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majkia's review
5.0
The War of Light and Shadow Book 4.
Epic fantasy with a wide cast of characters in a sprawling landscape filled with pitfalls and betrayals and hopeless plights. Two half-brothers, both poisoned by their encounter with the Mistwraith, their gifts twisted and turned to destruction of everything they care about. Arithon, trained as a mage, at least knows what’s happening and has training enough to fight against it. Lysaer has no such protection and is totally under the Mistwraith’s spell.
By book 4, the spell has nearly consumed Lysaer. His natural sense of justice is so twisted he no longer seems himself, and is consumed with destroying Arithon.
Arithon is so harried and pursued across the world, he has no safe haven. All his allies are in deadly danger and under constant pressure from Lysaer armies of nearly fanatical believers. Only his natural bent toward brilliant tactics and subtle planning have given him any hope at all of surviving and of keeping his allies alive. He hopes to find a refuge for his people, where he can protect them from the Alliance of Light.
Intense emotions, depths of character, twisty plots and seemingly hopeless odds. All combine to make this book, as were the rest, compelling.
Epic fantasy with a wide cast of characters in a sprawling landscape filled with pitfalls and betrayals and hopeless plights. Two half-brothers, both poisoned by their encounter with the Mistwraith, their gifts twisted and turned to destruction of everything they care about. Arithon, trained as a mage, at least knows what’s happening and has training enough to fight against it. Lysaer has no such protection and is totally under the Mistwraith’s spell.
By book 4, the spell has nearly consumed Lysaer. His natural sense of justice is so twisted he no longer seems himself, and is consumed with destroying Arithon.
Arithon is so harried and pursued across the world, he has no safe haven. All his allies are in deadly danger and under constant pressure from Lysaer armies of nearly fanatical believers. Only his natural bent toward brilliant tactics and subtle planning have given him any hope at all of surviving and of keeping his allies alive. He hopes to find a refuge for his people, where he can protect them from the Alliance of Light.
Intense emotions, depths of character, twisty plots and seemingly hopeless odds. All combine to make this book, as were the rest, compelling.
vinjii's review against another edition
4.0
Since this is the fourth book in the Wars of Light and Shadow, I would rather not speak about the plot. I don't want to accidentally spoil someone who has just started the series.
This is a remarkable instalment. It also begins a new arc in this epic series. The conflict widens and the tension is almost unbearable by now. The twists, turns, and intrigues are still surprising. The plot remains compelling. The characters are wonderfully developed, growing more in each book.
The prose is beautiful and the work Janny Wurts has put into this series shows in every sentence.
Anyone who loves epic high fantasy, should definitely try [b:The Curse of the Mistwraith|28660|The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow, #1)|Janny Wurts|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328835513s/28660.jpg|1945432].
What makes this read even better for me is the incredible group on Goodreads that is currently buddy reading it, and the fact Janny Wurts is answering all our questions in an ongoing Q&A.
This is a remarkable instalment. It also begins a new arc in this epic series. The conflict widens and the tension is almost unbearable by now. The twists, turns, and intrigues are still surprising. The plot remains compelling. The characters are wonderfully developed, growing more in each book.
The prose is beautiful and the work Janny Wurts has put into this series shows in every sentence.
Anyone who loves epic high fantasy, should definitely try [b:The Curse of the Mistwraith|28660|The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow, #1)|Janny Wurts|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328835513s/28660.jpg|1945432].
What makes this read even better for me is the incredible group on Goodreads that is currently buddy reading it, and the fact Janny Wurts is answering all our questions in an ongoing Q&A.
seak's review
5.0
Just when I thought it couldn't get any more gut-punching, Fugitive Prince comes along and destroys me. And that's a good thing.
Things are bad coming into Fugitive Prince. The things Prince Arithon has had to do in his attempts to reduce the amount of lives lost are soul-searing. And yet his brother, the mistwraith-controlled Prince Lysaer continues to hound him. And now, Lysaer makes things thousands of times worse. He's threatened to turn those who support Arithon, the clans, into slaves. And he follows through. The ultimate betrayal of humanity ... and the paravians. But I don't want to spoil too much.
With Arithon's "gift" (if you can call it that at this time) of compassion, he is wracked with guilt over his actions from Warhost of Vastmark - all necessary and considered to save the most amount of people, Arithon is in bad shape and yet he only gets worse throughout the course of this book.
