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Artefacts of Power #2
Harp of Winds
The second novel of Maggie Furey's Aurian saga unfolds in a sweeping blaze of glory, terror, and mystic enchantment, as Lady Aurian and her lover Anvar return to the holy city of Nexis to find that the crazed Archmage Miathan's sorcery has unleashed cataclysmic forces, locking the land in the icy grip of eternal winter.
443 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
14 people are currently reading
671 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Furey
32 books198 followersMaggie Furey was born in North East England and spent most of her adult life residing in County Wicklow, Ireland. She was a qualified teacher, but has also reviewed books on BBC Radio Newcastle, been an advisor in the Durham Reading Resources Centre and organized children's book fairs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
November 13, 2016
Same as the previous one - straight-up linear fantasy with few twists and turns. There's not any real suspense... you know that Anvar and Aurian are going to be OK, you know that Miathan's going to be the Big Bad, you know that nothing really bad's going to happen to Vannor. Even wasn't that suspenseful ... you know she's going to be OK. Still, just like the previous one, it's competent enough to serve as some good mindless entertainment, so pick it up but don't have elevated expectations.
July 1, 2018
I recall this being my favourite of the series, and I'm pretty sure it's coz Anvar is a legend. I really need to re-read this series, because there are some seriously badass characters in it. My mum got me into them, and I recall her constantly checking my progress so she could share my excitement over cool scenes and characters.
This is such an epic fantasy series, and even though it was years ago that I read it (twice), I'm pretty sure this is the series that truly cemented my love of adult fantasy. Could be time to buy my own copies.
This is such an epic fantasy series, and even though it was years ago that I read it (twice), I'm pretty sure this is the series that truly cemented my love of adult fantasy. Could be time to buy my own copies.
November 24, 2012
After a very impressive debut to the Aurian series, Maggie Furey keeps the momentum going! In another entertaining novel, Furey builds on what happened previously and adds more depth to the series! Sometimes Furey's writing can drag at times, but the good parts still make this a must-read for fantasy lovers!
August 10, 2024
Though a fairly typical size for a softcover, Harp of Winds is stuffed to the brim with events and characters. In the first book we were following several pov's which I sometimes found spread the plot too thin in places and caused me to dislike it. In this book, the pov's double and even more characters are introduced. I started to write them down! Firstly to be able to keep track of them all (which despite writing them down, I did still manage to forget who some were) and secondly to see if there really was a ton of characters.
There were a total of 47 characters.
A majority of them were important enough to have chapters dedicated to their pov's. While I found some characters fun to follow along with, there were more pov's than needed. Aurian (book 1) suffered from this, and HoW just doubles down on it.
Also, can we just take a moment here to vent about how Aurian names her child? Without spoiling things (don't look at my comments). Like seriously? She had a cool one lined right up and goes with the most dumb option.
Gripes aside, I did enjoy this book more than the first and found the pacing much better. I enjoyed seeing the bad guys being bad, the good guys being good, and high fantasy being high fantasy. My true rating is probably floating around 3.5 to 4, but since it was better than Aurian it gets the boost.
There were a total of 47 characters.
A majority of them were important enough to have chapters dedicated to their pov's. While I found some characters fun to follow along with, there were more pov's than needed. Aurian (book 1) suffered from this, and HoW just doubles down on it.
Also, can we just take a moment here to vent about how Aurian names her child? Without spoiling things (don't look at my comments). Like seriously? She had a cool one lined right up and goes with the most dumb option.
Gripes aside, I did enjoy this book more than the first and found the pacing much better. I enjoyed seeing the bad guys being bad, the good guys being good, and high fantasy being high fantasy. My true rating is probably floating around 3.5 to 4, but since it was better than Aurian it gets the boost.
January 9, 2014
The Artefacts of Power Series
I have read both the first and second Book of "The Artefacts of Power" series and I have to say that it's true of what most people are saying; the adventures in the books are quite exciting and they are hard to put down. I must admit the writer has a unique imagination in the way that she describes things, but at times some of the writing style borders on the over-dramatic--a bit like some of Michael Moorcock's.
The only reason why I have not given this book full marks is because of the amount of characters within both books there are just too many. The books are so jam-packed full with all these people, its hard to remember who is who, what each individual's characteristics and motivations are, who they were with at any given time etc. In the end, I had to keep a checklist in order to keep up with every character!
