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When I was in middle school, someone gave me one of those “This Book Belongs To” stickers (remember those?). It depicted four people, two of whom were clearly not fully human — aliens or elves perhaps. The other two were human, a young man and a woman. The woman stood proudly behind the man with a bow in her hand, while the man held a sword over his shoulder.
This image captured my imagination immediately. I invented stories about these four people and created a whole world for them in my head. Little did I know at the time that there was already a story and world for these characters. It wasn’t until I spotted the image on the front cover of a book in Barnes & Noble that I discovered Tad Williams’ high fantasy epic “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.”
This was probably 20 years ago, so while I didn’t recall all the specific details of Williams’ series, I had definite memories and impressions from the multiple readings I had done in my younger years. While it wasn’t one of the longest fantasy series I obsessively read back then (that title belongs to David Eddings and Robert Jordan), it was certainly amongst the darkest. It was only recently that I learned that George R.R. Martin, author of “A Song of Ice and Fire” (aka “Game of Thrones”) was heavily influenced and inspired by Williams.
The original series followed Simon, a kitchen boy from the Hayholt, the castle of the high king of Osten Ard (I had absolutely no memory that this was the name of the country). In a classic coming of age story, Simon stumbles into a dangerous situation and flees the castle, sending him on an epic journey where he learns what it means to be a man and a hero of his own story. The books are populated by fascinating characters from Princess Miriamele, a wonderfully strong female character, to Josua, the prince who leads a rebellion against his brother, the king, whom has entered into an unholy alliance with an evil elf like creature.
It was a great series that I absolutely loved. It left me fascinated and unsettled and yearning for more.
And then I grew up and outgrew fantasy. With a few exceptions (aka in the rare times a George R.R. Martin book is published), I really don’t read the genre anymore.
Recently I learned that Williams planned to return to the world of Osten Ard with a new trilogy set 30 years after the original series. I hesitated a bit since I’d tried another series Williams wrote a few years ago and couldn’t even finish it. I hesitated even more when I held “The Witchwood Crown” in my hands. At 694 pages, it could be used as a doorstop.
But, despite taking several weeks to read, I’m glad I did.
Reading about these characters felt like attending a high school reunion. It was so nice to see what Simon and Miriamele had been up to in the 30 years since they had been crowned High King and Queen. I loved exploring their adult personalities while still seeing hints of the teenagers they had been in the earlier books.
“The Witchwood Crown” has its faults: Too many points of view is a big one. While the original trilogy was mostly told from Simon’s perspective (at least in the first book), this book spreads around the world to tell the stories of many players. Some were more interesting than others.
Morgan, Simon’s grandson is clearly being set up to have the coming of age story, but he’s more of a waste of space in my opinion in this book: selfish, whining, and avoiding responsibility. One fascinating character was Viyeki, a Norn (the bad guys from the first series) who isn’t quite on board with his queen’s plan to start a new war with the humans. On the other hand, I found myself really bored reading the chapters about his daughter, Nezeru, and ended up skimming those.
Williams does an excellent job of creating a fully realized world, populated by very real people. This novel spends a lot of time setting up the conflict that will follow in the rest of the series. Political tensions simmer. Evil plans are hatched. Old allies have disappeared when they are truly needed. The world feels like it is coming apart below the surface and like no one will notice until it is too late.
There’s a lot more talk than I would have liked. It’s unclear what several of the characters are up to for far too long. Like the first film in a new Marvel series, “The Witchwood Crown” serves to set the stage, introduce all the players and get the ball rolling (a little too slowly) on the action. Again, it takes 694 pages to do all of this.
That being said, it was worth the read in my opinion. It doesn’t quite have the captivating magic of the first series but perhaps that’s because I’m older and more cynical than I used to be. It’s a darker, more adult world that Simon now lives in, which again I appreciated being an adult myself. The complexity and maturity of the plot is a welcome evolution from the original books.
A few words of advice. If you’ve never read the original series, don’t worry. Williams wrote in such a way that new readers won’t feel lost while old readers won’t feel bored (a definite challenge for an author!). If you can’t remember the original, read a detailed summary online. This helped me immensely. Finally, use an e-reader. This is a big, heavy book that would be a pain for commuters to lug around. Save your wrists and back and use a kindle or iPad.
