Janny Wurts Books

Excellent book. It's not written like science fiction at all, more like a work of "mainstream" fiction... and it was very moving to me.

I think it was well ahead of its time for more than one reason.

1) The superman concept.

2) The smooth incorporation of the science fiction into a regular world, where it's played entirely straight (rather than for camp) reminds me a whole lot of the TV shows that are on TV the last few years. I think HEROES, SMALLVILLE, many shows incorporate this style today.

I got teary eyed reading parts. I think it's excellently written and plotted.

Summerhill U.S.A. (Penguin educational special)

Philip Wylie's work continues to be relevant. "Gladiator" is one of the few books which dealt with the issue of the very gifted among us. I know it was the inspiration for Superman, but it is so much more. How we treat the brightest and best is at least as important (an probably more so) thank how we treat "those less fortunate." A bit depressing, but important. Read it.

A book that is an inspiration for much of superhero fiction in whatever form, as a professor sets out to improve upon nature via genetic experimentation, and makes his own son superhuman.

Despite all these abilities the boy has problems fitting in, especially with keeping his abilities secret and still be able to exercise them. This is particularly a problem in the rush of blood on the football field.

A modern Hercules literally struck down by a thunderbolt from Jove. The amusing part is seeing all the frat boys called 'birds'. Otherwise, a very modest superman, he was. Unsurprisingly, the text in a 50 year old paperback is a little on the dodgy faded side. Never, ever make a super cat.

A dark work of prescient genius! Philip Wylie, THE most socially astute author of the Twentieth Century, co-founder and Editor of The New Yorker magazine, created in his protagonist Hugo Danner (often mis-spelled in the pages of the book as BANNER, which no doubt, and not-so-subliminally influenced the creators of The Hulk's alter-ego Dr. Banner in Marvel Comics' series and the movies derived therefrom; royalties owed, anyone?) the original 'Super-man' as the result of his scientist father's in-vitro meddlings. Hugo's life is a tale of brooding angst and social subterfuge, as he must dwell amongst the lesser mortals and hide his abilities from their jealousy and ignorant, dirt-farmer mentalities. Searching for a way to fulfill himself, Danner examines and acts upon various unsatisfactory self-initiated programs of personal growth (and destruction), but only at the end - when it is emotionally too late for him to change and see his true potential through to its logical apex and conclusion, does he even come close to the ideal he represents for all of us. The scenes in which Danner stands atop the trenches of the armies he has single-handedly (and covertly) defeated, clothes blown off by the shrapnel, and covered in the blood and gore of his enemies, is reminiscent of The Terminator movies. The deus-ex-machina ending is more of a lesson for the reader to ponder upon than the world-changeing alternative would - and could - have been. A brilliant work, re-issued by BlackMask online (purveyors of expired copyrights? If so: Kudos in regards to your perceptive choice of subject materials). A word of advice on the Publishers' choice of company icon: FOSI may sue you! LOL!

I've pondered whether I would've found this book so affecting if I had read it at the time of first publication. It's unfortunate that I can't consider it on its own merits-- it is inextricably connected to the Superman mythology in my mind. Which means it's connected to the way Americans see America and her place in the world. Our culture is entwined with a nearly 70-year-old comic book character.

In a way, Superman embodies the spirit (however well or ill-founded) of American intervention for good. (Which is ALL tied up with Puritanism and Jeffersonian philanthropy... but this is a book review, so I'll get back to it-- sorry.) Superman is our sometimes delusional view of ourselves as the continual liberators of the oppressed-- always doing right, and never making a wrong decision.

The question is... if you had enough power, couldn't you solve everything? Wouldn't you? According to Siegel and Schuster, you could and would.

But Philip Wylie was a grown man, not a teenager drawing comic books. Superman doesn't show up here, except as a passing impulse of the protagonist. In fact, "Gladiator" reads like a modern deconstruction of Superman. It's amazing.

Any person raised in the comic-book culture would find this book very interesting. It's all here: bouncing bullets, a fortress of solitude, leaping over buildings... and alienation.

"Gladiator" feels like the missing piece you never knew about, and when it falls into place, it's almost...haunting.