I also got the impression that the writer was winging it a bit as the plot constantly jumps from one group of characters to the other in different locations. This was a bit frustrating when I read the first book in the series; I wanted to continue with it. So when it ended on one group of characters then skipped to the next, I just put the book down for a while to save exasperation. There is such a lot happening it may be a good idea to read one book straight after the other, making it easier not to forget the plot and individuals.
Some of the characters seemed to disappear from the plot altogether. Whatever happened to Yaris, Jaris, Hargon, Fional and Sangra? I never heard from them again after Aurian's escape from Miathan. Maybe the writer herself is losing track of everyone like I did! Maybe I'll find out in book three?
I have re-read David Eddings' "Belgariad" books a number of times but I wouldn't read these again, even though the main plot is very interesting, there are just too many people and I can't see that the final two books in the series being any different. If there'd been an index for the characters and a better map design, it wouldn't be such hard work.
I have read both the first and second Book of "The Artefacts of Power" series and I have to say that it's true of what most people are saying; the adventures in the books are quite exciting and they are hard to put down. I must admit the writer has a unique imagination in the way that she describes things, but at times some of the writing style borders on the over-dramatic--a bit like some of Michael Moorcock's.
The only reason why I have not given this book full marks is because of the amount of characters within both books there are just too many. The books are so jam-packed full with all these people, its hard to remember who is who, what each individual's characteristics and motivations are, who they were with at any given time etc. In the end, I had to keep a checklist in order to keep up with every character!
I also got the impression that the writer was winging it a bit as the plot constantly jumps from one group of characters to the other in different locations. This was a bit frustrating when I read the first book in the series; I wanted to continue with it. So when it ended on one group of characters then skipped to the next, I just put the book down for a while to save exasperation. There is such a lot happening it may be a good idea to read one book straight after the other, making it easier not to forget the plot and individuals.
Some of the characters seemed to disappear from the plot altogether. Whatever happened to Yaris, Jaris, Hargon, Fional and Sangra? I never heard from them again after Aurian's escape from Miathan. Maybe the writer herself is losing track of everyone like I did! Maybe I'll find out in book three?
I have re-read David Eddings' "Belgariad" books a number of times but I wouldn't read these again, even though the main plot is very interesting, there are just too many people and I can't see that the final two books in the series being any different. If there'd been an index for the characters and a better map design, it wouldn't be such hard work.
June 17, 2015
E' nato un Lupo!
Proseguono le avventure di Aurian, del mago Anvar e del loro gruppo di compagni alla ricerca dei Manufatti del Potere che permetteranno loro di fronteggiare il perfido Miathan, Arcimago della città di Nexis convertitosi interamente al male.
Il fuoco centrale del libro è la nascita del piccolo Lupo (Wolf in originale) il bimbo di Aurian e Forral che però, a causa della maledizione di Miathan, nasce appunto sotto forma di lupacchiotto (poteva andargli peggio!). E' intorno a questo evento che tutto gira: la trappola all'inizio del libro in cui il gruppo cade a causa della necessità di Aurian di fermarsi in un posto sicuro fino al momento del parto. Da questo punto in poi i vari personaggi vengono divisi, ognuno di loro vive delle avventure che poi si intrecciano fino all'exploit finale.
Sicuramente le parti che preferisco sono quelle relative ai contrabbandieri e quelle ambientate a Nexis (ma dal punto di vista dei ribelli, non da quello di Miathan ed Eliseth). Sono passaggi molto belli, anche se purtroppo non occupano molto spazio al momento.
***qualche spoiler***
Il livello della saga rimane alto come nel precedente volume. Un punto a favore per la presenza di personaggi assertivi e forti sia maschili che femminili: finalmente la Furey abbandona il connubio donna forte/uomo smarrito che ha bisogno di una guida. Lo stesso Anvar arriva a fine libro con uno spessore molto significativo grazie alla ricerca dell'Arpa dei Venti, che si rivela destinata a lui. Un piccolo punto a sfavore per la presenza di Forral come spettro che la fa in barba alla Morte riuscendo di tanto in tanto a contattare il mondo dei vivi. Un altro punto a sfavore il tradimento di Raven: a mio avviso si spiega poco e male il motivo di questo voltafaccia.
