Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is probably my all-time favorite fantasy series and I’ve wanted to read Tad Williams’ more recent novels returning to Osten Ard, but I’ve been a little daunted by having to read through the series again. Brothers of the Wind felt like a good first step in that direction, as it’s a stand-alone prequel set 1,000 years before the novels. I did pay full price for this at the bookstore due to finishing Dune earlier than I thought and foolishly not bringing a backup book, but I enjoyed it enough to not regret my oversight that much.
Brothers of the Wind is a classic high fantasy focusing on the adventures of Kes and his Zida’ya (elf) Master, Hakatri. This is mainly a quest narrative, with Kes narrating the journey that Hakatri and his brother Ineluki set out on to slay a dragon at the request of some mortal men. Things start going sideways very quickly due to Ineluki’s impetuous nature. Kes is a Tinukeda’ya (Changeling) and he serves Hakatri as his armiger/squire. The Tinukeda’ya race serves the Zida’ya and Kes is as high as any of his people have been in memory on the servant ladder, with Hakatri treating him basically as an equal to his thinking. A lot of this book is focused on a colonized slave class thinking that they’re doing well because they’re being treated politely while they’re actually enslaved and being denied their own history, which was a theme I though Williams handled well and allowed to slowly unveil itself during the course of the story. The narrative moves along well and I thought the bits with the dragon were legitimately scary and tense. Williams continues to be one of my favorite writers — his worldbuilding is so deep and densely populated, and the world he creates always shows up strongly in my head. I feel very fully immersed in these books, to the point I nearly missed my transfer stop on the train today.
I did think that while this is a stand-alone, this might not be the best place for new fans to start. It helped me to know what happened 1,000 years in the future and to see the little easter eggs Williams was adding, and I think that made me care about the story more than I might have otherwise. This is a very melancholy book with a lot of themes of fate, decay, and the sort of vibe of the leaves whistling across the stone paths of the half-abandoned elf cities in Lord of the Rings. It’s a moment of transition and terrible decisions. I enjoyed it but it’s not a cozy novel.