The Master of The Whitestorm is well worth reading. It will hold your attention. The hero is interesting in that you aren't quite sure what's making him tick. He's certainly the kind of guy whom you wouldn't want to mess with !

This book is not one to pick up for a light read, it took me a weekend from start to finish. Some of the details are haunting, I wanted to flinch away but this isn't tv, you have to keep your eyes open. I've only started reading books by Janny Wurts but I'm hooked on her style, kind of like Robert Jordan in the detail department but not so long.

I read this book at the behest of a good friend of mine. I was very impressed with the book, even though it bore a resemblance to the sword-and-sorcery fantasy fiction such as Conan, which I am not fond of. Ms. Wurts creates an interesting character in Korendir that is so different from the lecherous Conan. This book is well worth the read and I reccomend the book to fantasy fiction readers needing respite from long, dull sagas such as the Wheel of Time

The writing style of this work reminded me of the early pulps: Conan the Barbarian, Jirel of Joiry, Tarzan, Warlord of Mars, etc. I normally can't stand that style, so I nearly threw the book down several times. The salvation of this story was that all the different battles and skirmishes added up to a very interesting exploration into the nature of heroism. Why do otherwise intelligent people go out and do things that can get them killed? The hero of this story thinks he wants security. In fact, the murder of his family has left him so screwed up he can't endure tranquility when he finds it. Emotionally, he is stuck as a child wanting to stop the barbarians. He finds a new home and starts a new family, only to drag them into the private hell he can never outgrow.

I discovered Janny Wurts by reading "Keeper of the Keys," the middle volume of the Cycle of Fire, and have since read many of her books. I love her ability to create moving and absorbing characters, an interconnected plot, and wonderful descriptive passages (when she isn't tripping over her own wordiness, that is). So when I found "The Master of White Storm" in a library I thought, "Hey, it's Janny Wurts; even if it's an early work, it must be decent."

Sadly, I was wrong. Korendir's friend is an instantly forgettable whiner; the only reason I remember his existence (though not his name) is that, unfortunately, much of the story is seen through his eyes. To be fair, he also has one brief, moving scene at the end of the book. Korendir could have been interesting, but is never seen clearly enough until the end. And after his motivations are finally somewhat clarified, I found some of his earlier actions even less explicable. Furthermore, the magic is not well thought-out; it is neither mystical enough to be left largely unexplained nor coherent enough to be believable.

"The Master of White Storm" tells the story of Korendir, a man with a mysterious past, who escapes from slavers and becomes a hero-for-hire. He wants to build an impregnable fortress, called, unsuprisingly, White Storm. His badly connected adventures are uniformly depressing, though otherwise dissimilar, and the plot threads involving his heritage and his wife read like a late attempt to add meaning to an essentially lightweight story. The book struggles to meld episodic adventure with deep, philosophical questions about human nature and motivations; it is, perhaps, a noble attempt to humanize an adventurer, but in my opinion, it fails. It doesn't work well as an adventure (too moody and slow) or as a serious novel (too disjointed and vague).

Reading "The Master of White Storm" is a reasonable way to fill an otherwise empty afternoon (unless you have other books available), but nothing more. And don't be surprised if you find yourself wondering just what exactly Janny Wurts was thinking when she wrote it.

I bought this book specifically because it has a story by Wen Spencer in it. The story is somewhat different from Spencer books I have read, but it is enchantingly funny and, to me, well worth buying the book to have.

I stumbled upon this series quite by accident. I have never read any other works by Janny Wurts, so this book was my first experience. I must agree with some previous reviewers in that the author is sometimes excessive in her choice of words and sentence structure. A few sentences required 3-4 read throughs before I could understand what she was trying to get across - but those instances are few and far between and do not in any way detract from the marvelous story being told. Some brief and hopefully vague spoilers will follow - so be warned if you are adverse to such a thing.

We are introduced very early on to Arithon, who we learn is Master of Shadow. He is a compelling and interesting character from the beginning. Lysear is his half brother, and an untrained Master of Light. While they have the same mother - their royal fathers, who are kings in opposing lands have been locked in a blood fued for as long as either can remember. Arithon and Lysear have never met until one is captured by the other and held prisoner. Their differences are undeniable from everything from appearance to the smallest intricacies of their personalities. They despise each other.