***fine spoiler***
Proseguono le avventure di Aurian, del mago Anvar e del loro gruppo di compagni alla ricerca dei Manufatti del Potere che permetteranno loro di fronteggiare il perfido Miathan, Arcimago della città di Nexis convertitosi interamente al male.
Il fuoco centrale del libro è la nascita del piccolo Lupo (Wolf in originale) il bimbo di Aurian e Forral che però, a causa della maledizione di Miathan, nasce appunto sotto forma di lupacchiotto (poteva andargli peggio!). E' intorno a questo evento che tutto gira: la trappola all'inizio del libro in cui il gruppo cade a causa della necessità di Aurian di fermarsi in un posto sicuro fino al momento del parto. Da questo punto in poi i vari personaggi vengono divisi, ognuno di loro vive delle avventure che poi si intrecciano fino all'exploit finale.
Sicuramente le parti che preferisco sono quelle relative ai contrabbandieri e quelle ambientate a Nexis (ma dal punto di vista dei ribelli, non da quello di Miathan ed Eliseth). Sono passaggi molto belli, anche se purtroppo non occupano molto spazio al momento.
***qualche spoiler***
Il livello della saga rimane alto come nel precedente volume. Un punto a favore per la presenza di personaggi assertivi e forti sia maschili che femminili: finalmente la Furey abbandona il connubio donna forte/uomo smarrito che ha bisogno di una guida. Lo stesso Anvar arriva a fine libro con uno spessore molto significativo grazie alla ricerca dell'Arpa dei Venti, che si rivela destinata a lui. Un piccolo punto a sfavore per la presenza di Forral come spettro che la fa in barba alla Morte riuscendo di tanto in tanto a contattare il mondo dei vivi. Un altro punto a sfavore il tradimento di Raven: a mio avviso si spiega poco e male il motivo di questo voltafaccia.
***fine spoiler***
April 4, 2014
As much as I loved Aurian, the first book by Maggie Furey, its sequel, Harp of Winds, did not measure up. There are too many tangents, too many overwritten plot points, and too many newly introduced characters for my tastes. It became harder to follow than the previous book, so much so that I found myself resorting to skimming, and then to skip-reading in the latter half of the book.
Frankly, this book suffers from a lot of problems that happen in high fantasy; widening universes causes widening waters between reader and writer. The Jordan-istic tendencies to throw in too many of everything is very evident here and it killed my enthusiasm for the series. I don’t think I can do it for another two books, which is a bloody shame considering the first one was perfect. And I bought the fourth one mid-way through the first read. Grr.
Disappointing. 3 out of 5 stars. Blah.
- review courtesy of www.bibliopunkkreads.com
November 2, 2014
Review
' A new classic. It has the potential to stand with the best' LOCUS
Product DescriptionThere had been four Artefacts of Power, belonging to the four branches of the Magefolk. Now, millennia later, only the human Mages survived, and the Artefacts were lost. Until the coming of Aurian...Child of wizards, swordmistress, the headstrong Aurian had set her power against that of Miathan, the evil Archmage. Whilst he possessed the Cauldron of Rebirth, Aurian had recreated the Staff of Earth, the first of the three lost weapons, the only defence against Miathan's plans of conquest. Trapped in the Southern Lands, her powers reft by pregnancy, Aurian must rely upon the untried powers of the half-blood Mage Anvar as their odyssey takes them to the realm of the mysterious Xandim, to the peaktop city of the Skyfolk, and to the worlds beyond. But, Miathan's webs of deceit are only beginning to unfurl...
August 23, 2017
Cette saga est prodigieuse ! J'avais tellement adoré le premier tome que j'étais forcément à la fois excitée et un peu stressée de découvrir le tome 2. On n'est jamais à l'abri d'une déception. Mais non, l'auteure déborde d'une imagination fantastique et l'univers qu'elle a créé est si foisonnant, on se laisse happer par l'histoire en oubliant le reste du monde ! C'est une aventure incroyable, une véritable épopée remplie de magie, je la recommande toujours aussi chaudement !
May 20, 2017
I love these books, but I have to give a less than 5 stars because there are so many characters to keep up with. Sometimes the different plots are pointless. Many could be combined or left out entirely. I guess it helps to give it depth, but it makes reading tedious at times. Her characters are fascinating and deep however.
abandoned
July 22, 2011Troppo prolisso, ho dovuto lasciarlo per la pesantezza della narrazione. peccato, anche perchè la trama era abbastanza originale. Un centinaio di pagine in meno e una sintassi meno verbosa e ricercata e sarebbe stato apprezzabile.
