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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As I read Curse of the Mistwraith I thought several times how much I wished I had discovered Janny Wurts earlier, but honestly, this book came at the right time in life for me. (I was a lad when they first came out…)
I’m not going to go into this review spoiling plot. But I can say this: don’t read this book expecting a bunch of tropes. You won’t find any. You’ll see moments of familiarity you might recognize in other fantasies. I mean, why wouldn’t there be? It’s a fantasy.
There will be travel, but not without purpose. There will be wizards. But not goofy old codgers. I’d say there is more Saruman or Raistlin about them than Gandalf the Grey. There will be political intrigue that very much overturns expectations. And there will be two half-brothers you’ll want to box around the ears more than once. All you need do is read for yourself and see that Janny Wurts is a master of her craft. She will have you expecting one thing, and with her bardic skill, twist and answer it with something new and in a way that makes more sense than you first expected. This is no cup game. You are the listener and she is the bard, playing at strings, both silver and heart, with a prose and word choice that will have you wanting to send excerpts from every page to send to friends.
There is a continual plangency (thank you for teaching me a new word Janny!) that runs through the entire book from beginning to end. And the descriptions of music by bards will draw emotion from you more moving than any other book description of a bard’s music I’ve read.
It’s a travesty that Wurts is not already and continually on everyone’s minds when lists of fantasy greats are named along with plenty of other authors I’m not going to bother listing here. But the fact is, there is a timelessness to Wurts’ writing that I feel fails in other respected authors from yesteryear. It’s time we seek out and read authors like Janny Wurts and ensure her legacy continues right now. (Especially as the final book in this series is set to come out next year.)
5+/5 stars
I’m not going to go into this review spoiling plot. But I can say this: don’t read this book expecting a bunch of tropes. You won’t find any. You’ll see moments of familiarity you might recognize in other fantasies. I mean, why wouldn’t there be? It’s a fantasy.
There will be travel, but not without purpose. There will be wizards. But not goofy old codgers. I’d say there is more Saruman or Raistlin about them than Gandalf the Grey. There will be political intrigue that very much overturns expectations. And there will be two half-brothers you’ll want to box around the ears more than once. All you need do is read for yourself and see that Janny Wurts is a master of her craft. She will have you expecting one thing, and with her bardic skill, twist and answer it with something new and in a way that makes more sense than you first expected. This is no cup game. You are the listener and she is the bard, playing at strings, both silver and heart, with a prose and word choice that will have you wanting to send excerpts from every page to send to friends.
There is a continual plangency (thank you for teaching me a new word Janny!) that runs through the entire book from beginning to end. And the descriptions of music by bards will draw emotion from you more moving than any other book description of a bard’s music I’ve read.
It’s a travesty that Wurts is not already and continually on everyone’s minds when lists of fantasy greats are named along with plenty of other authors I’m not going to bother listing here. But the fact is, there is a timelessness to Wurts’ writing that I feel fails in other respected authors from yesteryear. It’s time we seek out and read authors like Janny Wurts and ensure her legacy continues right now. (Especially as the final book in this series is set to come out next year.)
5+/5 stars
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my second reading of this book and it was harder to get into then I remember from my first read. It might be because I know that this book has a lot of information in it that sets up the whole series. I do like how [a:Janny Wurts|8591|Janny Wurts|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232652981p2/8591.jpg] doesn't make things black and white with this series. There is no good and evil in the traditional sense but a lot of gray and how the characters handle things is left up to them. I don't feel like the characters are on a set path. I look forward to re-reading the rest of the series and moving into the new book coming out soon!
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts is mainly told through an omniscient point of view, focusing on the two characters and uses hard magic. And although I prefer character driven stories with many point of view characters and low/soft magic, I feel completely immersed in this story because it has the depth and complexity of Erikson and Bakker and the prose of Guy Gavriel Kay, Tad Williams and Robin Hobb. After reading two of her books (Stormwarden is the other) I feel that Janny Wurts will now be another one of my favourite authors.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Overall I did really enjoy it, but I think I got slightly burnt around the half way part and found a lot of the last half kind of confusing
I had a hard time picturing the magic and the lanes, I just kind of went with what ever in my brain. So how does the magic work?
