’ve read) very slowly — easing in, introducing characters, worlds, and story lines and then meandering around for a while while plot moves at a slow, some might term it glacial, pace, before eventually picking up. Which doesn’t make my soon-to-come complaint about a meandering plot less accurate, but it does mean that complaint may become moot in book two. So you may want to keep those two cautions in mind as you continue.

As far as that plot. In broad terms it’s basically what one would expect for a sequel trilogy (I’m going to assume anyone picking up The Witchwood Crown has read the earlier trilogy MEMORY, SORROW, AND THORN): the defeated evil/villain/adversary is not quite as defeated as everyone thinks, is making noise about rising once again, and a combination of the old familiar folks and some new ones have to stop the “new” threat. More specifically, the Norns or “Hikeda’ya” of the North, vanquished in MS&T and forced to retreat into their mountain hideaway, are plotting anew to wipe out the upstart mortals via devious plots, mysterious missions, advice from the dead, assassinations, and the need for the blood of a live dragon.

Meanwhile, in the High Ward, King Simon and Queen Miriamele are finding that their victory over the Norns thirty years earlier didn’t end the world’s problems. There’s a brotherly dispute in their most populous kingdom Nabban that threatens to turn into full civil war, a trade dispute between two other factions, rumors of renewed worship of an evil old religion in yet another corner of the wider kingdom, the possibility of war with the grasslanders on their borders, an enigmatic decade’s-long silence from their faerie allies the Sithi, and the continued mystery of Prince Josua’s disappearance, along with his wife and children, years ago. More personally, Simon and Miriamele continue to mourn their own son John Josua’s death due to illness, and are at their wit’s end with regard to their grandson Morgan — heir to the throne and also, unfortunately, a whiny drunkard who seemingly couldn’t be less interested in anything nearing responsibility. Oh, and everyone is getting old and feeling it.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on (and that’s a partial list by the way), which leads to my major issue with The Witchwood Crown; it feels overstuffed. Structurally, I felt there were too many POVs. An incomplete list would include Simon, Miriamelle, Morgan,Tiamak, the Hand of the Throne Count Eolair, the monk Brother Etan, Princess Idela, Chancellor Pasevalles, Jarnulf the self-proclaimed “White Hand,” the grasslanders Fremur and Unver, the Hikeda’ya Lord Viyeki, his mortal slave concubine Tzoja, and their half-blood daughter Nezuru. The characters themselves vary in interest/quality (more on that later), but just from a logistical stance, the number of POVs led to the book feeling like it was constantly stuttering; just as one storyline might start to get interesting, we were off to another. I never felt I got into a smooth reading rhythm.

In terms of characterization, things were pretty hit and miss. Jarnulf, a mortal of mysterious background who has spent years hunting and killing the Norns, is probably the most compelling character thanks to that mysterious background, his intensity (nicely complemented by a dry wit), and the constantly tense situation he finds himself in for most of the novel. For similar reasons, I was also mostly captivated by Nezuru, who as a half-blood is never sure of exactly who she is and the way in which this becomes more, not less, problematic as the novel continues was one of my favorite storylines, especially as it intersected with Jarnulf. It was a pleasure to be reunited with Viyeki; I find his internal voice to be warmly engaging and intellectually stimulating, and I wouldn't have minded, as with the first two, more time spent with him. Beyond these three the characters ranged from somewhat interesting but not given much to do to weakly or predictably drawn. If things go the usual course (which they of course may not), then we’re shown a drunken, whiny, annoying, self-interested Morgan so as to better appreciate his eventual turnaround. But that still means a lot of pages with a drunken, whiny, annoying, and self-interested person, which pretty much says it all. Simon and Miriamele are pretty pale images of their earlier selves, and though there may be a thematic reason for this, it doesn’t make them any less pale and uninteresting.