February 15, 2014
The second book has further progressed the story between Anvar and Aurian and their struggle against the evil Miathan. It has been a quite dark book as was the first one and it looks like the other two books will be the same.
August 5, 2016
Hmmm - this is a series that suffered by a re-read 15 years later... I liked it, but there's little real tension, and it went on too long. There were also way too many fixes that were because a new power/ally came along and fixed everything.
January 8, 2011
Getting better
December 13, 2011
Better I thought than Aurian, but the same thoughts apply.
September 7, 2012
Good written fantasy.
May 31, 2013
Really enjoyed this second booka lthough not quite as griping as the first one. Well worth a read and hoping that the 3rd continues in the same vein and doesn't tail off.
June 20, 2014
Kept me going good.
July 8, 2015
See part 1
April 30, 2015
Awsome read them all
April 14, 2022
Harp of Winds is, it seems, a fairly typical 90s fantasy novel. It features characters who are put in mortal peril, but who you know will be alright in the end, villains who perform genuinely despicable acts, and fantastic locales and challenges for the heroes to overcome.
The reason Furey's Aurian series works so well still is because of Aurian, and the characters who surround her. Aurian is strong, likeable, and charismatic. She goes through immense suffering and hardship, but emerges on the other side stronger for it. She is able to empathize with her enemies, even while hating them with every fibre of her being. Her greatest friends are truly loyal, and she inspires love and compassion in those she meets (those who are not jealous of her, anyway).
It is, for all intents and purposes, an "above-average" fantasy novel. But for me, this series has a special connection. When I was, oh, thirteen, fourteen maybe, I picked up the first book off the shelf in my local public library. I found myself just taken by the book. They were heartfelt, as well as among the first fantasy novels I read to deal with more mature and heavy topics. Kind of silly to think back on it now, but they were kind of like my own little secret. No-one else I spoke to knew about these books, and the books, while now I recognize somewhat derivative and at times a bit tiresome, just have this endearing quality to them. Good triumphs over Evil - the classic story, told with fantastic characters (even if there are quite a few of them).
I had originally planned to just re-read this one, as it was the last in the series I had managed to acquire for my collection just last week. But now it seems I may have to revisit the other titles too, and see if they hold up.
I also looked up Maggie Furey in the midst of re-reading this book, trying to see what other books she had written, and if she was still writing. Somehow, I had missed she had sadly passed away in 2016. Recently, I have managed to get myself back into writing creatively, a passion of mine that I have practically neglected for the entirety of 2021. I realize now how dearly I missed writing, and I hope it is something I can sustain through my whole life.
I hope that, wherever she is, she takes pride in the fact that her writing can still inspire a young man to write his own stories. Thank you, Maggie Furey.
The reason Furey's Aurian series works so well still is because of Aurian, and the characters who surround her. Aurian is strong, likeable, and charismatic. She goes through immense suffering and hardship, but emerges on the other side stronger for it. She is able to empathize with her enemies, even while hating them with every fibre of her being. Her greatest friends are truly loyal, and she inspires love and compassion in those she meets (those who are not jealous of her, anyway).
It is, for all intents and purposes, an "above-average" fantasy novel. But for me, this series has a special connection. When I was, oh, thirteen, fourteen maybe, I picked up the first book off the shelf in my local public library. I found myself just taken by the book. They were heartfelt, as well as among the first fantasy novels I read to deal with more mature and heavy topics. Kind of silly to think back on it now, but they were kind of like my own little secret. No-one else I spoke to knew about these books, and the books, while now I recognize somewhat derivative and at times a bit tiresome, just have this endearing quality to them. Good triumphs over Evil - the classic story, told with fantastic characters (even if there are quite a few of them).
I had originally planned to just re-read this one, as it was the last in the series I had managed to acquire for my collection just last week. But now it seems I may have to revisit the other titles too, and see if they hold up.
I also looked up Maggie Furey in the midst of re-reading this book, trying to see what other books she had written, and if she was still writing. Somehow, I had missed she had sadly passed away in 2016. Recently, I have managed to get myself back into writing creatively, a passion of mine that I have practically neglected for the entirety of 2021. I realize now how dearly I missed writing, and I hope it is something I can sustain through my whole life.
