Customer Reviews

The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light & Shadow, Book 1)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Curse of the Mistwraith is the start of a grand, sweeping epic. It teeters on the edge of traditional high fantasy with its sorcerers, princes, and world-shaking problems. Nonetheless Janny Wurts presides over it all with a firm grasp on her interwoven plots, three-dimensional characters, and lyrical writing.

This book is not for all. You can be easily lost in the complexity of her language, instead of moved by it, and the fine detail--from every perspective imaginable--that prevents this from becoming a typical quest story also causes events to drag their feet along, leaving you impatient with an urge to flip ahead. This is not light reading; prepare to spend time delving into each page, each paragraph, each word. Janny Wurts has spent time building this story, and she lovingly uncovers each aspect of it at her own pace.

I obviously enjoyed this book; it was sprinkled through with humor and followed by a glossary that makes the created words less daunting, it was relished during a time when I needed a slow, deep read. There are times when I have to wince at the overworn ideas--light versus shadow, the power of music--but I closed the back cover with the urge to search out the sequel.

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.

I had held off reading Janny Wurts in part because of her past association with Raymond Feist: I assumed this would be more lightweight and, if at times engaging, conventional fare similar to that author's writing (Apologies in advance to Feist fans; his books, though found simple, can be fun). However, Wurt's efforts here are far more ambitious---some might say overly so. After a rather awkward, sketchily limned and shifting start in the first fifty pages---additionally marred by the shadows of Mearth that bear too close a resemblance to Jordan's Shadar Logoth to be entirely comfortable---upon arrival in Athera the story begins to quickly settle in to an expansive and largely inventive plot. While many traditional conventions abound, Wurts has broadly recontextualized many, while creating a tale as tangled in subplots as say Jordan's, but that forges ahead at a far more brisk pace.

Densely descriptive and extravagantly detailed, the writing at times wearies, as would a constant diet of richly seasoned food, yet never entirely disengages interest. Rarely will one find anything said simply or directly. As another reviewer implies, this may lead some to conclude that the style of writing at times verges on being over-written, and I myself would have welcomed a more judicious use of language. Nonetheless, one is forced to admire the breadth of the author's use of words, as well as the energy behind its application, a descriptive rhythm that punctuates the entire narrative and is nothing if not varied and elaborately realized. Whether or not it becomes too much I'll leave for the individual reader to decide; one person's stylistic extravagance may become another's aesthetic valuable.

This is a book brimming with energy and a desire to tell a much multi-faceted tale. There is enough lore and magic here to fill several volumes of some other authors' works. While without further expansion this compression might prove a fault, I suspect in the volumes to follow that the author will elaborate upon the many themes and plot threads she has initially sown, and look forward to their maturation. Since I've already gone out and purchased the next installment, that should say it all.

This series is really wonderful! It's great in that it does not follow the typical fantasy formula. Rather, it's hero is unlike any other I've seen (suicidal, something of a recluse) whose life, everytime something starts to go his way, gets even worse. The villain is also unusual, being charming and charismatic and growing ever more evil (I won't tell anymore lest I spoil the plot). Most of the characters are well-rounded and dynamic, and the book has great continuity (you'll find that minor characters mentioned in book one will reappear in book four). Wurts has splendid descriptions, especially of the sea (a major setting throughout the series). She also has managed the fine art of comic relief, allowing humourous pasages to offset the more serious without making the entire book just a recitation of jokes. The rest of the series is even better, creating a wonderfully complex, thought out plot.

I first read Janny's work when she collaborated with Raymond Fiest for the Daughter of the Empire books.
Let me just say if you prefer a simple easy-to-read book do not read this book.
I'm reading this for the second time in order to finally read it's sequals and it is rare for me to forget so much of a novel as I did with this book. Not because it was forgetable, but because Janny Wurts is so detailed in her craft that her books simply cannot be read once and understood completely.
Janny Wurts truly cares about these characters you can tell by how she depicits them. She shows all their good and bad sides with equal care and skill. No sloppiness or tangents of petty and uninteresting behaviour. Even when a character who was once good, goes bad you can still feel for them and understand why and what led them there. These people are real and yet also not real as they exist in a world where magic is real.
If you enjoy the kind of depth that brings tears to your eyes as well as a well crafted world full of characters of good, bad and those torn between the two you will enjoy this book and the ones to follow.