Both are banished through the gate of another world - Arithon by king's order and Lysear through deception. This other world has problems all it's own including a curse that two fated princes are destined to absolve. We begin to see a slow, growing acceptance and eventually friendship between the half brothers, despite their differences. Many, many wonderfully explored secondary characters share the spotlight and the road to destiny with the princes who ulitmately become saviors of this new and strange world.

However, in the process of saving this world, the princes become cursed by the same entity that they believe had been conquered. The Mistwraith once again ignites the age old enemy blood fued between the brothers with an insatiable need to destroy and kill the other. The first confrontation between the two ends in bloodshed and thousands of lives lost as the people of the land - townsmen and clansmen - each choose sides.

All of the characters involved are highly detailed and brought vividly to life - most especially Arithon and Lysear. It will be hard to choose one over the other as the author manages to delve into the motivations and emotions of each so well that the reader may find their loyalties shifting back and forth as well. Mostly - it is hard not to be a little sad for the brothers that were enemies turned friends and then manipulated by means beyond their control back to enemies once again.

It is obvious to anyone who reads that Ms.Wurts appears to have a favorite between the brothers - but to her credit she does delve deeper into the other as the story progresses. It is near impossible to not be drawn into this war of light and shadow and the people of the land on both sides that are irrevocably affected by the Curse of the Mistwraith.

If you are looking for a new series to read - I highly recommend this one.

While the book centers around the half-brothers, the Fellowship and the Koriani Circle are also introduced as well in this first novel of the series. Unfortunately, I was not able to like either of the main characters, Arithon or Lysaer. While Wurts did a good job revealing their motivations, I just could not connect to either of the characters. The same holds true for the Fellowship and most of the Circle. The one exception to this is the character of Elaira-the author does a great job detailing Elaira's upbringing, and how that motivates her throughout the series.

Another issue (which has been touched on by other readers) is that Wurts tends to construct complex sentences as if to show off her vocabulary, which is at the expense of the story. It's too bad because Wurts has put in a great effort to tell this story, but ultimately I was not able to connect with most of the characters. I do have the second volume of this series, so I'd like to give this series another shot and see if it improves.

It's been a while since I last posted a review, but with this book being around 800 pages, I think the delay is understandable.

This is the first in an epic series of books, following two half-brothers pitted against each other by the Mistwraith - a fell, sentient fog which had covered the world of Athera. The brothers are both princes, and each gifted with the mastery of an element - one brother masters light, the other shadow. Factor in the festering hatred between the townfolk and the clans that live in the wilds, and you have the setting for serious war.

The book is fairly lengthy, and Wurts delves into lengthier terminology for descriptions that some may not be comfortable with. Yet for all of that, the characters are detailed, complex, intriguing and, above all, alive. You may feel horror at some actions undertaken, but at least you understand their motivations. While you may not read this in an all-night sitting, it is definitely worth the read, and one that I highly recommend.

I had high hopes about this book, and sadly, those hopes were dispatched literally 100 pages into the book. The exaggerated writing style didn't bother me as much as the plodding narrative. In my view, everything seemed contrived. There's a story in here to tell, a damn fine one at that, but it just wasn't done in this book. A prequel would have been helpful, or at least a few chapters as a historical backdrop.

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.

Peril's Gate continues Janny Wurts' tradition of realistic characters and engaging plotlines. Major events happen in this volume of the Wars of Light and Shadow series, and the series' momentum builds. To fully appreciate the book, one should start the series from its first volume, Curse of the Mistwraith.

For the uninitiated, I would recommend reading the first in the series, Curse of the Mistwraith, and continue on through the set. The tragedy, however, is that most of the series is out of print. Further, the latest one, Traitor's Knot, had to be ordered through Amazon, as my local bookstore never seems to have any books by Janny Wurts. I'd recommend buying just the first one, or check your local library first, rather than buying the entire set at once. For many, Janny Wurts is incredibly wordy. True, her books are long (my hardcover copy of this book runs to about 700 pages), yet in truth she challenges the reader to understand and visualize her well-crafted fantasy world, empathize with her complex characters, and follow the twists of her far-reaching plots.