I hope that, wherever she is, she takes pride in the fact that her writing can still inspire a young man to write his own stories. Thank you, Maggie Furey.
May 17, 2022
《Synopsis》
Child of wizards, swordmistress, the headstrong Aurian had set her power against that of Miathan, the evil Archmage. Whilst he possessed the Cauldron of Rebirth, Aurian had recreated the Staff of Earth, the first of the three lost weapons, the only defence against Miathan's plans of conquest. Trapped in the Southern Lands, her powers reft by pregnancy, Aurian must rely upon the untried powers of the half-blood Mage Anvar as their odyssey takes them to the realm of the mysterious Xandim, to the peaktop city of the Skyfolk, and to the worlds beyond. But, Miathan's webs of deceit are only beginning to unfurl...
《Thoughts》
4 stars.
This is book 2 in The Artefacts of Power series.
I absolutely loved the world in book 1 and it only got better from here. The world and the magic just continued to grow but in really cool, unique ways, and I just simple loved the imagination of it all. The Windeye's magic in particular. I've had a similar idea for awhile, so it was actually really neat to see something like it.
I really enjoyed switching between all the characters. That made the book feel fresh all the way through, and we got to see how the author was drawing everything together.
The one thing that bothered me was a particular character who kept coming back into play, when it felt like he should have just been cut out at the end of book 1 (BUT I do have to say, now that I'm reading book 4, I understand why he wasn't).
The entire time I was reading, I was just imaging this like a TV show. This would make a magnificent adaptation.
Very enjoyable.
Child of wizards, swordmistress, the headstrong Aurian had set her power against that of Miathan, the evil Archmage. Whilst he possessed the Cauldron of Rebirth, Aurian had recreated the Staff of Earth, the first of the three lost weapons, the only defence against Miathan's plans of conquest. Trapped in the Southern Lands, her powers reft by pregnancy, Aurian must rely upon the untried powers of the half-blood Mage Anvar as their odyssey takes them to the realm of the mysterious Xandim, to the peaktop city of the Skyfolk, and to the worlds beyond. But, Miathan's webs of deceit are only beginning to unfurl...
《Thoughts》
4 stars.
This is book 2 in The Artefacts of Power series.
I absolutely loved the world in book 1 and it only got better from here. The world and the magic just continued to grow but in really cool, unique ways, and I just simple loved the imagination of it all. The Windeye's magic in particular. I've had a similar idea for awhile, so it was actually really neat to see something like it.
I really enjoyed switching between all the characters. That made the book feel fresh all the way through, and we got to see how the author was drawing everything together.
The one thing that bothered me was a particular character who kept coming back into play, when it felt like he should have just been cut out at the end of book 1 (BUT I do have to say, now that I'm reading book 4, I understand why he wasn't).
The entire time I was reading, I was just imaging this like a TV show. This would make a magnificent adaptation.
Very enjoyable.
September 18, 2020
The only things that kept this from being a 5 star read were the addition of more characters which made things a little hard to follow, a bit too much time spent on describing scenery so that it made it a little slog-y to get through, and oddly a bit of a thing about sex. Multiple characters seemed to be thinking about it more than in the first book. But other than that, I loved it. It was good to catch up with my favorites again, and once the new characters settled, I found myself liking them and rooting for them. I might give it a little time before diving back into the series, but I will absolutely be doing so!
December 1, 2024
Leuk vlot geschreven boek. Het verhaal uit deel 1 gaat hierin verder. Een echt fantasy verhaal. Het eerste hoofdstuk maakte me erg nieuwsgierig. Zelf vind ik het prettig dat er geen enorme lijst met nieuwe namen wordt toegevoegd, waardoor ik de meeste characters al ken en een band met ze heb. Zelfde verhaal snelheid en indeling als het 1e boek.ik kijk uit naar hoe het gehele avontuur gaat eindigen in boek 4!
July 24, 2021
Aurian and Anvar go in search of the Harp of Winds, the only thing that can possibly stop the death grip winter has on the lands, a death grip caused by the machinations of Arch-Mage Miathan and his evil cronies. Good
September 7, 2018
Fun read. I may pick up the next one.
January 7, 2024
I really love this saga, I love the characters and how it's written. I think it'll become one of My favorite saga.
October 20, 2024
i just think the matriarchal panther society rocks
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews