Warhost of Vastmark (Wars of Light & Shadow #3) in Beyond Reality

Sep 27, 2009 seak rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013, arc-review

Warhost of Vastmark is the third book in the Wars of Light and Shadow series, but it was originally intended as the second half of book two. Either way, with all of the set up that happened in The Ships of Merior, book two, Warhost was a blast to read from page one.

There will be spoilers from this point in the review on, but I'll try to keep them to the first two books.

Warhost starts right of the bat with one of the biggest mysteries from the last books. What happened to Kharadmon, one of the di ...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Stefan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Warhost of Vastmark by Janny Wurts takes up directly where The Ships of Merior left off. The two books are definitely meant to be read back to back - together they comprise Arc 2 of the author's THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW series, and some editions actually combine both of them in one cover.

It's hard to give many details of the story without throwing in spoilers for The Ships of Merior, so I'll just say that the ongoing conflict between Arithon and Lysaer, which reached a seeming climax at the Warhost of Vastmark by Janny Wurts takes up directly where The Ships of Merior left off. The two books are definitely meant to be read back to back - together they comprise Arc 2 of the author's THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW series, and some editions actually combine both of them in one cover.

It's hard to give many details of the story without throwing in spoilers for The Ships of Merior, so I'll just say that the ongoing conflict between Arithon and Lysaer, which reached a seeming climax at the end of "Merior", actually balloons to even larger proportions and reaches a stunning high point at the end of the novel. The book contains a hilarious moment of hijinx (the "triple theft") that's so carefully set up and brilliantly executed you'll want to re-read the chapter. Some characters show some (to me at least) unexpected changes, and some previously minor characters develop into very fascinating pieces of the puzzle.

While the story progresses, we also learn more about the world of Athera, its past, and the various groups and factions that make this such a complex and intriguing fantasy universe. The odd side-effect of this slow revelation of world-building details is that you simply want to read and learn more, even as the picture gradually resolves and the story progresses. These novels all have a solid and very satisfying ending, but at the same time they definitely leave the reader hungry for more.

Janny Wurts' novels are generally complex and challenging, and as such they require the reader's full attention. I'm sure people looking for light reading might be turned off by their rich prose and long-term plotting. However, if you're willing to give them the time they deserve, I doubt you'll be disappointed. I've rated the previous two books in this series 5 stars, and astonishingly, Warhost of Vastmark is at least as good as The Curse of the Mistwraith and The Ships of Merior. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite epic fantasies.

(This review will also appear on fantasyliterature.com in the near future) ...more

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Sep 11, 2010 Kerry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 10-out-of-10, 2010

I remain totally blow away by this series. I know that's not helpful as any kind of review, but in truth they are something to experience for oneself and not something I can describe. Certainly not in this moment as I finish. If I can, I'll add something later, but I make no promises. ...more

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May 22, 2010 Sandra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book picks up right where Ships of Merior left off; in fact they were originally written as one book. Once again, I would give the book six stars if it were possible. In fact, as I look through the books I have given five stars before, I am tempted to rate some of them down to four.

After the burning of Lysaer's ships, the tension builds as he regroups and continues his attempts to kill/wage war on his half brother, who is trying with all his might to avoid fighting and death. Dakar continue This book picks up right where Ships of Merior left off; in fact they were originally written as one book. Once again, I would give the book six stars if it were possible. In fact, as I look through the books I have given five stars before, I am tempted to rate some of them down to four.

After the burning of Lysaer's ships, the tension builds as he regroups and continues his attempts to kill/wage war on his half brother, who is trying with all his might to avoid fighting and death. Dakar continues to haunt Arithon's every move, in between bouts of drinking. Arithon takes Lysaer's wife Talith hostage in a brilliant coup and attempt to get financing for his inevitable battle. The accomplishment of this and the subsequent theft of the ransom, the raising of another ransom, Talith's escape from Arithon's clutches, his brilliant 'discovery' of her right where his men had left her, raises the tension and suspense.

Talith's time in the company of Arithon and the men who work for him begins to make her doubt the justice of her husband's fight against him. In the end, when she is returned, their marriage is never the same. She questions Lysaer, and he cannot live with the ambiguity of her thinking and never returns to her bed, poor dumb lout.

Meanwhile, Arithon and Dakar explore the mountains of Vastmark, a rugged and isolated community in the south of Athera and find two wounded children. Reread 1/23/13: This one moves me the most so far. The ratcheting up of tension is intense and the transformation of Dakar is incredibly moving.

