New York Times-bestselling Tad Williams' ground-breaking epic
fantasy saga of Osten Ard begins an exciting new cycle!
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.
