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    The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard
    Unavailable
    The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard
    Unavailable
    The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard

    Written by Tad Williams

    Narrated by Andrew Wincott

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The perfect introduction to the epic fantasy world of Osten Ard, The Heart of What Was Lost is Tad Williams' follow-up to his internationally bestselling landmark trilogy. Osten Ard inspired a generation of modern fantasy writers, including George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, and Christopher Paolini, and defined Tad Williams as one of the most important fantasy writers of our time. 





    A NOVEL OF OSTEN ARD

    At the end of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Ineluki the Storm King, an undead spirit of horrifying, demonic power, came within moments of stopping Time itself and obliterating humankind. He was defeated by a coalition of mortal men and women joined by his own deathless descendants, the Sithi.

    In the wake of the Storm King's fall, Ineluki's loyal minions, the Norns, dark cousins to the Sithi, choose to flee the lands of men and retreat north to Nakkiga, their ancient citadel within the hollow heart of the mountain called Stormspike. But as the defeated Norns make their way to this last haven, the mortal Rimmersman Duke Isgrimnur leads an army in pursuit, determined to end the Norns' attacks and defeat their ageless Queen Utuk'ku for all time.

    Two southern soldiers, Porto and Endri, joined the mortal army to help achieve this ambitious goal-though as they venture farther and farther into the frozen north, braving the fierce resistance and deadly magics of the retreating Norns, they cannot help but wonder what they are doing so very far from home. Meanwhile, the Norns must now confront the prospect of extinction at the hands of Isgrimnur and his mortal army.

    Viyeki, a leader of the Norns' military engineers, the Order of Builders, desperately seeks a way to help his people reach their mountain-and then stave off the destruction of their race. For the two armies will finally clash in a battle to be remembered as the Siege of Nakkiga; a battle so strange and deadly, so wracked with dark enchantment, that it threatens to destroy not just one side but quite possibly all.

    Trapped inside the mountain as the mortals batter at Nakkiga's gates, Viyeki the Builder will discover disturbing secrets about his own people, mysteries both present and past, represented by the priceless gem known as The Heart of What Was Lost.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 3, 2017
    ISBN9781524735456
    Unavailable
    The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard
    Author

    Tad Williams

    Tad Williams is a New York Times and London Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction, with novels translated into more than twenty languages and a global readership. He hosted a syndicated radio show for over a decade, co-created the first completely interactive television program, and is currently involved in film, television, comic books, computer games and other multimedia projects. He and his family live in California.

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    Reviews for The Heart of What Was Lost

