Book Review: Empire of Grass (The Last King of Osten Ard, #2) by Tad Williams
Cover art illustrated by Michael Whelan
Empire of Grass by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Last King of Osten Ard (Book #2 of 4), The Osten Ard Saga (Book #5 of 7)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Pages: 684 pages (Hardcover edition)
Word Count: 319,000 words
Published: 7th May 2019 by DAW Books (US) & Hodder (UK)
Empire of Grass is the darkest entry in the entire Osten Ard Saga by Tad Williams so far, and I feel it is going to be outshined by its sequels.
“You don’t know you’re in a story until someone tells it to you afterward.”
I seemed to have stumbled upon an illusion. For whatever reason, I somehow thought I had reviewed Empire of Grass here. Apparently not. And I have reviewed Brothers of the Wind. I apologize for this tardiness. Life has been insanely hectic. But if you follow my YouTube channel, you should know my thoughts on this book in my monthly wrap-up video. Empire of Grass is the second book in The Last King of Osten Ard series by Tad Williams, the continuation series to Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy and also the direct sequel to the magnificent first book that is The Witchwood Crown. Before I start my review, I want to give a shoutout to Michael Whelan for crafting one of the most beautiful cover art in the fantasy genre for Empire of Grass. It remains a pity the rest of the series doesn’t have the Whelan treatment. And one more thing, I can’t praise and thank Tad Williams highly enough for his willingness to include a detailed summary of the previous book at the beginning of each book since Stone of Farewell to this book. Something I wish had become a norm in the genre, and yet it hasn’t. Onward to the review!
“It is not madness, but destiny… The world will be ours again, as it once was. We will go out from this empire of grass with our brave horsemen and fight until the entire world bends its knee to the new Shan. And you and I will be at the very heart of it all.”
Empire of Grass begins immediately from where The Witchwood Crown ended. And honestly speaking, this book took me a long time to finish. Generally speaking, Tad Williams has a writing style that you can’t rush through. They are there with the intention for you to take your time and absorb every word carefully. Beauty prose in slow burn aside, Empire of Grass is the most politically-intrigued-filled story in the entire saga so far. While this eventually reached a brutal crescendo in the last quarter of the book, I must admit it took me longer than I expected to feel truly immersed, especially in Part 1 of the book. Empire of Grass starts strongly, but it was not until we entered Part 2 when Unver’s story started to be involved in the narrative as well, that I felt compelled.
“And the strong never need to silence the weak, or they prove that they are the truly weak ones. Now, do you have the fortitude to listen to me, or do you need to complain a bit longer about how poorly everyone treats you?”
In Empire of Grass, Tad Williams developed the new characters extensively more than the returning characters. This doesn’t mean the characters from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy weren’t important to the overall storyline, but a part of me did wish we get to see more of them in actions and being dominant. Simon, in particular, felt like he did not do anything at all except whine in Empire of Grass. On one hand, I understand the feeling of longing for the past and simpler times, but at the same time, I cannot help but feel it is time for him to take charge as a leader. The new characters introduced, however, are a different story. I loved their character development so much. Morgan was one of the most annoying and infuriating characters I’ve come across in the genre. I knew since The Witchwood Crown that this was intentional from Tad’s end, though, as he needs this background and personality to develop into a more mature character. No, Morgan is not there yet. But the suffering and hardship he endured are starting to put him on that trajectory. Unver’s storyline was straight-up unputdownable from the beginning to the end. I loved every chapter and storyline of his, and although you can read his story without reading Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy first, the impact would not be as powerful. Now that I’ve read The Witchwood Crown and Empire of Grass, I want to emphasize more that it is mandatory to read the first series in Osten Ard Saga before tackling The Last King of Osten Ard.
“Porto said nothing. He knew from long experience that when men with swords and axes came for you, God’s name in your heart was not enough to keep you safe. The deaths of far too many godly men had proved that to him.”
Another reason why I recommend this is due to the rehash of two events from The Dragonbone Chair. One is Morgan and Tanahaya’s story in Da’ai Chikiza, and the other is the Siege of Naglimund. I know what you’re thinking. You might think… isn’t this just like how Star Wars: The Force Awakens repeated the story structure from Star Wars: A New Hope for safety measures? That might be correct on some level. But the way I see it, Tad Williams is strengthening the theme that war is never over. It is delayed. After decades of peace in the land of Osten Ard, it’s very likely the war that will engulf Simon and his friends will be as destructive, or maybe even more, than the war with Ineluki, The Storm King. Additionally, I need to make it clear that despite the few repetitions, the narrative did not feel boring for it. It felt organic and genuine to the theme and storyline structure.
“You were right, Himano, my dear master, when you told me that we learn best only by understanding how little we know.”
I honestly believe Tad Williams, and especially The Last King of Osten Ard series, can be categorized as an underrated author and series. The Last King of Osten Ard is, by far, less popular compared to Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, and after reading the intricate details and sprawling epic that Tad Williams put on the pages of Empire of Grass, I can say more than ever that he is one of the master world-builders out there. His fame and skill should be up there with George R. R. Martin. Remember, this is a series that is published three decades after the completion Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, the progression and the things we learned about The Witchwood Crown, the Sithi, the Norns, Hakatri, Ineluki, and Asua/Hayholt—the source of many problems—continue to amaze me. It felt like Tad Williams never left Osten Ard, and he’s sharing his grand vision of his saga more with this installment.
“We are all in a story—existence is a story. What sort of a story, though, is not always clear to those who live inside it. That is what a scholar is, someone who tries to see the shape of all stories, both the small ones that are tales of people or places, and the larger one that we all share, the story of everything that is.”
There aren’t many more things I can divulge without turning this review into a spoiler review. There are still so many elements and key points I haven’t touched upon in this review yet. But I will leave you with this. As I said at the beginning of this review, based on where Empire of Grass ended, The Last King of Osten Ard is destined to be a series darker than its predecessor. The climax sequences were purely intense chaos as every single character got submerged in a flood of pain and destruction. While in its entirety, I did not love Empire of Grass as much as The Witchwood Crown and Brothers of the Wind, the climax sequence is one of the most breathtaking sequence out of every book in the saga so far, and I’m incredibly excited to find out how the storyline will evolve in Into the Narrowdark and The Navigator’s Children, especially after that evil cliffhanger.
“Wits. Planning. Surprise, he told himself. Those are the tools by which the small can defeat even the greatest enemies.”
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