Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts starting on August 1, 2023.


Happy Reading!

Hello~! Just popping in to say hi in advance of kicking this off! Long time reader of Janny's works and always happy to talk about it with others! I've been following since the early 90s, so feel free to ask me anything about the series if something stumps you, etc. :)

Spot!

Oh, may I join in? I read until book 5 the last time, and I would love to get all the way through this time :D

The more the merrier, Olivia!

I might join too, though I definitely won't be able to stick to the one a month schedule (depending on if I like the first enough to continue, of course).

Is this series complete?

Beena wrote: "I might join too, though I definitely won't be able to stick to the one a month schedule (depending on if I like the first enough to continue, of course).

Is this series complete?"

Beena, the final volume has been finished and has a publication date, yes! The pre-orders for it start in September of this year and it will be released in May of 2024, so this read would wrap up the most currently available book, Destiny's Conflict, in May as well.

chibipoe wrote: "The more the merrier, Olivia!"

I can't wait. I loved the books I've read so far!

I’ve wanted to read these for ages but I’ve already overcommitted. I’ve added it to my spreadsheet anyway to see if I can squeeze this chonk in.

Felina wrote: "I’ve wanted to read these for ages but I’ve already overcommitted. I’ve added it to my spreadsheet anyway to see if I can squeeze this chonk in."

It's a fantastic read, for sure! And having others helps a lot! :) Either way, we're happy to have you along!

Olivia, same here... I only read to book 5 and then cancer treatments started and I didn't read for over a year... I am still trying to make up for lost time...

Ahh hugs Choko! I finished chemo in March and it totally messed up my reading which is why I have now overcommitted. I want to read all the things!

Choko wrote: "Olivia, same here... I only read to book 5 and then cancer treatments started and I didn't read for over a year... I am still trying to make up for lost time..."

I'm sorry to hear that.

Fortunately it wasn't cancer treatment for me, but I lost most of last year to health issues culminating in major surgery in January, and I'm also trying to get back into reading. It just drains you...

Man, hugs to everyone! I hope yall are feeling better! ❤️

I think we are all in mending mode at the moment and overbooking buddy reads to make up for lost time...

Felina, chemo brain is a real thing!!! Hugs and best wishes!

Olivia, I am so glad you are recovering! And am looking forward to reading with you again:)))

All I did during chemo was lay in bed and play games on my phone. Chemo brain is real and it destroys reading goals.

Yeay!! We've got such a lovely crowd here!! :)

Thanks for the thread Yanique. :)

@Choko and Olivia - I am so happy you are here, picking the series back up And so sorry to hear about what you've gone through. You too @Felina.
Hugs to all of you!! That must have been hell going through and I really hope all will be well from now on.

I fully understand the mess up in reading goals when life throws shit like that in our faces. It wasn't cancer for us, but epilepsy of the worst kind. My son, who is 15 now (Choko and Olivia you already know about him) has been diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome - that's the worst kind of epilepsy - progressively degenerative and with a horrible prognosis. His health has been slowly deteriorating ever since and there is nothing we can do about it except keep fighting and hoping.
It took me a long time to adjust to it all but life is as it is and we can only do our best in the end and hope for the best.

I''m keeping my fingers crossed this BR will be something to make us all feel good and more than occasionally laugh out loud.

@Olivia - I still smile when I see a certain volume of this series and instantly remember your comment: 'I wish a donkey would kick FA in the balls. Hard.'

@chibipoe - since you're reading with us for the first time be warned - our filters are often broken or we forget to apply them on occasion. :D

@Felina, Beena & Emily - I hope you'll be able to join us. And don't worry if you can't keep to the pace of 1 book a month. I have asked Yanique for the threads that way but we can always modify the dates. We'll wait on each other.

The main purpose of this is to have a wonderful time with a fabulous series. :)

Looking forward to it. I am now very interested is donkey kicks.

And I’m sorry about your son. My prayers and best wishes for you and yours!

Ditto Emily, sending some love to everyone who's been dealing with shitty health issues! <3

Thanks Chibipoe and Laura!