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.

CotM is the start of Janny Wurt's incredible, beautiful, moving series "The War of Light and Shadows". Each book builds and builds on the previous books in the series. Rereading CotM reveals hidden nuggets of information that can be pieced with snippets from here and there to build a picture of the overall story, which -- knowing how twisted this story is -- is probably all wrong! But that's part of the joy and magic in this series. Just like Arithon's character there are layers upon layers and twists within twists.

CotM, by necessity, has a lot of setup information. And *nothing* is irrelevant information -- the more you read, the more you see this is true. I particularly liked the opening, with the reader thrown right into the midst of what seems to be the story, and I was surprised to discover the motivation behind Arithon's early antagonistic actions. Not your usual fantasy hero. In fact, this series takes many of the usual fantasy notions and stands them on their heads. It is a series tailormade for philosophical debate, though that shouldn't stop anyone from just enjoying it! Janny's words make beautiful pictures, just like her cover paintings.

I have generally avoided fantasy, having concluded that most of it is just rip-offs of "The Lord of the Rings" (which I dearly loved). The WoLaS is not a LotR clone; it is, however, the only work I would mention in the same sentence.

I thought that this was a good book. I enjoyed the challenge of the language. I felt like it was written at a higher level than other books with the word choice, sentence structure, etc. I also like how the characters were developed--both corporeal and noncorporeal ones. There were many times when I just laughed aloud at the dialogue and actions of certain characters. The only thing that I did not like about the book is that I felt "dropped" into the world. With other series, the author usually provides a map and introduces the kind of magic and how it is used. After reading book 1, I still do not feel like I totally understand the world that she is having us inhabit. Hopefully, book 2 will make it clearer. This book is definitely one that needs to be read in long sittings--10 to 15 minutes a sitting will just leave you more confused and lost than if you can devote 30 minutes to an hour. Enjoy!

Despite the difficult language of this book I enjoyed it very much. I liked the idea of a fantasy series based on two people who manage to liberate a world dominated by the mistwraith and after being cursed by it, manage to turn the world into chaos. It is so unlike the idea of some other series where some hapless mortals are fighting against a 'big baddie'. I also found the characters very life-like, and many of them very likeable. Despite the books grim contents it is often very funny, especially in the scenes whe Dakar is involved. The one thing that does marr this book is its complex and difficult language. I had to use a dictionary to look up a lot of words, and normally I don't have to do that often. I also had to re-read several sentences to work out their meaning. This is a book that you have to spend a long time reading.

The Mistwraith has blanketed the world in dank fog for five centuries. But those who believe the Mad Prophet's words keep faith that a descendant of the long ago banished high kings will come from another world to defeat it. Arithon, the son of a pirate-king, has been trained to be a Master of Shadows but his hearts desire is to be a bard. Crown-prince Lysaer has been denied the teaching needed to skillfully wield his powers of light, but is schooled in way of politics and leadership. Despite having the same mother, these princes have been raised as enemies and their personal passions may plunge the very world which is their destiny to save into even deadlier conflicts.

The Curse of the Mistwraith sets the stage for The WarS of Light and Shadow series which is finally being re-released in North America. This is the most unique storyline I've ever read that falls within the realm of traditional high fantasy. (In fact, it's so good that it's made it tougher for other books to get five stars from me.)

Janny Wurts is also a famous fantasy artist and it's as if she uses those same artistic instincts for light and color to create these awe-inspiring tales. She combines vibrant words with a unique prose that paints a story as much as tells a tale. Her writing has a spellbinding elegance that works perfectly for a fantasy story. This world and story is so life-like, that it easily felt like I was really there. The system of magic is very detailed and believable, but still inspires that sense of wonder. The characters are so endearing that their tragedies are truly heart-wrenching and their triumphs heart-warming.

Consider yourself warned; this series requires more commitment than the usual big epics, but its well-worth it and then some. I'm chomping at the bit to start the next book, Ships of Merior, and I know I'll fondly miss this world and these people when it's over. Fantasy doesn't get any more captivating than this, which is a good thing because if it did, I might not be able to bring myself back to reality!