I think there is some pacing issues with the brotherI don't know if I missed something or made something up in my head, but it felt like the brothers came to a trusting way too quickly
I also felt Lysaer was able to get Etarra to turn on Arithon so quickly I get the higher ups didnt like him. But it felt too quick
Overall I did enjoy it, I think I liked the first half more, the world building was very intriguing to me.
I plan to continue on, will take a little break, but am glad to see the next book is about 100 pages shorter and the third book is almost 300 pages shorter.
The ending of Curse is great, really liked how Wurts wrote the battles, it felt hectic, but it should be hectic and I liked how we got to stick around the aftermath.
Overall 4/5, plan to continue on. Really good stuff, but at times feels dense.
I had a hard time picturing the magic and the lanes, I just kind of went with what ever in my brain. So how does the magic work?
I think there is some pacing issues with the brother
I also felt Lysaer
Overall I did enjoy it, I think I liked the first half more, the world building was very intriguing to me.
I plan to continue on, will take a little break, but am glad to see the next book is about 100 pages shorter and the third book is almost 300 pages shorter.
The ending of Curse is great, really liked how Wurts wrote the battles, it felt hectic, but it should be hectic and I liked how we got to stick around the aftermath.
Overall 4/5, plan to continue on. Really good stuff, but at times feels dense.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hard to get into but worth the effort. I love the way small hints and bits of info and dropped throughout the book and looped back too.
I made it to the 75% mark, but this book is ... a chore to get through. I love a fat fantasy as much as the next person, but I lost interest. If I can make it to Act III and still not give a shit about the story, that's a telling reaction.
It can be summarized with one word: frustrating.
I had been recommended these series several times, and from what I've been told, I should have liked it. I like epic fantasy, I like interesting worldbuiling, I don't mind dramatic characters...
Ugh.
Nope.
1) worldbuilding is interesting... at the first glance. Maybe it was truly unique in early 90s, and I absolutely appreciated the description by a mist-cursed world and the longing for the lost races. Wery Tolkienesque. But if you go deeper, it doesn't really offer much variety. There are townsmen and the barbarians, who are enemies. The existence of townsmen and barbarians seems to be almost universal: no matter what "kingdom" you are, the political situation is the same. No variety, no real cultural distinction even between barbarians of one kingdom and the other. Whenever you go, it's all the same.
I guess author tries to blame it all on the curse: that it all casted the world into this stagnation and set people at odds that cannot be overcome.
In which case, I feel it is a lazy way to handle things. Especially considering:
2) the curse is not really explained. I stopped reading at the page 300 approximately, which is way into the second part of the book. Mistwraith had been defeated (kinda ). And yet I still had no clue why it happened in the first place and how exactly. It was mentioned that some sorcerer did something and that there was uprising, and that's all? I understand and I appreciate some mystery, but in a story where worldbuilding and plot depends heavily on a curse, I expect it to be explained in more detail and clarity somewhere closer to the first part of the book.
I don't mind flowery prose, and I appreciated many "worldbuilding" passages in isolation. But overall they tended to cloud my perception of the world more then they helped me understand it, because:
3) Names are all similar!!! An old rule that goes around writing forums says that you should not give your characters similar names. Especially if those characters travel in one group, but I've never really encountered this problem myself until this book. Only around two hundreds pages in I stopped casually mixing Asandir and Ariton up. Who had dismounted from the horse? Was it Asandir or Arithon? I had to go back and check it every time.
And not only them, the other names and toponims are frustrating too. I have no idea what or who Sithaer is (because it was never properly explained; but characters used it as a swear word?) but I legitimately thought it was all about the sorcerer Sethvir.