Peril's Gate continues the tale of two half-brothers, Lysaer and Arithon, having drunk from a fountain which sustains life for 500 years, then held in thrall of a curse which binds them to enmity, as heirs to two royal lines they plunge the world of Athera into war. As a backdrop, the lands have been split for centuries - the ancient royal lines had been ousted from power, persecuted and hunted like wild animals by the narrow-minded townborn people, they become clans living in the wilds, forests and mountains. Through deceptive statesmanship, wholly in thrall by the curse, Lysaer rallies the townborn to destroy Arithon, who is supported by the clan lines. Worse, each brother has an inherent gift - Lysaer has the gift to summon light, Arithon that of darkness...and as people naturally associate light with good, dark with evil, it takes little persuasion to convince others that Arithon is demonspawn, dubbed the Spinner of Darkness. Never mind that Arithon is Athera's Masterbard, trained to mastery of magic, and sanctioned by the mysterious group of Sorcerers dedicated to the protection of Athera known as the Fellowship of Seven.

In this latest installment, we see Arithon hounded on all sides by Lysaer and his allies, through harsh mountains in winter, until he finally seeks sanctuary in Kewar Tunnel, known as Davien's Maze. This Maze is the gate to peril which the title refers to. It was created by a rogue member of the Fellowship of Seven, a Sorcerer of brilliant artistry, who had instigated the rebellion which overthrew the royal lines. For that act, he gained the title of Davien the Betrayer. The Maze is a complex series of tests, not the least of which is to examine the traveler's guilty past and conscience. Each death caused by a person's hand is experienced through the eyes of the victim, their widow, their children. No memory, no matter how far back in a person's past, is exempt from blistering reexamination. Those who have trod the Maze before have been rendered mad with guilt, trapped in their minds by unending rings of compassion for their victims. This is the danger into which Arithon treads, fully aware that his ancestor died as a result of entering the Maze, and that upon his gifts as Masterbard, master of magic and shadow, and last heir of the High Kings, rests the possibility of healing the division between the townborn and clans, the return of the Paravians (centaurs, unicorns and elves) and the safety of all Athera against the wraiths which are crossing space to invade the world.

I cannot speak highly enough of Janny Wurts - her works put most authors to shame. Rather than clothing her characters in drab descriptions, she understands them, highlights their flaws and strengths. This Maze that she devised lets the reader truly understand the character of Arithon to dizzying depths. This then, is her strength, while she deftly weaves disparate plot threads with seeming ease, and brings the reader to understand the mythical fundamentals of spellcraft.

I highly recommend this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book in the series ... well drawn characters, good plot, a complete world.

The best thing is the story told. The outcome is never predictable and the solutions drawn for a given situations truely brilliant. The characters come alive during the telling, to such an extent that you could believe they are alive, not figments of a persons imagination. There are many separate story lines told, but each is compelling. Janny manages to tie them together completely and never contradicts herself despite the complexity. A simple story in a complex, living world.

I truely anticipate the next and last book in this arc of the Wars of Light and Shadow. I will be sorry to see it end.

If you're reading this you have made it through book five and, like myself, are here hoping to read that this is a great book with some resolution- and some hope!

I suppose we are given hope since Elaira finally gets her feet out of the pity pot and seeks help through Ath's adepts at Whitehaven hostel and Damien has stopped sulking underground but, otherwise, this novel is so bogged down with overly slick description and Arithon's pathos that I found myself constantly having to read a paragraph over and over and over in order to grasp the action(s) of the characters.

At page 251, having just read Earl Jieret's suicidal resolve to die with his king... I quit. I have had five books of misery, reading of slaughtered clansmen and mad-dog townspeople and headhunters. And here, in this novel, we have whole clans, a mountain trapper, and generally, most people who come into contact with Arithon, Master Of Shadow, being brutally killed, while the members of the fellowship are in a frenzy to save the planet from a variety of monstrous demonic spirits from other worlds!