The Mad Prophet's layers are pealed back in this book. We see new depths of compassion, hard work, and ethics coming from the drunken louse. I miss his usual hilarity he brings to the story, but his depth of character that Wurts brings out is astounding.
I can't say enough high praise for this series. The unmitigated devotion to detail and the power of each character, down to the lowly, devoted pack horse is astounding. This series is coming to a close very soon and if you have't already jumped in, it's high time!
5 out of 5 Stars (get ready to cry)
Things are bad coming into Fugitive Prince. The things Prince Arithon has had to do in his attempts to reduce the amount of lives lost are soul-searing. And yet his brother, the mistwraith-controlled Prince Lysaer continues to hound him. And now, Lysaer makes things thousands of times worse. He's threatened to turn those who support Arithon, the clans, into slaves. And he follows through. The ultimate betrayal of humanity ... and the paravians. But I don't want to spoil too much.
With Arithon's "gift" (if you can call it that at this time) of compassion, he is wracked with guilt over his actions from Warhost of Vastmark - all necessary and considered to save the most amount of people, Arithon is in bad shape and yet he only gets worse throughout the course of this book.
The Mad Prophet's layers are pealed back in this book. We see new depths of compassion, hard work, and ethics coming from the drunken louse. I miss his usual hilarity he brings to the story, but his depth of character that Wurts brings out is astounding.
I can't say enough high praise for this series. The unmitigated devotion to detail and the power of each character, down to the lowly, devoted pack horse is astounding. This series is coming to a close very soon and if you have't already jumped in, it's high time!
5 out of 5 Stars (get ready to cry)
vaderbird's review against another edition
3.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
bookswithjk's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book just further cements my dislike towards Lysaer. What would he have been like without the geas upon him? Would he still be so proud, so cold and calculating?
Also, please Arithon. I want to see you be more active. While the author reminds me is that the brothers can’t be in close proximity without losing their minds (the Koriani doll was a clever way of getting around that!), I would love to have Arithon do the chasing for once. Otherwise, the story is very much the same as the Ships of Merior/The Warhost of Vastmark. Lysaer chases his half brother across the continent, while Arithon uses his wiles and Shadows to wriggle free.
Also, please Arithon. I want to see you be more active. While the author reminds me is that the brothers can’t be in close proximity without losing their minds (the Koriani doll was a clever way of getting around that!), I would love to have Arithon do the chasing for once. Otherwise, the story is very much the same as the Ships of Merior/The Warhost of Vastmark. Lysaer chases his half brother across the continent, while Arithon uses his wiles and Shadows to wriggle free.
stefhyena's review against another edition
1.0
Ok so I read this book misunderstanding that "Alliance of the light: book one" did not actually mean this was the first in a series.
It kind of went from nowhere to nowhere (for someone who hasn't read the ones before) and had so many characters that while I could just remember who was who...I wouldn't have actually cared about any of them even if they had more going for them.
The worst part was the writing. The perennially twisting and metaphor studded prose was as full of adjectives and similes as an old fashioned Christmas pudding is of plump, brandy-soaked raisins. Indeed, the lordly and unruffled pompousness of the tone worked together with the aureate sentences, striated with every hue and tint of purple as deep as the midnight sky, but not as star studded.
If you hated that paragraph then you will see what I mean. I mean 540 pages of that to wade through, slow and unrewarding going. To be fair if every adjective was taken out it would probably have only been 400 pages and if every pointless simile was taken out a further 100 might have been lost. Which would have improved the book somewhat but not enough for me to love it.
Most of the characters that actually did things and said things were male. The odd females that appeared were fixated on the males and all males were fixated on one of two half-brothers (trope much?) who hate each other and want to destroy each other...there is some prophecy...the mother has been "faithless" (as judged by one of the dickhead kings who sleeps around anyway)....etc etc.
I thought at first that it was a nice twist that the bad guy was light and the good guy was dark, but as the book progressed it became clear we were supposed to like or have feelings for both of them, also that I liked neither. They were both self-indulgent to the point where you had to wonder how they survived apart from privilege and the way everyone treated them as important. There is heavy handed misogyny in the book- women generally appear to be blamed, punished, abandoned, die or lurk in the shadows as prostitutes that are constantly and gratuitously referred to (through the POV of various male characters) while never actually appearing, acting or speaking in any scene. WTF?
The coolest bit was the dream of the dragon with the dragon skeleton and all the rest of it. It still had terrible writing but at least the concept was pretty cool.
