3.7 AVERAGE


Trigger warning for sexual assault near the end

Curse of the Mistwraith is the first book in a long epic fantasy series. While it’s been quite a while since I’ve read Wheel of Time, Curse of the Mistwraith had a similar feel.

There were definitely things I liked about The Curse of the Mistwraith, but there were also things I didn’t like. I feel like some of the problems I had with it though were problems fairly common to the epic fantasy genre, and other readers may have more tolerance for them.

The Curse of the Mistwraith is about a cursed world covered in mist (FYI this was written way before Sanderson’s Mistborn). A prophecy foretells that a prince of the right lineage with the right powers will be able to lift the curse. Unfortunately, the powers are divided between two princes – half brothers, separated by a generations long blood feud.

The brothers, Arithon and Lysaer, have powers over shadows and light respectively. At the beginning at least, they were both fairly likable and interesting, although Arithon is prone to aghast. I mean, he wasn’t as bad as Fitz from Robin Hobb’s books, but he was still very much into bemoaning his fate and looking tragic.

From the beginning, it is obvious that there is going to be major conflict between the two brothers. However… I don’t think this was carried out well. Spoiler warning, it hinged largely on a case of magical possession.

World building wise, there was some interesting ideas going on. After the world was first cursed, there was a rebellion and the royalty was toppled. Now, five hundred years later, there is a divide between the townspeople and the clansmen, who are descendants of the nobility which fled into the hills to escape the rebellion. I found this idea and conflict fascinating, and it’s definitely one of the better points of the novel.

However, the return of the monarchy after five hundred years is bound to be an issue. The sorcerers who arrange this seem to expect people to welcome the heirs with open arms? And strangely enough, most of them do. The only exception is the merchant class who’d taken up the reins of power in the absence of the royalty. Unfortunately the merchants mainly fell into the “fat, greedy merchant” trope and so the book missed an excellent topic to explore.

I would not suggest The Curse of the Mistwraith for someone looking for female characters. There’s a few – one major (Elaria, an enchantress) and a handful of minor, but in general there just aren’t many.

Speaking of this, there’s a spoiler at the end that I want to talk about.
SpoilerSo there’s a big battle, and one side finds the other’s women and girls and rapes them before killing them. Okay, I hear you say, this is “realistic” for a battle scene. But in light of all the recent discussion spurred by that Game of Thrones episode, I think I need to talk about it, especially how the scene felt like it was included primarily for the characterization of the men. One of the characters on the side doing the killing eventually orders that his troops stop raping the women and just kill them, which I guess is supposed to make him more sympathetic? Because while he’ll have babies killed, he draws the line at rape. Also there’s a boy who sort of mystically “sees” as it happens his mother and young sisters being killed (and one of the girls – twelve at oldest – being raped before hand). I sincerely hope this was not to provide a motivation for his revenge or some such.


I’d recommend The Curse of the Mistwraith for someone looking for a fairly classical epic fantasy series.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

This is some serious storytelling.   This first Volume of The Wars of Light and Shadow series came out in 1993.  The 90's were a good decade for some awesome fantasy books and this is no exception.   I did find it hard to get into in the beginning and I think that is because Wurts spends a long time doing a great job of setting up the characters so the second half of the book really impacts the reader.  A story about two half-brothers that are thrown together in a new world and asked to use their powers to fight an evil that lies over the land.  However,  this battle against this specific evil creates another evil, an evil that tries to consume them. 
I recommend this for anyone willing to take the time to enjoy this.  For me, this was a long read, but I am really glad I stuck with it.

I really enjoyed this book and it was a great start to this series. The book had a very intresting and in depth storyline that has many different layers. The best part of the book for me was the variaty of characters on offer, they where some that i hated instantly and 1 or 2 that i loved as soon as i started reading there parts in the story. I am really looking forward to the next book.
adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Dit boek ligt al n hele tijd op de to read stapel. De eerste keer dat ik t las, vond ik het echt een geweldig boek en heb ik een half jaar later de hele serie gekocht. De tweede keer kwam ik er niet doorheen, veel te veel tell en weinig show. Maar ja, die hele stapel boeken stond nog ongelezen in de boekenkast. Dus maar een derde keer begonnen - en t viel best mee.

Ik vraag me alleen wel echt af hoe het plot zich gaat ontwikkelen. 1 van de twee hoofdpersonen is nl echt fout (want heeft een magie geinduceerde wasn) en is dus erg saai om te lezen. Moet ik dan nog 5 boeken oid wachten tot ze t hebben uitgevochten?

The book has all the right ingredients, but somehow they do not produce an entirely satisfactory meal.

I suppose it's my fault for reading a book from 1993, but wow what a sausage fest of man-angst. The overall plot is interesting enough for me to eventually continue, though.

The first time I read "The Curse of the Mistwraith", it endowed a great sensation of frustration upon me. The characters' motivations were beyond me, Arithon was the only engaging character, but Lysaer bored me and the Fellowship of Seven seemed just as bad as the Koriathain. The prose was overwhelmingly flowery, which made the plot as easy to grasp as the eponymous Mistwraith. I gave it three stars, but decided to give the rest of the series a chance because it had potential.

Less than three months later I ended up stuck in the middle of Initiate's Trial….the ninth book in the series…I was, and still am, totally engrossed by the series. I realised that (a) I needed to see these characters again, and (b) I needed to re-read Curse.


All the frustrations I had with Curse disappeared - there are very few problems with this book that relate to the author or the plot. I was the problem.

Wurts' prose is unique. It reminds me a little of Steven Erikson, but their voices are completely different and, despite its density, Wurts' prose can be quite jovial. I paid more attention to the plot, especially the parts I struggled with the first time round, although there are parts of the book where the plot lags. And after nine books, and despite the number of times I've shout abuse at him, Lysaer is one of my favourite characters.

It's a shame that there are readers who are missing out on the series because of Curse. Yes, the prose is difficult to get into, but it's worth the investment :)
adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Well, I could've done without the one page "And meanwhile on the other side of the world . . ." interludes. (Always with the ellipsis. Drives me nuts, that.)

And quite probably a little less angst.