Laura wrote: "Yeay!! We've got such a lovely crowd here!! :)

Thanks for the thread Yanique. :)

@Choko and Olivia - I am so happy you are here, picking the series back up And so sorry to hear about what you've ..."

I really really really wished for that donkey!

I'm sorry his health keeps deteriorating further. That's awful to witness.

Personally, I find watching television easier than reading when life is kicking me down, simply because it's less effort, even though I prefer reading. It's just my brain, when it's being loud and worrying, it's a lot louder than the words in a book. With Netflix, I just turn the volume up...

I am trying to join too! 😄

Johanna wrote: "I am trying to join too! 😄"

Awesome! The more, the merrier!(or is that Merior? :p)

Yay! This will be awesome!

Laura, *hugs and prayers*!

Just a couple of days! Here. We. Go! :D

I’m about 20 pages into this chonk. So far so good.

I can't wait to start :D

Chapter II Sentence (view spoiler)[ so far these characters are so interesting. The King is such an asshole but I see very interesting traits in the sons. And I always love a good prophecy in any story. (hide spoiler)]

Ok, to kick off(belatedly, since Felina is up to Chapter II, but going to start off a bit earlier, to begin at the beginning, as it were. :D)

First, I would recommend Prologue: Curse of the Mistwraith by A.P. Canavan
(Janny has a link in her blog post and you can find on youtube by looking for A Critical Dragon or searching Curse of the Mistwraith! :) ) His dissection of the prologue is really in-depth and thoughtful(and his other videos on the series are great as well!) To say nothing of Philip Chase, Johanna, etc that are digging in.

Second, let's take a look (all material in italics belongs to the fantastic author herself, Janny Wurts and I make no claims to it in any way, shape or form):
The Wars of Light and Shadow were fought during the Third Age of Athera, the most troubled and strife-filled era recorded in all of history. At that time, Arithon, called Master of Shadows, battled the Lord of Light through five centuries of bloody and bitter conflict.

If the canons of the religion founded during that period are reliable, the Lord of Light was divinity incarnate, and the Master of Shadows a servant of evil, spinner of dark powers.

Temple archives attest with grandiloquent force to be the sole arbiters of truth.

Yet contrary evidence supports a claim that the Master was unjustly aligned with evil. Fragments of manuscript survive which expose the entire religion of Light as fraud and award Arithon the attributes of saint and mystic instead.

Because the factual account lay hopelessly entangled between legend and theology, sages in the Seven Age meditated upon the ancient past, and recalled through visions the events as they happened. Contrary to all expectation, the conflict did not begin on the council stair of Etarra, or even on the soil of Athera itself; instead the visions started upon the wide oceans of the splinter world, Dascen Elur.

This is the chronicle the sages recovered. Let each who reads determine the good and the evil for himself.

AP goes into a lot more detail than I will here and is very insightful, but right off, I do want to focus on a thing that this does. He touches on it as well, but I'm approaching from a somewhat different angle.

The opening paragraph refers to our two brothers(though does not name them as such), but it is only Arithon who is given a name. AP goes into some of the speculation why, but I am curious about the deliberate absence from another angle. The Lord of Light is not given a name, but is instead referred to as divinity incarnate, including references to a religion.

We can potentially infer that perhaps he was the focal point of that religion. But the lack of naming is curious. Is his name omitted because the religion wanted to dehumanize/deify him? That references to his identity might be things they wanted to remain buried? I am curious! And perhaps we'll see reasons why as the series unfolds from its beginnings!

Any other thoughts about the prologue? :) Let's goooooo~!

I've gotten a few chapters in at this point. I do quite like it so far.

Its kind of crazy that there's a whole 15 min vlog on just those few paragraphs. I'm not usually one to get delve deep into literature, but I think I'll enjoy reading everyone's thoughts about it. I do appreciate Epic fantasy that has in-world texts (it's probably pretty standard at this point).. But here its kind of unclear whether the prologue is or not.. It's not quoted and given an in-world title or author. Is the whole series presumed to be the "chronicle the sages recovered"?

