I’ve had a pretty good start to the year, volume-wise. More than I’m used to, more than I’m prepared to write about in depth. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some good stuff happening behind the scenes in 2018.
So without further ado, here are 7 Mini-Reviews of some books I loved and absolutely didn’t love in January and February.
I wonder if all of history was as muddled as this? The chroniclers of future years, if there are any, will only be able to guess at what a mass of contradictions we were, who lived in such times.
It’s been 23 years since Tad Williams released—and 13 years since I’ve read—his epic, genre-defining Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. It’s been well publicized that it was a major influence on George R. R. Martin, and it stands alone as my favourite work of fiction. After more than two decades of poking and prodding by his fans–“What’s the deal with the prophecy surrounding the twin children?!—Williams finally decided to return to the world of Osten Ard. But not in the way anyone would have expected.
Before the sequel trilogy debuts in June—the ominously titled The Last King of Osten Ard—Williams released (on January 1st) The Heart of What Was Lost, an almost-novella that comes in at just over 200 pages. For a writer whose hallmark is 800 page behemoths (the final volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was split into two volumes in paperback due to its massive size), this is a stark, energizing departure.
Continue reading “Review: The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams”
