Can you return home? Can a writer fully revisit a world he left nearly twenty-five years ago? If you are Tad Williams and that world is Osten Ard, then most assuredly you can. The Witchood Crown, first of The Last King of Osten Ard, technically isn’t his first return to the world, he’s written some stories and released a short novel earlier this year. But those were glimpses into the world, almost like a meal in a favorite town or an extended layover. This is something different, this series is the equivalent to a full-on relocation and extended stay. My regard for the original Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy is quite high, so I was both excited and feeling slight bits of trepidation. Would this be the success of Robin Hobb picking up FitzChivalry Farseer’s story with the recently concluded Fitz and the Fool trilogy or would it be a shadow of the original, like Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Strikes Again. Tad is leaning much closer to the Robin Hobb end of that comparison, at least at the start of the trilogy.
New York Times-bestselling Tad Williams’ ground-breaking epic fantasy saga of Osten Ard begins an exciting new cycle! • Volume One of The Last King of Osten Ard
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….
Set three decades after To Green Angel Tower (the final novel of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn), Osten Ard is once again on the brink of upheaval. Simon and Miriamele are King and Queen who rule jointly over the land over which they successfully won a war thirty years prior. Although their rule has been relatively uneventful, their lives haven’t exactly been sunshine and roses, although they had a son, he died leaving behind a wife, son, and daughter.
Much of The Witchwood Crown features Morgan, Miriamele and Simon’s grandson and heir to the throne. Morgan isn’t exactly the most likeable character, to say he’s a ne’er do well is an understatement, all he cares for his drinking with his friends and dodging his grandparents. In many ways, he comes across as a whiny, entitled millennial, not unlike a certain grandson of Darth Vader. That isn’t to say Morgan is a complete jerk, when he interacts with or reflects upon his younger sister Lillia, his bearing and demeanor seem to change. He truly loves the young girl in the way an older brother should, he’s protective and adores her. Morgan is affected as much by his father’s untimely death as his mother’s living absence. John Josua’s widow, Idela, is largely an absentee mother to Morgan and Lillia who is drawn to Lord Chancellor Pasevalles. She seems to have little regard for her children. She doesn’t want to see them hurt, of course, but doesn’t really appear to involve herself in their lives.
Hanging over much of the story is the character who is absent, John Josua, Simon and Miriamele’s dead son, father to Morgan and Lillia, and husband to Idela. Simon and Miriamele express quite a bit of sorrow over his death, Simon is shown to be very haunted by the loss. Morgan has strange memories of the man he isn’t sure he can trust, though he doesn’t talk about it, those memories and the loss/absence of his father are evident. Of course, these feelings aren’t shared too much, Morgan buries those feelings as well as any kind of darkness he feels. Simon tries to keep those feelings from Miriamele, but of course he can’t.
The most welcome returning character for me was Binabik, one of the troll-like Qanuc and Simon’s most ardent companion in the original trilogy. The two old friends hadn’t seen much of each other in the intervening years, but reading their interactions were both nostalgic and incisive as the two know the heart of each other so well. Also welcome was Binabik’s daughter and future son-in-law, who immediately attach themselves to Morgan in the hopes of raising the young prince from his dark moods and self-centered behavior.
Outside of the Hayholt, we are given more of a view of the Norn people as their Queen Utuk’ku, and mother of the Big Bad of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn Ineluki the Storm King, is waking after her long slumber. She is not happy and seeks to punish the world. Theirs is not a soft culture, it is filled with anger and there’s a sense of selfishness at the upper level of the powers. This greater focus on the “enemy” provides more understanding of their plight, but also how the Norns aren’t exactly unified in their lust for power.
Another storyline featuring what initially seems to be an unconnected nomadic tribe in the midst of familial/tribal squabbles. This is a much less …refined society of people when compared to Erkynlanders of the Hayholt. Very little is initially revealed about the connections between this tribal people and the people of the Hayholt, but as the novel speeds to conclusion, pieces fall into place.
There’s a lot to like here in The Witchwood Crown especially if you are one who enjoys Big Fat Fantasy done well, or extremely well in the case of this book. The novel clocks in at just under 700 pages of very small type plus several pages of characters lists, creature lists, and other sorted glossary items. The story is weighty for that, but other reasons, too. There’s a foreboding cloud of dread hangs over all the characters and everything in the story. The long weight of history is felt throughout and the sense that things tend to repeat themselves. Tad Williams balances this novel very well, he revisits old characters readers of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn have come to love as their own family while introducing a mix of new characters that both frustrate and spark joy.
It is difficult, practically impossible, not to compare both The Witchwood Crown to The Dragonbone Chair and Morgan to his grandfather Simon. Both novels are very much foundational in that Williams methodically introduces the players and hints at the large conflict through small rumblings felt across multiple storylines. Life at the Hayholt and with the Royal family is a large focus, while the orphaned boy (Simon in Dragonbone, Morgan in Witchwood) is a focal character through which much of the world is viewed.
The threat of the Dark Elvish Norns represents a similar threat, at least superficially, as the original trilogy. Perhaps an apt comparison could be the German Empire of World War I and the Nazis of World War II. Similar threats, same countries, but not exactly the same, lending much credence to the theme that history can and does repeat itself. The leadership of the Enemy in The Last King of Osten Ard is a bit more chaotic.
If there’s anything that I would have liked was a bit more of Idela. She didn’t seem much of a character through much of the novel and more of a plot point. This was only the first installment of the series so hopefully we’ll learn more about her and her past with late her husband.
The Witchwood Crown is a weighty, emotional, and engrossing launch to The Last King of Osten Ard. It is a novel that requires patience, but rewards that patience greatly. It touches on a range of emotions from loss to friendship to fear to anger. It is nearly everything I hoped it would be in a return to a beloved world and characters, the launch of a trilogy, and a novel written by Tad Williams. I was overjoyed to return to this world, the characters, and the type of story Tad Williams tells with the most skill and gusto.
Highly Recommended
© 2017 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover, 694 Pages, plus Appendix
Published by DAW, June 2017
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
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