Also the fact the Lord of Light isn't given a name is curious t o me too.. Perhaps to bias the read in favor of the named one?

The whole series is the chronicle, yeah. Not every single moment of the 500 years, but the important ones. AP's delve into it suggests that yeah, the use of a name humanizes Arithon, and I agree, but the lack of Lysaer being referenced beyond his title is very curious, indeed!

You'll see little tidbits at the beginnings of chapters here and there from songs, etc, as well!

Popping in(i know still a couple of days early, officially, but this is cool and I want to inspire) to say that hey, if anyone has questions, please feel free to ask! Like Laura, I'm a long time reader of Janny's writing(I've had someone call me the og fan, but I am pretty sure others equal me there and really, doesn't matter because we're here for everyone loving this series and her writing! :D (or coming to, if you're a first timer!)), and I've lost count of how many times I've done a re-read, so if something stumps you, or you want some more clarification, I am happy to provide!

That being said, a bit about the opening of the first chapter. One of the things that I have always adored about the prose is Janny's ability to set a scene so I can actively visualize it. Case in point:

The longboat cleaved waters stained blood-red by sunset, far beyond sight of any shore. A league distant from her parent ship, at the limit of her designated patrol, she rose on the crest of a swell. The bosun in command shouted hoarsely from the stern. 'Hold stroke!'

Beaten with exhaustion and the aftermath of battle, his crewmen responded. Four sets of oars lifted, dripping above waters fouled by oil and the steaming timbers of burned warships.

Right off the bat, I've got a vivid image of a group of exhausted crewmen, maybe grizzled, in a longboat on the sea at sunset, picking their way through a maze of debris, with the smells of fire and such on the air. It's a beautiful opening that does a lot with just a few choice words. I don't have exhaustive descriptions of what any of these men look like, true, but given sea and the references to warships and patrol, I fill in with images of some uniformed naval officers of some stripe, hunched over oars with exhaustion while the bosun and his lookout peer out over the chaos before them, presumably looking for survivors.

I'll be starting this on Wednesday because there are still two books I need to finish till then.
I'll also open the spoilers when I start.

Personally, I don't do YouTube. I don't have time to watch anything that crosses half an hour during lunchtime, and that is also something I'm watching with the kids. So I won't be able to watch any of the videos related to the series.
There are quite a few of them out there as far as I understood.

I'll hop onto the Q&A thread instead and ask Janny directly about what readers should expect and if any of you have any question you'd like clarified, please head over there and ask it. I am sure she will answer.

About the Prologue, here is what I think should be noted:


Most of the sentences draw our attention to what will follow and what direction the story will take. I’m going to take them in turn:

1. “The Wars of Light and Shadow were fought during the third age of Athera” – there are ages, each one important in a way or another

2. “Arithon, called Master of Shadow battled the Lord of the Light through five centuries of bitter conflict” – the series spans over 5 centuries of conflict

3. According to the canons of the religion founded during that period, “the Lord of Light was divinity incarnate, and the Master of Shadow a servant of evil, spinner of dark powers.” – temple archives vouch for this truth

4. Fragments of manuscripts offer contrary evidence exposing “the entire religion of Light as fraud” and awarding “Arithon the attributes of saint and mystic instead” – 2 contrary claims that highlight the main purpose of the series - to invite the reader to distinguish the truth and perhaps take a side? “Let each who reads determine the good and the evil for himself.”

5. The conflict “did not begin on the soil of Athera itself”, but “upon the wide oceans of the splinter world Dascen Elur”.

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Is the whole series presumed to be the "chronicle the sages recovered"?..."

I would say the whole series is the real events that took place and were documented within those chronicles. The readers are invited to observe and distinguish the truth for themselves.
So basically, we will see how the events unfolded and why.

Laura wrote: "I'll be starting this on Wednesday because there are still two books I need to finish till then.
I'll also open the spoilers when I start.

Personally, I don't do YouTube. I don't have time to wat..."

