Bestselling international fantasy/sci-fi author Tad Williams was set to complete the first draft of The Witchwood Crown on Tuesday, his wife and business partner, Deborah Beale, announced on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
The Witchwood Crown is the first volume of “The Last King of Osten Ard”, a sequel trilogy to the original classic epic fantasy series “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn”, set thirty years after the original books. Beale and Williams have kept fans up to date on a regular basis (a list of monthly page counts can be found here), with news of progress happening nearly every week.
Cover of The Dragonbone Chair, the first volume of “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn”.
Reaction to the news of a new Osten Ard series has been very positive, with Daniel Kaszor of The National Post writing, “The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series […] redefined what traditional fantasy could be. Williams took the basics of Tolkien, deconstructed the story and put it back together in his own image, one fit for modern times.” Kaszor also points out the influences that “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn” had on “Game of Thrones”. Meanwhile, Charlie Jane Anders of io9.com writes that “it’s great news that Williams is returning to the series that made his name”.
“The Witchwood Crown” is expected to be published in Spring 2016, and will be followed by Empire of Grass and The Navigator’s Children. The books will be illustrated by Michael Whelan, who painted the original covers of “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn”.