EMPIRE OF GRASS

The shelf-bending second installment in Williams’ Last King of
Osten Ard saga (after The Witchwood Crown, 2017) exemplifies the
very best—and worst—that epic fantasy has to offer.

The novel begins with Osten Ard—which is inhabited by mortals
and a variety of fantastical races—in flux. Although the kingdoms and factions
are seemingly at peace, increasing political tensions and deep-seated animosity
have turned the continent into a powder keg about to explode into all-out war.
When King Simon’s grandson and heir to the throne, Prince Morgan, is thought to
be kidnapped by savage “grasslanders” and his wife, Queen Miriamele, is caught
up in a violent uprising while attending a wedding in far-off Nabban, he is
left alone to deal with the chaos closing in around him. The nomadic
grasslanders have a new leader who is uniting the clans for war, and the
near-immortal Norns are inexplicably gathering and following their ageless
queen into Hayholt, King Simon’s home. Williams initially braids together the
multiple plot threads adeptly—an impressive feat when considering the
multitude of characters he’s following. The grand-scale storytelling, however,
does become unwieldy in extended sequences, and that narrative bloat negatively
impacts the book’s momentum. Additionally, the ending is not a conclusion at
all but a respite. Readers who have spent countless hours immersed in this
story may be less than pleased with the abrupt stoppage. But the inconsistent
pacing and unsatisfying ending are more than counterbalanced by deep character
development, impressive plot intricacy, and rich worldbuilding. The extensive
histories and mythologies that Williams has created in this realm (beginning in
1988 with The Dragonbone Chair) are comparable to fantasy’s most
meticulously rendered realms, like Tolkien’s Middle-earth and Martin’s
Westeros.

Pure, unadulterated epic fantasy—this 600-plus-page doorstopper
will leave readers simultaneously satisfied and frustrated knowing how long
they’ll have to wait to find out what transpires next in the sprawling realm of
Osten Ard.