Shadowrise by Tad Williams

Last week, I posted news about Tad Williams.

The final book in his Shadow trilogy, Shadowrise, will be split, the two volumes publishing within several months of one another.

Now we know what to expect when it comes to size of volumes—and why the final volume is being split!

From Tad:

“At present, the full last piece (two volumes, now) is at about 1300 manuscript pages, with another two hundred perhaps to come. That means about 750 pages each in first draft for the new, split books. The first two books published were each about 800 or so in manuscript, so we’re talking about two more very similar sized volumes to Shadowmarch and Shadowplay.”

Wow! Now we can see exactly why the books had to be split. Tad simply has too much content to fit comfortably into a single hardcover novel. I’m happy to see Tad and Daw Books doing this. My poor copy of To Green Angel Tower—the last overly massive finish to a trilogy Tad wrote—has not weathered time well on my shelf!

Gravity, gravity, gravity.

Shadowrise has a tentative release date on Amazon as Feberuary 2, 2010. Now, I know not to trust Amazon. But if Tad has only 200 manuscript pages left to write, he could probably finish the series by the end of the year, allowing for enough editing time to turn in that fourth book in and get it out within months of February.

Deborah. I know you are out there! Talk to us! Possible release date? Will the final two volumes be called Shadowrise Part I & II, or will they have separate titles?

Stay tuned!