I am going to assume that part of my mistake was reading the fourth book and expecting it to be the first (until I looked on Goodreads I though that book WAS the first and I was going to sort of give the author artistic points for having quite so much back-story taken for granted...lol). I also know that fantasy readers often like purple prose and tropes (eg all the people that loved Eragon, my son included).
I won't read any more of these because it will keep being long and tortuous and not progress really- they will be at a stand off at the end of each book until the last one I am sure.
Anyway some people clearly love this series and this book so feel free to ignore my grumpiness if it seems like your sort of thing.
It kind of went from nowhere to nowhere (for someone who hasn't read the ones before) and had so many characters that while I could just remember who was who...I wouldn't have actually cared about any of them even if they had more going for them.
The worst part was the writing. The perennially twisting and metaphor studded prose was as full of adjectives and similes as an old fashioned Christmas pudding is of plump, brandy-soaked raisins. Indeed, the lordly and unruffled pompousness of the tone worked together with the aureate sentences, striated with every hue and tint of purple as deep as the midnight sky, but not as star studded.
If you hated that paragraph then you will see what I mean. I mean 540 pages of that to wade through, slow and unrewarding going. To be fair if every adjective was taken out it would probably have only been 400 pages and if every pointless simile was taken out a further 100 might have been lost. Which would have improved the book somewhat but not enough for me to love it.
Most of the characters that actually did things and said things were male. The odd females that appeared were fixated on the males and all males were fixated on one of two half-brothers (trope much?) who hate each other and want to destroy each other...there is some prophecy...the mother has been "faithless" (as judged by one of the dickhead kings who sleeps around anyway)....etc etc.
I thought at first that it was a nice twist that the bad guy was light and the good guy was dark, but as the book progressed it became clear we were supposed to like or have feelings for both of them, also that I liked neither. They were both self-indulgent to the point where you had to wonder how they survived apart from privilege and the way everyone treated them as important. There is heavy handed misogyny in the book- women generally appear to be blamed, punished, abandoned, die or lurk in the shadows as prostitutes that are constantly and gratuitously referred to (through the POV of various male characters) while never actually appearing, acting or speaking in any scene. WTF?
The coolest bit was the dream of the dragon with the dragon skeleton and all the rest of it. It still had terrible writing but at least the concept was pretty cool.
I am going to assume that part of my mistake was reading the fourth book and expecting it to be the first (until I looked on Goodreads I though that book WAS the first and I was going to sort of give the author artistic points for having quite so much back-story taken for granted...lol). I also know that fantasy readers often like purple prose and tropes (eg all the people that loved Eragon, my son included).
I won't read any more of these because it will keep being long and tortuous and not progress really- they will be at a stand off at the end of each book until the last one I am sure.
Anyway some people clearly love this series and this book so feel free to ignore my grumpiness if it seems like your sort of thing.
ekfmef's review
3.0
Best oke, maar deze serie heeft minimaal tien boeken en ik ben nu bij deel vier? Ben nu wel toe aan n Wurts-pauze.
teabeakay's review against another edition
This kind of fantasy writing simply isn't for me - there's far too much description and 'fanciness' packed in there, and it makes the plot/character development grind along. All power to those who enjoy this, I'm not disparaging it, its just not how I like to take my fantasy.
chicagodave's review against another edition
5.0
This is my fourth or fifth time through Fugitive Prince and it still stands as an excellent episode in the series.
The machinations of the Koriani and Morriel Prime are the central focus of the book while Lysear moves Athera to a religious bend of the Mistwraith's curse.
The stand out scenes of this book are Dakar's unswerving and at the same time reluctant friendship to Arithon. But the pivotal moment is the expression of friendship and love shown in later chapters between Jeiret and Arithon.
I of know other author that writes about friendship, loyalty, love, grace, hardship, service, and sacrifice as Janny does.
I am a better person for having read these books and Fugitive Prince is yet another example of life lessons we should all adhere to.
The machinations of the Koriani and Morriel Prime are the central focus of the book while Lysear moves Athera to a religious bend of the Mistwraith's curse.
The stand out scenes of this book are Dakar's unswerving and at the same time reluctant friendship to Arithon. But the pivotal moment is the expression of friendship and love shown in later chapters between Jeiret and Arithon.
I of know other author that writes about friendship, loyalty, love, grace, hardship, service, and sacrifice as Janny does.
I am a better person for having read these books and Fugitive Prince is yet another example of life lessons we should all adhere to.
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