The Witchwood Crown - Tad Williams

Now, twenty-four years after the conclusion of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Tad returns to his beloved universe and characters with The Witchwood Crown, the first novel in the long-awaited sequel trilogy, The Last King of Osten Ard. 

Thirty years have passed since the events of the earlier novels, and the world has reached a critical turning point once again. The realm is threatened by divisive forces, even as old allies are lost, and others are lured down darker paths. Perhaps most terrifying of all, the Norns--the long-vanquished elvish foe--are stirring once again, preparing to reclaim the mortal-ruled lands that once were theirs.... 

My thoughts:

I do not remember anything from the previous books (except this great cover). So for me it was no problem jumping in, and no, I still did not remember anything. So for that reason I could say yes it works like this. Honestly it must have been 20 years since I read them 0_0 I read the translation since I did not read English then, ugh, those were never good back then.

30 years have passed since the war. Simon and Miri rule, but tension is growing under the lesser kings. And the Norns wants to take their land back from the filthy humans.

No, we should not start there...think...ok so Simon and Miri had one child, who fathered two. I still do not know how that works. See I can not remember anything, so when was that prince born? The war ended 30 years ago....their grandson (a total wastrel) is 17, yes we are told the prince married young but HOW young? The things I wonder about. So the wastrel prince Morgan has a LOT of growing up to do. I guess he gets to prove himself in the coming book.

Miri did have this uncle...who is missing and so is his kids. One mystery right there.

I feel like I am rambling, I just want to get to the best part. See there was this prequel novella about the norns, and I found myself liking them. Yes they are total racists...or is that speciesist? But I enjoyed reading about them, they totally were the best part. We follow V (yes I forgot the spelling) and his half blood daughter who is a member of the queen's guard. Since in the prequel novella they decided that they need more people and why not mate with filthy humans. Their story was so the best one in the book.

And at the end there was this other POV that was totally Boom! Ha, did not see that coming...that was good.

And yes Miri and Simon was the boring part, I rather read about the rest. So they made it rather long to be honest.

I know the norns are bad but they just want their land back!

Hardcover, 721 pages
Published June 29th 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton
The Last King of Osten Ard #1, Osten Ard Saga #4
Fantasy
Library