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Title: Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light & Shadow) by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0-451-45416-2 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (51 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Hang in there for the rest ...
Comment: Like many people, it cost me a lot of effort to "plow" through this book. Nevertheless, I was completely swept away by the powerful characters and fascinating story line. This book is unlike any other fantasy book I've read. Although the plot is based on the usual good vs evil, Ms Wurts uncovers very complex themes and heros. One moment you like Lysaer, the next you know that he's turning but you don't want to admit it, and then finally you have to face the fact that he's really not likeable at all. Arithon is equally difficult to make out at first, and needs to grow a reader's trust and respect as he's ever elusive. Yet, although we never find out enough about him, Arithon sweeps us off our feet, like the mysterious boy next door. The Fellowship of Seven are hilarious old men, and my grandpa would have fit right in.
This is a complex book, with many details and it's easy to miss changes in the plot unless you read carefully. However, it is a brilliant set up for the rest of the series, where the characters are further explored, their humanity uncannily realistic and grow into personalities. Readers will learn to love some characters, sympathise with others and dislike a few, as you would in real life.
If you can grit your teeth and cling on to follow the plot through the verbose jungle, then you find your energy and time well spent ... for the rest of the series.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Good Read...With Caveats
Comment: I bought this book because of how much I LOVED Ms. Wurts' collaboration with Raymond Feist on the Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire books. Having run through all of Mr. Feist's offerings I was hungry for more from the pen of a gifted writer and decided to give Ms. Wurts a go. While I did enjoy this book and will likely read more in the series I found myself somewhat disappointed. As others have noted, the language the author uses can be problematic. Often very complicated turns of phrase are used to say something that could perhaps be said more simply and effectively. I often found myself reading passages and thinking "What the heck did I just read?" I also felt that certain relationships and circumstances could have been better developed. For example, it didn't seem to take the two title characters long to put aside their multi-generational blood feud and become congenial traveling companions. I also had to go back and re-read an early segment to figure out just how Lysaer too came to be exiled beyond the World's End Gate. Last I'd read it was only a possibility he "might" be exiled along with Arithon yet, next thing we know he's waking up on Athera. We also listen to Lysaer pining after a princess he left behind on Dascen Elur to whom we were not introduced at all. Had the author spent more time developing these relationships and situations the reader would have been more emotionally invested and ultimately more satisfied with the book. I felt Ms. Wurts didn't give me good enough reasons to care about these characters. As it was, this was like finishing a good ham sandwich yet still being hungry. Conclusion: Raymond Feist Lite.
Rating: 5
Summary: An increadible beginning to an even better series
Comment: Having read a number of opinions on this series, the first thing to say is:
Don't read this just because you liked the Empire series!
I have not read it, therefore I can't make a proper comparison. However, I have read some of Feist's work. It's much more along the lines of adventure stories - fast paced, not terribly introspective, fun, possibly engrossing, but not deep.
This is a very different thing.
The scope of this work is mind-boggling. As I understand it, Janny Wurts had the books planned out very well and worked on the series for twenty years! That care shows.
Firstly, the pace of the book is extraordinarily well modulated. If you were looking for quick catharsis, this is not the book for you. Wurts has you stewing in your own juices in anticipation for the length of entire books (and hers are considerable). Resolutions don't come until your feelings have twisted and turned every which way. You go through the phase of burning anticipation, then the phase of enraged screaming, "Why do I have to wait?! Why can't it just come?!" Well, because in real life, fate doesn't jump to obey your frustrated feelings! In this - realism - Janny is a master. And a torturer :). (But I am what I call a literary masochist, you should know.) When the cathartic moment comes, you are well aware of all the ways things could go wrong. Also, of the fact that so much waiting may have dulled the characters' original drive for the goal. Except nothing is ever dulled in Janny's books.
To play the devil's advacate - and to offer fair warning, I should mention the very few buts. Janny Wurts is very articulate and possesses an astounding bank of vocabulary (I know I learned a lot from her). On occasion, this ability of hers goes a little berserk :). The sentences get to twisty and complicated, to the point where you might have to re-read each one three times. I needed a dictionary by my side, on occasion, too. But, this improves. Everything in Janny's books improves with each volume - it gets better, far better - not worse.
The other small bother is Janny's fondness of lengthy descriptions of magic technique. And I do mean technique. Her magic philosophy is very interesting and very complicated. Since we can't try to follow the directions to weave a spell or ask a rock for its cooperation, we don't really need to know the details of doing that. A few paragraphs sound like a cookbook, a bit. On the whole, though, that is no deterrent.
Onto the pleasant stuff, I adore Janny's exploration of a number of realistic points...
Love that is unbearably poignant, but does not override every other consideration. Unselfish love, so frustrating and painful.
Self-deception. Spell-driven, Lysaer spends a lot of time resetting all events in the world to a point of view that makes a god of him and evil-incarnate of his half-brother, Arithon. Sometimes, his arguements are such a stretch, that you cannot imagine how Lysaer can possible make people believe him. But he does. And if you didn't know better, then he'd make a believe of you, as well. He has that much charisma, conviction, strength of character and oratorical skill.
People who mean well and are good and righteous are not always right. Being a good person does not preclude the possibility of your being misled. So what you have is good people everywhere - on both sides of every battle. The world is nothing but shades of grey. Do you defend the sane cause, which will save lives of people dedicated to protecting the world? Or do you let them die? After all, they are the minority after this much fighting. After all, the other side may be insane and might destroy the world, but they are just people who don't know what they're doing. You see innocents on all sides. But your morals can't bend, because they are not rhetoric, but the absolute last chance of survival this world had.
Well, I cannot go through every wonderful thing this series has. I can say that it is executed beautifully. Of course, there are flaws. Even Robin Hobb has flaws, and her name in my mind is synonymous with infallibility. The point is that the flaws do not detracts from the story. And the story is beautiful and engrossing. Impossible to put down.
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Title: Warhost of Vastmark (Wars of Light and Shadow) by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0061056677 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Grand Conspiracy : Alliance of Light (Alliance of Light) by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0061054666 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Peril's Gate (Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 6) by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0061054674 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 31 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Fugitive Prince (Wars of Light & Shadow) by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0061054682 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Cycle of Fire Trilogy by Janny Wurts ISBN: 0061073555 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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