Tad Williams’ first book in Osten Ard launched Simon—a kitchen boy “mooncalf”—on an adventure that would change his world and the world around him. I read that first four-book trilogy (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower in Bible College, a mere mooncalf myself!

Decades later Williams picked up his pen and revisited the story. Instead of picking up where he left off, he let the decades in Osten Ard pass by as well. None but the ageless Sithi and Norns remained the same. The second trilogy (again, published in four books), is centred on another cataclysmic event. The series reaches it’s oh-so-satisfying conclusion in The Navigator’s Children.

The Osten Ard timeline of the second trilogy is brilliant. In the first series, Williams shows how Simon grew from a kitchen boy to a hero—a king. Then, Williams passes the challenges and inevitable disenchantment of Simon’s adulthood in silence. The second trilogy begins with a jaded King Simon and Queen Miriamele dealing with the frustrations of holding the High Ward together as alliances fall apart. The characterization of Simon in the second trilogy is just as rich. We begin with a disenchanted, glum, Simon and end with renewed hope.

Simon’s son, the apathetic and debaucherous Morgan, is another masterclass in development. His redemption in Navigator’s Children is deeply satisfying. On the one hand, his path is his own. In broader perspective, the Aldheorte forest works its magic on Morgan just as it did to his father in the first trilogy.

This book is not perfect. Perhaps it’s my recent immersion in world of Malazan speaking, but it felt like Williams took it too easy on the reader. There were times when characters got together to talk about mysteries and it felt like William was just using the occasion to remind the reader of what’s happened and make the foreshadowing obvious.

That said, Osten Ard is not Malazan, and it’s immense strengths lie in other areas. I’ve heard that William is still writing in Osten Ard, just a different era. This (former?) mooncalf will be first in line.

Williams, Tad. The Navigator’s Children. New York: DAW Books, 2024. The Last King of Osten Ard 4.