Arithon tells Dakar they are going to have to weave a spell to heal the girl, and Dakar and Arithon have an experience similar to what Arithon and Elaira went through. While Dakar has a new view of events from Arithon's perspective, he doesn't trust his own senses. He has a vision that Arithon will be killed in the mountains.

Once again, the plotting is superb, the writing beautiful, the characters complex, intriguing, and multi-dimensional. Any attempts by me to summarize it are woefully simplified, and there are so many twists and turns and subtleties that I have left out.

The development of the relationship between Dakar and Arithon was the high point of this book for me. I was in tears at the end when Dakar sacrifices himself to save Arithon from the arrow meant for Arithon and sent by the Prime matriarch of the Koriani order. One of the dukes who sided with Lysaer begins to see through his charisma and announces that his campaign to kill Arithon is sacrificing thousands of men for what is, essentially, a personal vendetta. He decides to side with Arithon.

The ending is very satisfactory. Arithon is in a ship heading off to find some distant islands where he thinks the unicorns and centaurs may be living.

Reread 8/8/14. As enthralling as ever. ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Cody rated it liked it

Hmmm...Warhost of Vastmark.

The Wars of Light and Shadow books are really challenging my expectations. On one hand, I'm continually challenged and impressed at the writing itself and the sentence structure. The plotting of how there are handy time jumps and only the important parts of the story are told is also great. On the other hand, I'm having trouble getting behind some of the character reactions and some of the "forced plot" moments.

For instance, Dakar is a terrible piece of crap throughout Hmmm...Warhost of Vastmark.

The Wars of Light and Shadow books are really challenging my expectations. On one hand, I'm continually challenged and impressed at the writing itself and the sentence structure. The plotting of how there are handy time jumps and only the important parts of the story are told is also great. On the other hand, I'm having trouble getting behind some of the character reactions and some of the "forced plot" moments.

For instance, Dakar is a terrible piece of crap throughout most of Ships of Merior and Warhost of Vastmark. What begins to chip away at this? A random encounter in a new area where Dakar and Arithon just happen to be. Then Arithon somehow gets an entire people to become his fighters for the war with Lysaer. This feels like the plot just being forced down the reader's throat with little explanation. Dakar and Arithon --had-- to have the random encounter to start chipping away at Dakar's mindset, but that encounter is never mentioned as the reason the Vastmark shepherds fall in with Arithon. It would at least make some sort of flimsy sense, that way, but it feels like they just decide to trust this guy they've never met before against a warhost 40k strong. How does that make sense? And when it comes to Dakar's character growth, I could've done without the forced random encounter and instead built on his realization that the less he drinks and is negative, the closer he feels with the mysteries of Athera. That, plus helping Arithon during an augury later would've been fine. Why the random encounter that is likely now going to be used as a crutch to explain random character choices for the rest of the series(if Arithon's penchant for holding guilt close to his breast holds fast).

I also felt like the climax of these two books was predictable the moment the setting of Vastmark is described and Arithon gets so confident. It only takes a couple mentions of "loose, sharp, shale scarps" to tell the reader exactly how the big confrontation is going to go. After that, it's just waiting for Dakar's vision to come to fruition, and if you couldn't predict Dakar's action there, you weren't following the forced character growth he was going through.

Lastly, it feels like every character, barring those who are meant to be one-dimensional bad guys(Pesquil, Skannt, etc) have far too powerful of emotional fits. I can buy it that the sorcerers would have stronger feelings because of their close connection to the world. I can buy that some people who have hugely powerful emotional responses to some things, but for nearly every single character - from child to hard-bitten war leader to have such ridiculous reactions to things is beyond me. The way their emotions are described reads like a puberty ridden kid describing his first overwhelming feelings of love. I can't help but feel an adult would feel horror or elation at something, but without the kind of over-the-top descriptions of the emotion. Maybe it's just me having read too much grimdark lately. Who knows?

Gripes aside, I really like the underlying conflict of Lysaer being absolutely unable to realize he's under the geas of a curse and that is why he's being so obsessive about Arithon. It's morbidly pleasant watching everyone around Lysaer realize Arithon is actually trying to avoid conflict and it's Lysaer who's the crazy one. Like watching a train crash in slow motion and you can't look away. I will definitely keep reading the series since I really want to know what it will take to make Lysaer see reason. ...more

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