Plot has its own issues. There’s the morass of storylines/POVs, not helped by the fact that many are unresolved or involve scenes that don’t always feel they push either narrative or character forward much or at all. A few times the plot necessitates some highly implausible actions (or inaction) or require characters to be a little too oblivious/naive. And much of it feels strangely at a remove, particularly the political aspects, which are sundry. I assume the trade dispute will play a role at some point, but I’m at a loss at the end of this book to figure out why I needed to hear about it. The revival of an ancient evil cult could have led to some serious tension and foreboding, but since we go so long in between mention of it, and rarely ever actually see or feel it, it is bled of much if not all its potential impact. So much of the political plots feel this way, almost like you’re watching someone come into your home and move all your furniture around, but they don’t know you and you don’t know them, they don’t seem to have a sense of “home” and “belongings,”—just “space” and “stuff,” and while you can find everything fine—there’s the couch, the TV’s over there now, etc. you’re not quite sure why it all had to be moved.

The storyline involving Jarnulf and Nezuru is an exception to the above. For the most part it was often taut, tense, and forward-moving. The same is true for the early elements of Viyeki’s plot, though thanks to the preponderance of POVs his story unfortunately loses momentum. The grasslander plot had its moments, but I felt like I’d seen a lot of these scenes/characters before, and it all led eventually to a point I had long earlier predicted. The other storylines similarly had their moments, but the above issues outweighed those occasional scenes.

The prose is smooth and fluid and carries you along easily despite the above issues, even if there are a few tics here and there (such as a braid-tugging level of hand-squeezing) or some repetition. And I quite liked William’s thematic emphasis on aging (though he did hit it a bit too hard and too frequently) and its effects. The same for grief, as many of these characters are mourning loss in their life. And on a grander scale, I’m just glad we’re getting a look at the “what next” phase of the “defeat-the-darkness” that goes beyond simply “Ruh-roh, the darkness is back and darker than ever!” In this case, the way in which all the world’s problems were not swept away by the last grand battle. People are still petty and greedy, economies are still fussy things, you can’t keep a good (or more accurately bad) religion down, and so on.

In the end, as noted at the start, I was underwhelmed with The Witchwood Crown, which was disappointing not just it and of itself, but because I had been so happy with the bridge novella that preceded it. Which I think points to the core issue—length. The overly-long return to Osten Ard is, umm, overly long. I’m not sure how many pages The Witchwood Crown is (I read it on my Kindle), but a serious pruning—not down to the novella’s length, but say a good 20—25% — of pages, and a corresponding reduction in POVs would have gone a long way toward greatly increasing the book’s impact. I’m not saying all those characters need to be dropped, or those storylines, but I do wonder if the novel would have been better served by saving some of them for book two. I guess we’ll see . . .

Decades ago, I bought a paperback copy of The Dragonbone Chair and fell in love with the story and the characters. So when I heard that Tad Williams was finally going to write a follow up to his original Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, I was both excited and worried—excited that I would get to revisit his world and its characters, worried that it wouldn’t live up to the earlier series. Well, both the worldbuilding and the storytelling are still wonderful, even if this first book didn’t quite grab me the same way The Dragonbone Chair did.

It’s been over 30 years since Ineluki the Storm King and the Norns were defeated. King Simon and Queen Miriamele have ruled wisely and well, but problems have started to crop up in the outlying provinces. The king of Hernystir subtly slights Simon and Miri on a state visit. The Duke of Nabban is being challenged by other lords of the Nabbani noble houses. The Thrithings men are attacking Nabbani settlers encroaching on their territory. Simon has not heard from his friend Prince Jiriki of the Sithi for years, in spite of hopes for closer ties between humans and the Fair Ones. Now, perhaps most troubling of all, there are signs that the Norns are beginning to be active again in the North.

Simon and Miri also have more personal concerns. Duke Isgrimnur and other heroes of the conflict with the Norns are passing away. Prince Josua and his family disappeared years ago, and no one has been able to find out what happened to them. Membership in the League of the Scroll has been seriously depleted, with only a few members remaining to share their wisdom. Simon and Miri’s only son died young, and their heir is their grandson Morgan, a seventeen-year-old princeling who is more interested in gambling and drinking than in learning the intricacies of statecraft.

