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Spoilers forMemory, Sorrow, and ThornandThe Last King of Osten Ardbelow.
Eight years before George R.R.
The world of Osten Ard is not morally ambiguous; there is right, and there is wrong.
Compare it to Middle-earth, though, and its more gray than Tolkiens black-and-white.
I picked them up in 2020.
My grandfather was dying of COVID, the world was locked down, and all was bleak.
Then I devoured it.
The final book,The Navigators Children, came out earlier this November.
People sometimes claim that fantasy is about escape.
The Sithi arent merely wise guides or mighty warriors, either.
Miriamele and Simon are middle-age now, and their kingdom is in trouble again.
Their castle is on fire; the blackened hulk of the Dragonbone Chair is nearly all that remains.
InThe Navigators Children, absolute power corrupts all it touches.
At nearly 800 pages long, the book is a commitment, but not a difficult one.
As a result, the world of Osten Ard feels lived-in, relatable even at its most alien.
By the end of the book, Simon and Miriamele have begun to dismantle their empire.
Democracy isnt on the horizon, but theyre shifting away from imperial power toward a more cooperative future.
The Navigators Childrenisnt social commentary, but no book exists in a void, either.
I read it in another bleak moment, a week after Donald Trump won reelection.
Our future, like that of Osten Ard, is ambiguous.
Theres something reassuring about that uncertainty.
Instead I find a challenge, and that is useful now.
When I feel the pull of despair, I remember the work of progress is long and uneven.
Our happy ending might not be definite, but neither is our doom.
Williams had already established himself as a genre star well before the publication ofThe Navigators Children.
Hes an international best-selling author, and by 2023, his collected works hadsoldover 30 million copies worldwide.
AsThe Last King of Osten Ardconcludes, he may be poised for even greater prominence.
A television adaptation of his sci-fiOtherlandseries was indevelopmentas of last year.
Whether theyre ever adapted or not, Williams is worth reading especially when the hour is dark.
An earlier version of this post misstated the publication year ofThe Dragonbone Chairand the title of George R.R.
MartinsA Game of Thrones.
