The Witchwood Crown (Book #1 of The Last King of Osten Ard series) by Tad Williams: (My theory regarding Morgan’s bone tarot reading)

 

As I said in my review of Tad Williams’ book, The Witchwood Crown, while Viyeki is my favorite character in the Last King of Osten Ard series, Morgan is definitely my second favorite character series at this point in time. One of the many reasons why I love The Witchwood Crown so much is because of Tad Williams’ writing for Morgan’s storyline, and if I’m being completely honest, I’m really surprised that Morgan ended up being my second favorite character in the book. When I listened to The Witchwood Crown on audiobook for the first time back in December of 2017, the chapter that Morgan was introduced in (Chapter 2 “The Finest Tent on the Frostmarch”), as well some of his other early chapters in the book really left me thinking that Morgan was quite possibly going to end up being the one character in the book that I didn’t like. Ultimately, after having read The Witchwood Crown four times, I have to say that I definitely consider it to be a rare example of an ensemble story where I like all of the characters and all of the storylines.

 
While I ended up loving Morgan’s storyline because I thought that it was entertaining, intriguing, and at times even kind of funny, when it came to the friendship that developed between Morgan and Little Snenneq; his storyline also has some really great moments throughout the book that are more on the serious side of things, too, which was also very interesting to see play out throughout the course of the book.
 
Tad Williams definitely did an awesome job of providing the readers with a lot of interesting plot developments and mysteries throughout The Witchwood Crown. However, the thing that stood out to me the most for a variety of reasons is definitely the bone tarot reading that Little Snenneq did for Morgan in chapter 19 (The Moon’s Token), and the two different ways Little Snenneq interpreted the reading. Little Snenneq’s first interpretation of Morgan’s bone tarot reading was basically that he won’t get something that he has been expecting to get for a very long time; and his second interpretation of Morgan’s bone tarot reading was essentially that he’ll get the thing that he has been expecting to get, but he’ll get it in a very different form than he had always envisioned it.

Book Review: The Witchwood Crown (Book #1 in the The Last King of Osten Ard series) by Tad Williams

Right off the bat, I have to say that while I loved The Heart of What Was Lost, I definitely loved The Witchwood Crown even more, and at the point in time that I’m posting this review, I’ve actually read this book four times. I’ve also already read Empire of Grass once before back in 2019. Tad Williams definitely made a fantastic first impression on me with his writing for The Heart of What Was Lost, but I have to admit that I was still a little hesitant to make any definitive statements regarding how I felt about his writing since it was only the first of his books that I had ever read; plus, it was a novella, whereas The Witchwood Crown is a full-length novel, which I thought would ultimately be much more indicative of what I could expect from Williams’ take on the fantasy genre, and his overall writing style.

While I loved the fact that Williams was able to tell what felt to me like a very intimate story that takes place in the world of Osten Ard and only focused on a relatively small group of characters in The Heart of What Was Lost, one of the many things that I loved about The Witchwood Crown is the way that he was able to tell a rather expansive story that focused on a wide variety of characters and storylines; and yet he was able to do it in such a way that all of the storylines were very well written and very well developed; while also doing it in such a way that I was very interested and invested in all of the characters in the book. The fact that I enjoyed all of the storylines in this book is definitely a testament to Williams’ talent as a writer, because when it comes to ensemble stories, there’s usually at least one or two storylines that I end up not liking as much I enjoy all of the other storylines in a book like this one; even though I’ve always been a big fan of ensemble stories.

 

That being said, Williams’ approach to writing an ensemble story is definitely very different from what I’m used to when it comes to ensemble stories; regardless of whether it’s a TV show, movie, or a book. The reason I say is because when it comes to ensemble stories, I’m used to most, if not all, of the main characters being introduced at the beginning of the story; even if they’re only briefly introduced before being truly fleshed out as a character later on in the story. Because of that, I have to admit that the first time I listened to The Witchwood Crown on audiobook, I was really caught off guard by the fact that there are some characters and storylines that aren’t even introduced until we’re several hundred pages into the book. Despite the fact that there are several storylines and characters that are introduced much later on in the book (namely the plot in Nabban with Duke Saluceris, his wife Duchess Canthia, and Jesa, who’s the nurse to their infant daughter, Serasina; and the storyline with Unver and the other Thrithings-Folk characters) compared to all of the other storylines in the book, neither of those storylines came across as being underdeveloped, and the characters that were involved with both of those storylines were still well developed, despite their late introductions in the book.

Book Review: Red Queen (Book #1 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoiler Review)

Note: I originally wrote this review after reading Red Queen for the first time in December of last year, but I never got around to proofreading and posting it. I’m currently marathoning the entire Red Queen series, and I’m posting this review after reading this book for the second time. I also read Cruel Crown at the end of last year, but I didn’t have enough to say about what I thought about that book to warrant writing a review for the book.

