Book Review: The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow, #1) by Janny Wurts
Cover art illustrated by Janny Wurts
The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Series: Wars of Light and Shadow (Book #1 of 11)
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Pages: 611 pages (Hardcover edition)
Word Count: 233,000 words
Publish date: May 1993 by HarperVoyager
The Curse of the Mistwraith is the start of a super ambitious epic fantasy, and it is a book that will require your 100% concentration.
I had Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts, her magnum opus, in my TBR pile since 2019. Plus, as a diehard fan of The Riftwar: Empire trilogy that Raymond E. Feist co-wrote together with Janny Wurts, to say that I was looking forward to reading this is a disservice to my anticipation. But if you’ve been following my YouTube channel, you’ll know I have delayed starting this series year after year. Based on everything I heard, Wars of Light and Shadow feels like a series that should only be read when my life isn’t too busy. And after reading The Curse of the Mistwraith, I feel more confident about this.
“The Wars of Light and Shadow were fought during the third age of Athera, the most troubled and strife-filled era recorded in all of history. At that time Arithon, called Master of Shadow, battled the Lord of Light through five centuries of bloody and bitter conflict. If the canons of the religion founded during that period are reliable, the Lord of Light was divinity incarnate, and the Master of Shadow a servant of evil, spinner of dark powers. Temple archives attest with grandiloquent force to be the sole arbiters of truth.”
Firstly, the premise. 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.
“As a spirit schooled to power, his perception stems from one absolute. Universal harmony begins with recognition that the life in an ordinary pebble is as sacred as conscious selfhood.”
I have delayed writing this review for a month because of two things. The first important thing to remember is The Curse of the Mistwraith feels like a book that will work much better on rereading after reading through the series rather than first-time reading. As the first book of a series, it set the tone for the rest of the series and made sure readers knew what they were getting into when it came to the prose. But at the same time, in a similar fashion to Gardens of the Moon, it is totally possible to tell all the foreshadowing and foundation laid in this first entry will work superbly more on reread. If you’re similar to me, some of you might have heard Wars of Light and Shadow compared to The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Narrative-wise, it is tonally different than Gardens of the Moon and the rest of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. However, the comparison is not given without ground due to two factors. One is the reason I just mentioned. And the other one is the high level of concentration required to traverse the writing. Personally speaking, I found Gardens of the Moon a far easier read compared to Curse of the Mistwraith
“Mage-taught wisdom reproached him: any gift of power was two-edged.”
Secondly, and this will be the biggest determining factor to your enjoyment of The Curse of the Mistwraith: the writing style. It is a double-edged blade. Due to my hectic schedule, it felt like I couldn’t give the necessary 100% attention span needed to enjoy Janny Wurts’ prose. To clarify, I found Wurts’ writing in the first 60 pages and the climax sequences, about 100 pages, brilliant and compelling. I was hooked and immersed, and my mind had a great time dancing along to the tune of the prose. The in-between, however, is another story. It felt meandering and frankly overkill. Wurts has purple prose that feels beautiful being digested in small portions, and I wish the prose was balanced with a more straightforward style during the mundane moments. When everything is written in the same style, if you have read this book then you will know what I mean, even though it is intentionally done, the beautiful impact felt diminished and tedious. There was no break. And I am not surprised by the lower-than-usual average rating for The Curse of the Mistwraith. The prose is purple to the max. I have never read a fantasy book with prose as purple as The Curse of the Mistwraith. And as I said, this is intentionally done that way. As proven in Riftwar: Empire, Janny Wurts could write in a different style if she chose to. This shows her versatility. But this is the path she chose for Wars of Light and Shadow. Challenging? Yes. But it will be more precise to say the prose is demanding rather than hard. As I said at the beginning of this review, it requires 100% concentration with no distractions.
“Show me a hero and I’ll show you a man enslaved by his competence.”
Everything I wrote is my first impression of finishing The Curse of the Mistwraith. And please don’t misunderstand. Even though the middle portion was less enjoyable than the beginning and ending sections, there were some beautiful and badass moments; Arithon unleashing his sword for the first time, the first encounter with unicorns, and more. It is a bit of a shame that even though I enjoyed the story, characterizations, and definitely the world-building, the writing style (and my current circumstances) prevented me from enjoying The Curse of the Mistwraith to the utmost. But as I said, your miles will vary. I strongly recommend you sample the writing first. From my perspective, if you click with the writing and you need a massive completed epic fantasy series with prose 1000% opposite the style of, let’s say, Brandon Sanderson, The Curse of the Mistwraith is the book for you. Will I continue reading the series? Yes. At least, I will try to read until Warhost of Vastmark before I finalize the decision to continue or drop the series. When will that happen? That’s a question I cannot answer at the moment. It all depends on my reading mood and schedule. It could be soon. It could be later. We will see. Until then, allow me to close this review with gratitude toward my friend, Barbara, for sending me a hardcover copy of The Curse of the Mistwraith.
You can order this book from: Amazon | Blackwells (Free International shipping)
I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Aliysa, Ambrosius, Andrew, Andrew S, Annabeth, Anne, Arliss, Barbara, Bev, Cade, Chris, Christopher, Cullen, Dan, Donuts, Dylan, Edward, Elaine, Elias, Erich, Feanor, Francesca, Frank, Gary, Gregory, Hamad, Helen, James, Jenn, Jesse, Joie, Jonathan, Katrina, Kim, Kristina, Lara, Lourdes, Luis, Melinda, Michael, Michael, Mike, Miracle, Mordie, Nicholas, Radiah, RCT, Redmischief, Rue, Samuel, Sarah, Scott, Sean, Shawn, Stephanie, Trish, TS, Wick, Woodman, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.