I just started reading this again last night and, spurred on by Larry's post, thought I'd share my reread progress with you.

This is a great series. It's big, it's ambitious (no, it's not finished yet) and it's probably my favourite fantasy series of all the ones I've read. I find it a little odd that it flies below the radar of most readers, but maybe you're all daunted by the size of the books and the fact it's an unfinished series? Hmm.

I'm hoping that this thread will give those people who have read the books a chance to discuss them, and might also serve to get others interested. We'll see. I'm also OK to just sit and talk to myself if that's the way it must be.

Not entirely sure how I will do this, but everything will be neatly contained in this one thread. Maybe a subthread for each book, with other thoughts underneath. Yes.

Firstly, however, a little series background.

Wikipedia has this rather nice entry:

The Wars of Light and Shadow is a series of fantasy books by Janny Wurts. When completed it will consist of five story arcs, with the first three arcs complete.

Working as a writer and a painter, Janny Wurts' work on her Wars of Light and Shadow is realizing her ambition of describing and illustrating a world born in her imagination. Her research included experiencing some of the work of her characters, adding a gritty realism to her novels. She included a magic system in which she strives for a continuity and logic that spans the entire series.

The idea for the Wars of Light and Shadow originated while researching tactics and weapons. A documentary film on the brutal Battle of Culloden Moor gave her the historical sense of the fighting stripped of any romantic patina. It also helped her realize that education, written history and entertainment serve to justify the actions of the winners and portray the losers as morally wrong and evil. The series attempts to portray the fictional conflict of Lysaer and Arithon in sympathetic terms, illustrating each side with equal pathos. The story tracks the martial, political and personal conflicts of the characters, and the different tactics used by each - a mass following in one case, and a solitary wandering in the other. Wurts narrates each character from their own perspectives, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions about the morality of individual actions.


There you are. Does that get you interested?

Also: one thing I really like about Wurts is that she does so many of the things her characters do. She sails, she's a musician, she rides horses rather well, and more. This means that when her characters do these things in the books there's more of a realism about the actions. You can tell she knows what she's talking about. I think that's often rare in fiction.


So. If you're reading with me, enjoy!

If you're just curious about the series, enjoy too.