The Splintered Sun

'ONE OF MY FAVOURITE FANTASY SERIES.' GEORGE R. R. MARTINBestselling Tad Williams delivers a thrilling new tale set in his legendary world of Osten Ard, set 300 years before the events of The Dragonbone Chair, book one of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. A fearless bandit and his band of misfit rebels navigate a kingdom menaced by dark sorcery and war in this fast-moving epic fantasy by an author who inspired a generation of fantasy authors, among them George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and Christopher Paolini. Vedra and Daley are fugitives, two children, one with a strange and powerful gift. When their flight ends in capture, they are claimed by Flann's Crows, Osten Ard's most infamous band of outlaws and the children must learn to survive or be swallowed whole. As whispers of a deadly plot coil around the throne of Hernystir, the Crows are drawn into a game far deadlier than bandit raids and border skirmishes. An immortal exile - ancient, dangerous, burdened with secrets that refuse to die - offers alliance. To trust him may mean salvation. To refuse him may doom the realm. For in the deep forests and ruined places of the old world, something stirs. Oaths will be broken. Blood will answer blood. And two hunted children may hold the fate of a kingdom in their trembling hands. Before legend, before ruin - there was the beginning... Packed with action, unforgettable characters, and the sweeping imagination that has made Tad Williams one of fantasy's most beloved voices, this is Osten Ard as you've never seen it before. Praise for Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and the world of Osten Ard:'Tad Williams is a master storyteller, and the Osten Ard books are his masterpiece.' Brandon Sanderson'Groundbreaking.' Patrick Rothfuss'One of the great fantasy epics of all time.' Christopher Paolini