    4/5

    46 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      At last, the return to Osten Ard! At first it took me a while to get back into the 'feel' of Osten Ard and the author's style, but it wasn't long before I fell right in. This book is set immediately after the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. The humans forces, led by Duke Isgrimnur, are chasing the Norns back to their northern fortress. Many of the characters from the previous trilogy don't appear in this book, but they aren't necessary. A little bit of the previous story sets the tone and scope, but mostly this book stands on its own. In the process we learn quite a bit more about the Norns as a people. This is a short book compared to the others, but it is of a sufficient length to tell a good story and is in the best Tad William's style.
    • 5/5
      This is a great story for preparing readers of the original series for the Osten Ard series to come. Tad Williams takes some time to revisit a part of the story many might not have been that concerned about but he does so by explaining why you should be. In this tale you will learn more about the mysterious Norns then probably all of the first trilogy, which leads me to wonder about their role in the future. In addition, you get a backstory for someone who will probably be important in the new series. Finally, some old dear friends return to remind you of why you loved the world in the first place.
    • 5/5
      t's been about twenty years since I read the the original Memory, Thorn and Sorrow books, although I certainly have fond memories of them. I find Tad Williams' can vary in style and narrative style, some far too wordy, others just right and he's at his best in the traditional fantasy genre (in my opinion).This looks like a fairly small book compared to the originals and it is indeed shorter, however it's a little deceiving since the font size packs a considerable amount of text on to a single page. The style is broken up intermittently with the words of a chronicler, which serves almost to summarise or break the passing of time, however for the most this is a tale of soldiers and war.After a tricky start (it continues straight after the last cycle, so if you are rusty there is an appendix to help, but I found it better just to plough on) it's soon apparent that Williams has played a clever ace card. The story is balanced between fairy and human, with both points of view offered. You should be sympathizing with both factions, for both warring sides believe they are fighting for the right reasons. This plot will keep you going until the final chapter.A welcome return to the genre, book that will rekindle your interest in a world that has lain dormant for too long. A tough start as it lays the foundations, however once past the first fifth it will have you captivated with easy to imagine action and characters.
    • 4/5
      Following directly on the heels of [Memory, Sorrow and Thorn], this novella follows Duke Isgrimnur's pursuit of the remaining Norns to their city of Nakkiga. In a break from the previous books, however, we have an empathic POV not only with the humans but also the Norns, giving a balance that did not exist in the trilogy. Note that Simon and Miriamele and the rest down at the Hayholt are mentioned in passing but not present. It was very interesting and good reading, but also a lot of money for such a short book. On the other hand, Williams gave us so many pages for the money in the earlier books...I'm looking forward to the first book in the new series, [The Last King of Osten Ard], coming out later this year.
    • 5/5
      The Memory Sorrow and Thorn trilogy had a richness in tone and atmosphere that was never equalled by the Shadowmarch series, a paler cousin, and I feared Tad Williams would not be able to recapture it. Somehow he's done it. 'Melancholy' has been cited by others as the key ingredient, and that is here again with both the Northmen and the Norns endlessly reflecting on losses and the lost, in a frozen land of ruins. I've not been to the world of Osten Ard since the 1990s, but I remember the Norns as intimidating and mysterious. Williams strips all of that away by providing their perspective, and I was disappointed at first to find them almost conventional until, as intended, they gradually won my sympathy and more aspects of their culture were shared. I was further satisfied thanks to soldier Porto's viewpoint as he struggles to reassure Endri, demonstrating that the Norns are no less mysterious or frightening to the mortals than they ever were, even though we as readers can now see past the veil. Acts of desperation on one side are suspected as ruses or traps by the other, realistically displaying the effects of fear and caution, and finally all my qualms were put to rest. The Norns are still a nasty piece of work.In a shorter work like this, Williams' primary fault (slow pacing) vanishes. The plot moves quickly, and halfway through I began to realize this story had more to say than I'd expected. The wrap-up is stellar, even if it was designed to be a setup for the next trilogy, and this serves as an excellent standalone. My takeaway is this is 1990s fantasy with a new shine, impeccably told, and maybe Tad Williams' best thing ever. If I continue to lament the typical results of authors returning to beloved fantasy worlds decades later, usually making a hash of it, I'll have to note this exception. Osten Ard is back.
    • 5/5
      This book sat on my shelves for a couple years after its publication, not due to any disinterest, but because the author had set such a high standard with his previous trilogy Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. So I started reading it with a little trepidation, afraid of ruining my memories of the volumes that preceded it.And my belief that Tad Williams is a superb author was vindicated.The Heart of What Was Lost is a short(er) follow-up to his massive masterpiece, and it's worthy: the narrative and characters draw you in from the first page, pull you close, and don't let you go until you find out what happens. There is tragedy, anguish, horrifying deeds, triumphs, yet the descriptions of battles are never more graphic than is necessary to tell the tale.Fantastic follow-up, Mr. Williams, thank you.
    • 5/5
      I read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series back in 2012, and while I didn't absolutely love it, I still have pretty good memories of it. I was excited to hear that the author was finally going to be returning to the world of Osten Ard with a whole bunch of new books, beginning with this short novel – The Heart of What Was Lost.At the end of To Green Angel Tower, the Norns have been defeated at Hayholt, but wars are not generally over with a single decisive battle. As the Norns retreat, they pillage and destroy villages, and the new king sends his armies to make sure the Norns don't bother his kingdom again. This novel tells the story of the actual end of the war from different perspectives – the commander of the human army Duke Isgrimnur (who was pretty prominent in the original trilogy), human soldier Porto, who is far from home, and Norn engineer Viyeki, who is with the force retreating from Hayholt.This is very much a grim war book, and it made for more intense reading than I expected. It was very interesting to see a Norn viewpoint – they were faceless implacable enemies previously, and now we know a lot more about their culture and motivations. They're the ones we end up rooting for (despite some horrible acts they commit), because the alternative seems to be genocide, and now that we know they're not just evil killing machines, they don't deserve that.I think this book would work perfectly well as a standalone and as an introduction to the world of Osten Ard. I didn't remember much of the events of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, and I thought it was a complete story. Having said that, I liked the complexity that it added to the ending of the original series, one of my biggest complaints was that everything was tied up far too neatly in To Green Angel Tower. And the ending of The Heart of What Was Lost is most definitely not "happily ever after" – it makes me look forward to reading The Witchwood Crown (the first book of the new trilogy) when it comes out later this year. I'm especially excited that Viyeki is confirmed to be in it.