Tad Williams

Tad Williams is an American writer born on March 14 1957 in San Jose, California. He an international bestselling science and fantasy fiction author of the multivolume Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, Shadow March series, Other land series and the standalone novels The War of Flowers, Tailchaser's Song, Caliban's Hour and Child of the Ancient City. His short fiction and science essays have been published in several anthologies Cumulatively, more than 17 million copies of Tad Williams' works have already been sold.

The best place to start is the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, the earliest of Tad Williams's multi-book series: it opens with The Dragonbone Chair (1988) and runs to 4 books across 1988–1993, ending with To Green Angel Tower, Part 2 (1993). Tad Williams's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Tad Williams has 71 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1985 and 2026. 43 of them belong to 9 named series — the largest being The Last King of Osten Ard series with 6 books — and 28 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Tad Williams's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (1988–1993, 4 books), Otherland (1996–2001, 4 books) and Shadowmarch (2004–2010, 4 books), plus 4 more.

This guide splits Tad Williams's 71 books into 9 named series and 28 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The Last King of Osten Ard (6 books, 2017–2024); Bobby Dollar (4 books, 2012–2014); Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (4 books, 1988–1993); Otherland (4 books, 1996–2001); Shadowmarch (4 books, 2004–2010), plus 4 further series.