Product Description

The stunning first volume in Janny Wurts's epic tale of two half-brothers cursed to life-long enmity, now re-released with a striking new cover. The world of Athera lives in eternal fog, its skies obscured by the malevolent Mistwraith. Only the combined powers of two half-brothers can challenge the Mistwraith's stranglehold: Arithon, Master of Shadow and Lysaer, Lord of Light. Arithon and Lysaer will find that they are inescapably bound inside a pattern of events dictated by their own deepest convictions. Yet there is more at stake than one battle with the Mistwraith -- as the sorcerers of the Fellowship of Seven know well. For between them the half-brothers hold the balance of the world, its harmony and its future, in their hands.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22666 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 841 pages

Review
'Astonishingly original and compelling' Raymond E. Feist 'It ought to be illegal for one person to have so much talent' Stephen Donaldson

About the Author
Janny Wurts is the author of the Cycle of Fire series, co-author of the worldwide bestselling Empire series with Raymond E. Feist, and is currently working on the Wars of Light and Shadow series. She often paints her own covers and is also an expert horsewoman, sailor, musician and archer.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant start to an epic series
I picked up this book on the strength of Janny Wurts' collaboration with Raymond Feist on the Empire Trilogy, a series which I greatly enjoyed as an enrichment of Feist's Riftwar Saga. Having never heard of Wurts before I was pleasantly surprised to find her an author of such a weighty tome as Curse of the Mistwraith, being the sort of person that considers a story of less than 500 pages to be a mere novella. Once I'd got past the difficult opening chapters I found myself swept away with the story.

On first impressions Curse seems like a fairly typical tale of a band of unlikely heroes in a quest to beat the bad bad mistraith, known as Deshthiere. But it gradually becomes clear that the necessity to clear the skys of Athera of a sentient fog is only the start of a vast and complex story. The true tale lies in the feud between the half brothers, Lysaer - the Lord of Light - and Arithon - the Master of Shadow.

The Wars of Light and Shadow series really is one of the best conceived series in modern fantasy. Janny claims to have spent about 20 years planning the series before she even started it, and it shows. Her Cycle of Fire series, while good, reads like a practice work compared to this. Some readers have described her as too wordy and at times, perhaps, she does use a more complex word where a simpler one would do, but I think her use of advanced vocabulary just enriches the experience of the reader.

You will experience the agonies of Arithon as he tries to come to terms with a fate that he abhors. You will also develop sympathies with Lysaer, the unwitting tool of Deshthiere - Janny does her best to make you appreciate how much a tool his is and also how great a ruler he could have become had he not been enmeshed in Deshthiere's curse.

This book forms a prelude to the Wars of Light and Shadow series and sets the scene by describing the origins of the mistraith, how it might be undone, and the consequences of trying to defeat it. The following books - Ships of Merior, Warhost of Vastmark, and the Alliance of Light triogy fully explore the consequences of the events in this book. I dare you to read Curse and not want to rush out and buy the rest of the series.

Absolutely beautiful
I went into a local bookstore with the honest intention of buying the new John Grisham thriller. For some inexplicable (but highly fortunate) reason, I went over to the sci-fi and fantasy rack and picked up Curse of the Mistwraith. I didn't particularly like the cover, and I wasn't especially thrilled by the synopsis on the back of the book. But I bought it, took it home, began to read it and finished it the next day. I then proceeded to read it again. When I realised it was part of a series, I went back to the bookstore and bought the rest in a rather glassy-eyed daze. All I can say is that it's absolutely beautiful. The language is rich and flowing (though I sometimes feel Ms Wurts studies too hard for words of four syllables) and the characters are complex, three dimensional and interesting. There are so many sub-plots and dramas going on alongside the main story that it's impossible to become bored and the format and layout of the book with the little tasters in between main chapters keeps the reader's attention completely hooked throughout. I cannot congratulate the author enough on this excellent piece of work.

Brilliant book!!!!!!!!!
It's the first book in her wars of light and shadows, it's in my opinion essential to read this book before any others in the series (there are 6!^o^) as this book gives background history to what follows - maybe not the best book in the series, but nevertheless excellent, well worth the read and well worth buying, as without it you can be a little 'left in the dark' about some of the more sutbler references in the other books!!I should know I read the second book - ships of merior - first!!!