Lastly, Janny Wurts continues to rely heavily on Dakar for comic relief. Poor Dakar never loses his weight, nor his burlesque crudity. For Ath's sake, the poor man should have lost a little weight and gained some dignity by now!

The best thing that could happen is if both princes blew each other off the planet. I know I know. Without Arathon, the planet will self-destruct and so on. Well, since the clans are almost wiped out, I say good riddance to those towns people! Enough already! I am now going to go read something that, compared to this novel, will be inspiring; like the history of the Great War, or World War Two...

Unfortunately, as with many of my favorite authors, it appears that Janny Wurts has fallen prey to the lure and curse of an extended series. The series that was well-written and interesting has become boring and grueling to get through. I really enjoyed the writing and premise in the first few books, but as it gets longer and longer what was once fresh has become worn and overdone. Our hero has everything brutally ripped from him in every book, yet goes on and makes a miraculous escape each time - over and over and over. And how many Koriani plots have to fail before they just give up??? This particular book suffered from a severe overdose of description as we hear multiple times about the beauty of Ath's creation in excruciating detail, blah blah blah. I don't disagree with the philosophy, the problem is the repitition. Although I've read Traitor's Knot, I still hope that the NEXT book will mercifully kill the series before it has lost all redeeming qualities.

I would love to go to the store and pick up a single-volume fantasy novel. Book series seem not to know when to stop anymore.

I read these books years ago (the three books in the Cycle of Fire) and when I saw them at my local Half-Price Books I picked them up again. I remember them as containing a good story in a believable world structure, if a bit too demon-ish at times (reminiscent of Tolkien).

Well, upon this most current reading, I am noticing that the books are mostly narrative, with very little dialogue. So much is explained in narrative that I found myself glossing over large swaths of explanations until I could either get to the parts about Emien (none of the other characters engaged me emotionally, except perhaps the Captain-Kirk-like Kielmark), or until I reached a patch of dialogue. This made it an almost tedious read.

I'm halfway through book 2, "Keeper of the Keys," and I'm finding the same problem there. Too much narrative, not enough dialogue, not enough character development to really make me care. I may not bother finishing the series.

An excellent novel about the coming of age of 3 children and their destinies. Although the plot is not entirely unique, Ms. Wurts has a knack of vividly portraying her characters that makes us love them. This is even more evident in her more recent series, the Wars of Light and Shadow. In any case, the adventures of Jaric and Taen inspire hope and keep us in suspense, and this remarkably talented author manages to create a world without too much of the dreary detail that encumbers many other epic fantasies. A fresh and vivid tale that inspires the imagination. (Ms. Wurts' apparent fondness of the ocean is rather a distinguishing trait of her works, don't you think?).

Excellent story about the Stormwarden who is falsely accused and arrested due to a plot of an arch rival. Interesting twist in the story. Anxious moments while the Stormwarden has to rely on the help of a almost useless boy and a young semi crippled girl, whilst facing so many enemies. When you reach the end you just have to rush off and find book 2, with out delay to find out what happens next. Very Compelling. Excellent writer.

OK, I liked this book as well as the whole trilogy. The plot was solid (even if there was a little too much sailing), the characters were interesting, and the story moved along pretty good. That being said, this has to be THE WORST explanation of magic in any story I've ever read!

Magic coming from a crashed spaceship whose AI implants living crystals into your body is about the lamest idea I have ever read. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!

The problem, I think, lies in the fact that read the Wars of Light and Shadow before I read Stormwarden. Although there is no doubt that Ms Wurts is an excellent writer, I found this book somewhat unoriginal. Both Taen and Jaric are represented as handicapped children who overcome their problems and find strength when confronted with their fates, which sounds like a typical children's fairy tale. For some reason, I find myself unable to relate to these characters. The rapid development of Emien, Taen's brother, becoming an "evil" character is also unrealistic. A further, rather disappointing surprise, is the fact that the Vaere is a computer, mixing fantasy with unimaginative science fiction (and I'm afraid I'm a fantasy fan). Compared to the Wars of Light and Shadow, Stormwarden remains in the shadow.