It seems a no brainer but worth saying that if you're a fan of Williams and have followed his Osten Ard world since Dragonbone Chair then there really isn't any reason not to plunge into this return to that world. This is the third volume so even if you haven't read the original Trilogy (four in paperback) you'll want to start with Witchwood Crown. In typical Williams style there is a fourth volume in this Trilogy to come! This is a world worth investing time in!

This is a very huge book and an excellent fantasy book. I recently discovered this author and I'm more than happy I could immerse myself into the world of Osten Ard.
Please not that this is the first part of the final instalment and I can't wait to read the next book.
The author deliver a great story and I loved it since the initial recap. The recap it also made me understand how many characters and twists were in this series and this book is also full of actions and twists.
Excellent storyteller, great plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Imagine holding this behemoth of a book, cracking it open to the Author note, and then realizing you are only holding *half* of the final part. In typical Tad fashion, he's managed to out-pace his peers in high-quality writing. I'm a little greedy. More Tad is always a good thing but I was so eager to find out how this "trilogy" was going to end.

Recently, Stranger Things season 4 was released on Netflix in two parts. The last few, longer episodes were met with heavy criticism over the branched-out storylines. The quantity of cast members pales in comparison to all of the characters that we follow through Osten Ard but at multiple points I found myself thinking there were pacing issues which was the same argument the show had. In our book, we cut back and forth between events that occur over a few hours to events that span several days. The story isn't time-dependent but it did pull me out when I realized how little time passed between events for characters I last read about ages ago compared to others. This isn't a constant but was noticeable enough for me.

An event occurs. I can tell you exactly where because it is well placed in the story but I'll leave the mystery for the readers so I don't spoil anything. This had a huge impact on me. It's also the clearest indicator of how different is from his contemporaries. I thought of Martin, and of Abercrombie, and a little bit of Rothfuss and Sanderson. Ultimately, Tad is Tad. He's true to himself and to the story he's telling and I think it ended up being more exciting the way it plays out.

One of the Villains gets to have an evil, gloating, Bond Movie-like reveal. Their motivations were shrug-worthy. With everything else that goes on in the Osten Ard universe, it didn't seem like that big of a deal to set them on their path. Of course, to them it's everything.

Numerous characters are faced with the uncertainty of their actions. Others are running straight from peril to peril. I don't think I can openly predict what the conclusion of all this will be. There are too many threads that can take us to any number of places. I have an assumption of at least one unresolved token that I think I can see. For the larger story, no clue. Where are we headed with all of this?

I'm holding my tongue here.

I enjoyed this book much more than the last. Hopefully, we don't have to wait too long for the true conclusion.

Well, we’ve arrived at the third book in the series and, like To Green Angel Tower before it, it is split into two parts because there is just too much plot to be contained into one novel.

At the end of the previous book, things were starting to look bleak for the characters and things don’t get too much better in this book. Simon is desolate because he thinks Miri is dead, Pasevalles is putting his evil schemes into full swing and the immortals are coming. It’s all very exciting.

I enjoyed book two but after reading Into the Narrowdark it felt very much like a massive set up for this book. Everything has kicked up a notch and it makes for excellent reading. Williams always has a way of keeping you interested in his stories, even when they are very, very long. He can be very prosaic and wordy in a Tolkien kind of way, with songs and all, but it never really distracts from the overall plot and the story moves along at a pleasing pace so it never feels like it is getting bogged down or dull.

And I still love the characters. I have a soft spot for Simon and Miri from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and but I also enjoy reading all the new characters. Williams is good at making you love the characters that you’re supposed to like and detest the evil characters to the point you can’t wait for them to eventually get their comeuppance. That’s still to come for those characters but I am looking forward to when it does happen.

Into the Narrowdark feels like the darkest point before the dawn, where it all feels hopeless and the characters we have grown to love are nowhere near prevailing. I love that part of the story because hopefully part two will bring it all together to complete the story in a satisfying (and hopefully happy) fashion.

I very much enjoyed reading Into the Narrowdark. I enjoy the plot, the characters and Williams always manages to write a pleasing to read story. Bring on the final part because I want to know how it ends.

"We make marks on maps to separate one country from the next, then write treaties to make law of those separations, she thought. But in truth, unless people contest the borders, the differences mean little. Most folk who live on the edges speak the language of both sides, and there is little else to separate one nation's people from another's. So is there something wrong in the way men rule each other? she wondered. Animals walk and birds fly freely from one land to the next and no one thinks to stop them doing it. And God makes no lines across His Heavens-the sky is blue from one horizon to the other with scarcely a difference to be seen, let alone a boundary. And yet His children fight each other to the death over lines they can only imagine." How true is that, especially in the light of nowadays war?

Three years I have waited for this volume. And guess what? Not only it exceeded my expectations, but there will be a fourth volume! No matter how long are Tad Williams' stories, they are never boring, and the writing is exquisite. Nothing is left to chance, every character is perfectly shaped, every aspect is thoroughly detailed, and there is no info dump whatsoever. Of course, this is just my opinion, as a die-hard fan of his works.

This third part is the quiet before the storm - literary and figuratively speaking. Queen Utuk'ku has rebuilt the army, and has one more Ace left in her sleeve, which I think will turn against her, if I'm not mistaken - I can hardly wait to see if I guessed correctly. The royal family is still scattered, false news are all over, and Pasevalles is joining my most-hated-characters-ever list, beside Reynonds' Skade and Watts' Desjardins.

Some from the enemies' side turn out to be not really enemies, and a few grow on you page by page. There are quite a few unexpected twists, some questions answered but more have arisen, and a bigger mystery is waiting to be discovered in the next and final volume, which I think will be even more epic than the last volume in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. But I truly wish that further books will be written in this saga; I'm not ready to leave Osten Ard yet.