Reading order
The Last King of Osten Ard reading order
1
2
3- 4 volumes
- Volumes
- 2017–2023
- Published
- about 55 h
- Reading time
- Ongoing
- Status
Quick answer
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Publication order
4 volumes2017–2023Ongoing
- Start with The Heart of What Was Lost, which is short and sits between the old trilogy and this one — it closes the war Memory, Sorrow and Thorn ended on and introduces the shape of what follows.
- Then The Witchwood Crown, Empire of Grass, Into the Narrowdark and The Navigator's Children.
- And know what you are joining: this is a sequel written thirty years later to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, it assumes you read that trilogy, and Williams does not stop to remind you who anyone is.
- If you have not, start there instead — The Dragonbone Chair is the first book of it.
A plan for the whole series
5 volumes, 3,008 pages, about 55 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 11 weeks.
- The series is still running; the last volume came out in 2023. You will wait for the next one anyway, so no need to rush.
Stages
4 stages, with 3 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around January 22, 2027, 11 days later than in one go.
- Stage 118 habout 3 weeksby November 21, 2026
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 213 h17 daysby December 12, 2026
- 2. Empire of Grass
- Short breakThe Emperor's Soul · Brandon Sanderson · 96 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 311 h15 daysby December 30, 2026
- 3. Into the Narrowdark
- Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.4
- Stage 414 h18 daysby January 22, 2027
- 4. The Navigator’s Children
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
No volume in this series has enough ratings to enter a ranking yet, so the list carries no scores — the order and the volumes are still complete.
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which The Last King of Osten Ard book is the longest?
“The Navigator’s Children” is the longest at 752 pages; the shortest is “The Heart of What Was Lost” with 224 pages.
What should I read after The Last King of Osten Ard?
Other series by Tad Williams: Otherland, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Shadowmarch.