Right off the bat, I have to say that I absolutely loved Victoria Aveyard’s book, Red Queen, and I found it to be insanely addictive as I was reading it. Red Queen is definitely one of my top favorite books out of all the books that I’ve read so far this year; and the more I think about it, I would say that it has even surpassed Sara Holland’s book, Everless, as my #1 favorite book out of all the YA fantasy books that I’ve read this year.

There’s definitely a lot to love about Red Queen, and one of the many great things about this book is definitely the characters. Red Queen is definitely a book that’s full of well-written, complex characters; with many of them being morally gray characters. The fact that a lot of the characters in this book demonstrated a certain amount of moral ambiguity, while also still being likable characters, is definitely one of the things that I loved most about this book; because I’ve always been a huge fan of TV shows, movies, and books that feature morally gray characters.

Personally, I think that Mare is a great protagonist, and I thought that Aveyard did a fantastic job of writing her in such a way that she’s a very complex and nuanced character. I really enjoyed how Mare was very confident and unapologetic about being a pickpocket, which is something that really upsets her mother. Mare is also a very bitter person, especially when it comes to people who are Silvers; but at the same time, I ultimately think that she does have a good heart. After all, one of the plot points at the beginning of Red Queen that really kicks off the overall plot of the book is her trying to help her friend, Kilorn Warren, avoid being conscripted into the army since there’s a war that’s currently going on; which Mare’s brother, Shade, had apparently died fighting in. Her efforts to try and help him avoid conscription led to her sister, Gisa’s, sowing hand being broken after she (Gisa) tries to pick somebody’s pocket. It’s not explicitly stated that Gisa’s sowing hand will never be able to properly heal; but based on Gisa’s emotional reaction and Mare’s guilt over the incident, I got the distinct impression that her sowing hand being broken meant that Gisa was going to lose her job as an apprentice to a silk embroiderer.

Book Review: The Heart of What Was Lost (Book #0.5 in the The Last King of Osten Ard series) by Tad Williams

Right off the bat, I feel like I should mention that The Heart of What Was Lost is the first book by Tad Williams that I’ve ever read, and I absolutely loved it. I have numerous reasons for why I decided to check out Williams’ books, but as strange and as random as it might seem to some people, one of the main reasons is because I’ve read the first three books in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords), and while I absolutely loved A Game of Thrones, I honestly ended up finding A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords to be rather disappointing and difficult to get through. I’m definitely a big fan of the TV show Game of Thrones, but I’ve found myself having a lot of complaints with George R. R. Martin’s writing for the A Song of Ice and Fire series, especially when I read A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords.

If I’m being completely honest about my thoughts regarding the A Song of Ice and Fire series, my disappointment and frustration with the series has gotten to the point where I’m not entirely sure that I even want to continue reading the series now. My disappointment with A Storm of Swords, and my desire to find some good adult fantasy books that I like since I’m a huge fan of YA fantasy books is ultimately the main thing that prompted me to look into Tad Williams’ books after seeing copies of The Witchwood Crown on display at Barnes & Noble. After reading this book in preparation for reading The Witchwood Crown, I have to say that I’m really glad that I decided to read The Heart of What Was Lost, because while I do have a couple of complaints about this book, it’s still the best fantasy book that I’ve read since I read A Game of Thrones back in 2015.

The Heart of What Was Lost is written from the point of view of three different characters, and it’s definitely a very rare example of a book where I honestly like all of the P.O.V. characters. Plus, I became very invested in each of their lives, which is something that I really loved about this book. There’s the mortal Duke Isgrimnur, who is the leader of Rimmersgard, and he’s leading an army in pursuit of the Norn; determined to end the their attacks, and defeat their ageless Queen Utuk’ku for good. There’s also Porto, along with his friend, Endri, who are two southern soldiers that joined the mortal army in order to help defeat the Norn. Finally, there’s Viyeki, a leader of the Norns’ military engineers, the Order of Builders, who’s desperately seeking a way to help his people reach their mountain, and prevent the destruction of their race.

Instagram TBR Post: October 2017

Here's my incredibly ambitious TBR pile for October.

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Oct 1, 2017 at 10:07pm PDT

Books featured: 


Before She Ignites (Book #1 in the Fallen Isles trilogy) by Jodi Meadows (Currently Reading)

The Heart of What Was Lost (A Novel of Osten Ard) (Book #0.5 in the The Last King of Osten Ard series) by Tad Williams (Currently Reading)

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren (A Re-Read)

Royally Endowed (Book #3 in the Royally trilogy) by Emma Chase (A Re-Read)

All or Nothing at All (Book #3 in the Billionaire Builders series) by Jennifer Probst

Lost Stars (Star Wars) (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Claudia Gray 

Lucky in Love by Kasie West (A Re-Read)

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (A Re-Read)

Devil's Cut (Book #3 in the Bourbon Kings series) by J.R. Ward

An Ember in the Ashes (Book #1 in the An Ember in the Ashes series) by Sabaa Tahir

Throne of Glass (Book #1 in the Throne of Glass series) by Sarah J. Maas