Readers learn all of this in the opening chapters of the novel. This is a Tad William’s book, so of course there’s a lot more story left to tell. What seems clear from the way he sets the stage (and from the subtitle of the book, The Last King of Osten Ard) is that there will be widespread conflict and the potential for great loss as Simon and Miri try to hold everything together. At one point, Simon muses that he and Miri are supposed to be living the “happily after” of their tale, but clearly that’s not the case. The biggest question in my mind is whether the theme of this trilogy is really the passing of an era and the establishment of a new order. What will remain of Osten Ard, and what (and who) will be lost?

Although I liked the meaty fantasy plot shaping up in this book, it didn’t quite have the same magic for me as The Dragonbone Chair did all those years ago. I think it’s because there isn’t really a strong linchpin character to anchor the action as Simon did in the first trilogy. While lots of other characters (particularly Miri) played important roles, the heart of those books was Simon and his adventures, particularly as they shaped his growth from a boy innocently dreaming of being a hero to a man who knows that heroism is a myth, that it simply involves doing what needs to be done with pain and death along the way. Simon really can’t carry the action this time around, because as Miri regularly points out, he’s the king, and not a young one, either. He can’t just ride off to the Aldheorte forest to search for Jiriki himself; others must act in his stead. (I wonder—if this trilogy is about the passing of an era, and Simon is still at the heart of the story, if not the action—is it also about the passing of a king?)

The new characters who play the biggest roles in the plot of this book don’t have the same appeal for me as Simon. There’s Morgan, who displays all of Simon’s boyhood stubbornness and sulkiness without his redeeming qualities (at least so far); Nezeru, whose half-Norn, half-human perspective is a little too foreign for me to fully sympathize with her; and Jarnulf, a very mysterious Black Rimmersman who is apparently working against the Norns. I hope they grow on me as the story continues, or other new characters—like Josua’s missing son and daughter—come to the forefront later in the series.

Obviously, this is a must-read for anyone who loved Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Even if they haven’t read the earlier books, readers who enjoy big epic fantasies with a huge cast and lots of plot will probably like this novel, especially since they won’t have any of my reservations about the book and can just dive into the story.

An eARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. And then I bought it, because how could I not?

Electronic ARC provided by NetGalley.

I had a hard time figuring out how I felt about this book. Tad Williams' writing is as strong as ever, and there are some interesting events set up for the series, but in general not a whole lot happens for such along book. Most of "The Witchwood Crown" is spent reintroducing characters, meeting new characters, filling us in on current political situations, and hinting at dark events to come.

This book takes place thirty to forty years after Green Angel Tower. Simon and Miriamele are still High King and Queen, and still bickering in much the same way that they did as teenagers. One of the new main characters is Simon and Miri's grandson Morgan, the heir to the throne. I'm hoping that Morgan will redeem himself during the rest of the series, because so far he is mostly whiny and immature, caring mostly about drinking and hanging out with his friends. He is continually thinking about how unfair his life is, how people (his grandparents primarily) are never pleased with him, and how he shouldn't have to care about any of this boring responsibility stuff. Honestly, I find this attitude a little hard to handle in a character who is almost twenty and supposedly raised as royalty. Morgan does have flashes of character potential, primarily when he is with his new troll friends, so I'm hopeful that he will continue to grow as the series progresses.

The most interesting storyline in this first book follows a group of Norns on a mysterious errand for their Queen. Our viewpoint character is the Queen's Talon Nezeru, the half human daughter of a highly ranked Norn Builder. Watching her throughout the book as she gradually begins to question some of her deeply held beliefs makes me interested to see what she'll do next.

"The Witchwood Crown" ends with several intriguing events that do leave me wanting to see what happens next, including at least one character moment that really did take me by surprise. I'm giving this book three stars now as a standalone since I really was frustrated with some of the slow pacing, but it's quite possible that that rating will go up once I have a chance to read the next volume and see how all of these disparate storylines play out. If you enjoyed the previous Osten Ard books then I think you're quite likely to enjoy this as well.

