Heart's brevity quickens the pace and condenses Williams' wordier tendencies, making for a brisk, bracing war story packed with political intrigue, haunting magic, and heartstring-yanking buddy moments. It also helps that, for once, he's written an Osten Ard novel that's short. Balancing warmth with grimness, and gentle bits of humor with violence and vengeance, Williams has tapped back into the dynamic that made Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn so absorbing - despite its lack of originality. Wisely, The Heart of What Was Lost aims to do the same. Instead, Williams lovingly crafted a traditional fantasy epic that sprawled and soared. Without giving too much away to those who haven't had the pleasure of steeping themselves in Williams' work, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn took many of the tropes so common to fantasy - up to and including prophecies, legendary swords, elf- and dwarf-like races of beings, and an orphaned young kitchen servant named Simon Mooncalf who is destined for much grander things - and simply did them better than almost anyone. Struggling for survival amid atrocities and a downward spiral of revenge, each side is portrayed with sympathy and complexity, even as an ancient relic called The Heart of What Was Lost throws a perilous new variable into the age-old conflict.īalancing warmth with grimness, and gentle bits of humor with violence and vengeance, Williams has tapped back into the dynamic that made 'Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn' so absorbing. Two of the best characters from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn - Isgrimnur, the noble Duke of Rimmergard, and his stalwart lieutenant, Sludig - are at the center of the story, but Williams introduces a pair of new, compelling main characters: Porto, a soldier and family man from the South who's taken a younger fighter named Endri under his wing, and Viyeki, a military engineer for the Norns, the race that Isgrimnur and Porto fought in To Green Angel Tower. A battle for the fate of creation has been fought in the aftermath, remnants of two warring armies marshal their forces in the frozen North. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed in our world since that book was published, but back in the roughly Tolkien-esque domain of Osten Ard, only a few weeks have transpired.
His new novel, The Heart of What Was Lost, picks up almost precisely where the final chapter (but not the epilogue) of its predecessor, To Green Angel Tower, left off. Martin's equally ambitious fantasy opus, A Song of Ice and Fire.Īt last, Williams has returned to Osten Ard, the quasi-Medieval realm in which Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is set. Shockingly, it became a bestseller, and along with Robert Jordan's vast Wheel of Time series, Williams' books helped pave the way in the '90s for George R. Originally planned as a trilogy, it eventually grew to comprise four huge novels and - by Williams' own count - a total of a million words. It's been 23 years since Tad Williams wrapped up his staggering fantasy saga, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Heart of What Was Lost Author Tad Williams
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