If everything sounds and looks the same, can I really care about worldbuilding?
4) I had said that I consider relying on curse to substitute worldbuilding was lazy. But what I also consider lazy is relying on curse to do character development.
I don't think this is the spoiler, because it is all pretty much spoiled in the prologue, but at some point a certain character does 180° turn and it is all again, explained as the effect of a curse.
Don't get me wrong, I like me some demonic possession. But the way it was done made no sense at all. No gradual corruption, no yielding to possession, no fighting back, just like a switch, turned on, and you can forget the previous character development, we are back on page one.
This, ultimately, was what turned me off the book. I can't describe how it depressed me. I've been reading hundreds of pages, and nothing I read really mattered? Now, I've been told that it all makes sense, and that I'll appreciate it on a reread, after reading the rest of the series... egh. If the book upset me to the bones, in the first volume, I have zero desire to read the rest. Even if they are masterpieces.
I would give the book 3 out of 5, because there were things that I liked. But it upset and frustrated me to no end, and I'm actually a bit angry right now, because I feel cheated: I really expected to like it, but now feel like I just wasted my time.
I had been recommended these series several times, and from what I've been told, I should have liked it. I like epic fantasy, I like interesting worldbuiling, I don't mind dramatic characters...
Ugh.
Nope.
1) worldbuilding is interesting... at the first glance. Maybe it was truly unique in early 90s, and I absolutely appreciated the description by a mist-cursed world and the longing for the lost races. Wery Tolkienesque. But if you go deeper, it doesn't really offer much variety. There are townsmen and the barbarians, who are enemies. The existence of townsmen and barbarians seems to be almost universal: no matter what "kingdom" you are, the political situation is the same. No variety, no real cultural distinction even between barbarians of one kingdom and the other. Whenever you go, it's all the same.
I guess author tries to blame it all on the curse: that it all casted the world into this stagnation and set people at odds that cannot be overcome.
In which case, I feel it is a lazy way to handle things. Especially considering:
2) the curse is not really explained. I stopped reading at the page 300 approximately, which is way into the second part of the book. Mistwraith had been defeated (
I don't mind flowery prose, and I appreciated many "worldbuilding" passages in isolation. But overall they tended to cloud my perception of the world more then they helped me understand it, because:
3) Names are all similar!!! An old rule that goes around writing forums says that you should not give your characters similar names. Especially if those characters travel in one group, but I've never really encountered this problem myself until this book. Only around two hundreds pages in I stopped casually mixing Asandir and Ariton up. Who had dismounted from the horse? Was it Asandir or Arithon? I had to go back and check it every time.
And not only them, the other names and toponims are frustrating too. I have no idea what or who Sithaer is (because it was never properly explained; but characters used it as a swear word?) but I legitimately thought it was all about the sorcerer Sethvir.
If everything sounds and looks the same, can I really care about worldbuilding?
4) I had said that I consider relying on curse to substitute worldbuilding was lazy. But what I also consider lazy is relying on curse to do character development.
I don't think this is the spoiler, because it is all pretty much spoiled in the prologue, but
Don't get me wrong, I like me some demonic possession. But the way it was done made no sense at all. No gradual corruption, no yielding to possession, no fighting back, just like a switch, turned on, and you can forget the previous character development, we are back on page one.
This, ultimately, was what turned me off the book. I can't describe how it depressed me. I've been reading hundreds of pages, and nothing I read really mattered? Now, I've been told that it all makes sense, and that I'll appreciate it on a reread, after reading the rest of the series... egh. If the book upset me to the bones, in the first volume, I have zero desire to read the rest. Even if they are masterpieces.
I would give the book 3 out of 5, because there were things that I liked. But it upset and frustrated me to no end, and I'm actually a bit angry right now, because I feel cheated: I really expected to like it, but now feel like I just wasted my time.