Amazing! I cannot wait to get my hands on more books from Tad Williams. The world building and characterization are far above and beyond most of the stuff in the genre.
I look forward too seeing where Mr. Williams will go with this series.

You will want to have this one on pre-order. Well worth the price.

The Witchwood Crown: The Last King of Osten Ard #1 by Tad Williams continues a fantasy saga first published in 1988. Whew, that's a long time to wait to continue a series. I have not read the first three books (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) of the original trilogy, but since the events in The Witchwood Crown take place thirty years later, it is not a requirement.

The book is very long, has a huge number of characters and is set in numerous places among several cultures in this fantasy world. The pacing is sometimes slow, but the slower portions alternate with intensely interesting sections.

Con: Some of the characterization is weak, but with so many characters (the list of characters in the back goes on for 25 pages) and with so many different settings with specific plot lines--in-depth characterization of even central characters would be difficult.

Some of the dialogue is awkward and repetitive, as if to remind the reader what the character had thought or said previously.

Some of the names (of people or places) feel like gargling, and each time one of these awkward names appeared, it gave me pause, interrupting my engagement with the story long enough to ponder the gawky name.

Particularly in Hayholt, I found a lack of background to explain the behavior of certain characters--mostly involving the king and queen and their relationship and guidance or (lack thereof) of the grandchildren. I mean, Morgan's "guards" seem the worst kind of influence. If Simon and Miri have been so concerned with Morgan's drinking and gambling and lack of responsibility (the boy is only seventeen, how long has this behavior been going on?), it feels strange that they have done nothing about it.

Pro: In spite of my complaints, I was thoroughly invested in this huge tome of a book. The parts that were good were very good.

The book doesn't have the overall sense of continuity and cohesion that some great fantasy writers achieve, and yet...in spite of some of the things that bothered me, I was immersed in most of the plot. Usually an ongoing mental conversation about what I perceive as problems in a book will make me lose interest. That did not happen. Something that I can't quite explain shines through what I perceive as flaws. Something compelling above my minor complaints kept me engrossed.

I found these endorsements of Tad William's original 1988 saga impressive:

“Inspired me to write my own seven-book trilogy.... It's one of my favorite fantasy series.”
—George R. R. Martin, New York Times-bestselling author of The Games of Thrones

“Groundbreaking...changed how people thought of the genre, and paved the way for so much modern fantasy. Including mine.”
—Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times-bestselling author of The Name of the Wind

I will certainly read the next in this series because I need to know how all of these characters and situations evolve.

NetGalley/Berkley Publishing

Fantasy. June 27, 2017. Print version: 736 pages.

I loved the original Dragonbone Chair trilogy, so it was with high expectations and with great excitement that I picked up The Witchwood Crown.  I was immediately reminded how rewarding a complex, character driven fantasy can be.  This isn’t a straightforward good vs evil tale.  It is very complicated, with individuals having different motives and ideals that influence their actions (on both sides).  Threads of lives weave together to create a vast overarching story.  

Simon and Miri rule as High King and High Queen of Osten Ard.  At the onset they are traveling through their lands to see an old friend,Duke Isgrimnur, who is near passing.  Many of their old friends come together to share news, not all of it good.  The Norns are active once more.  Their immortal Queen has awoken, and she has plans to reignite the war between the races.  I don’t want to reveal too much.  It’s best to say that the story is incredible and immensely satisfying to read.   It’s been a long time since I’ve read an epic fantasy of this quality.  If you liked the original series, you will love The Witchwood Crown.  Don’t be daunted however if you haven’t read The Dragonbone Chair and the rest of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series.  You will still be able to understand the world of Osten Ard.  I eagerly await the next book.

5 / 5

I received a copy of The Witchwood Crown from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Welcome back to Osten Ard! Fans of the original series will love this one. Its like visiting an old friend. Mr. Williams is great at making well rounded characters, with realistic motivations in a fantastic setting.