Fair! A good portion of the ones out are longer. AP Canavan's got some shorter ones(as do a couple of others) that are really neat and under 30 minutes. Most of the longer ones tend to be multi-person discussions, which DO have a lot of information but yeah, those can be a tad hard to follow at times, so I will focus/recommend the shorter ones.(and for the longer ones, the timestamps where Janny is a participant and shares some really neat information. )

I’m 90 pages in and I realized not a ton has actually happened, however it’s been very engaging so far. I have this in paperback and from what I can tell, there isn’t an audiobook. For the last few years I’ve struggled reading paper books and have mainly only done audiobooks and very rarely ebooks. This hasn’t been hard at all. I’ve enjoyed the time and am looking forward to more of it this afternoon. It makes me happy because I’ve missed reading paper books. Anyway, all that to say, not a ton has happened but it’s interesting and very visual like chibipoe said. I have very clear visuals in my mind.

One thing I will suggest, overall, is to take it slow. We have all of August and zooming works against you, honestly.:)

Good morning everyone! Here we go, officially! Can't wait to see your thoughts!

Hope everyone has had a great day! Since it's the 1st, I thought I'd focus on chapter one a bit and its separate segments.

I. Captive

All for the waste of Karthan's lands, the Leopard sailed the main. s'Ilessid King then cursed s'Ffalenn, who robbed him, gold and grain.
-stanza from a ballad of Dascen Elur.

Our chapter is split into three segments that cover a variety of viewpoints, with three smaller snippets that will illuminate events to come in later chapters.

Our first segment, of which I shared a bit of the prose from above, covers a search party coming across the survivors of the enemy from their encounter. We learn of a turbulent blood feud and that the enemy captain was a sorcerer who had apparently unleashed a 'nightmare of fire, sorcery and darkness'

Their survivor turns out to be none other than said sorcerer, and is taken alive as a prisoner. Despite efforts to the contrary, he is drugged into helplessness and delivered by the warship to the authority of the Crown Prince, Lysaer, and the depths of the hostility between them cannot be measured, as Arithon provokes in an effort to avoid the tortures that may await him for his actions and the generations of blood feud between the two families.

We learn the King of Amroth, Lysaer's father, had lead to the current situation, as Arithon is half-brother to Lysaer after political motives came to light that the King likely meant the gifted children as weapons to be used against Karthan. (Lysaer possesses a gift of light and Arithon one of shadows, both possessing inborn control.)

Lastly, we learn of the mages of Rauven, where Arithon was trained, and his grandfather is clearly not unbiased with regard to his grandsons, promising an equal vengeance should Arithon be harmed.

Finally, we see the healer troubled by his orders to keep Arithon drugged, an admiral worrying over the fate of the fleet and a world choked in mist.

So thoughts! Arithon seems rather malicious, living up to the reputation laid against him, but I find it curious we're looking at the aftermath of a fleet of ships in double-digits against a single vessel. The claims against him seem sketchy given the clear inbalance of military might. Additionally, the opening stanza mentions 'the waste of Karthan's lands'. What does this mean, I wonder? Is this a simple issue of warring kingdoms or something more?

Looking forward to find out!

Yanique wrote: "This is a Buddy Read for The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts starting on August 1, 2023.


Happy Reading!"

Could we move this from Upcoming to Current? :)

I have to join late: this book wasn't available anymore so I have to wait until I get it 😒

I started. I had forgotten how rough the beginning is...

Very interesting thoughts on why The Lord of Light wasn't mentioned by name. I am thinking it does have to do with trying to make him more than human. And it definitely biases us right away just by the connotation, because Light=good and Darkness=evil in traditional storytelling. So right away, we think of Arithon as the bad guy.

Her writing is fantastic!!! I can just read the prose for the beauty of it, but the story is what makes this such a great book!

Chibipoe, thank you so much for all those quotes!!! So glad to have you as a buddy for this read! I think this is the first time we are reading together, so very nice to meet you!

And all the rest of you, I can't wait to delve in this with you!!!


So, we know they, or their descendants, will be living for at least 500 years...

The Temple Archives, but are they what the public believes?

The two parties in the conflict have claims to begin "the right one", and yep, we will have to choose...

Felina, it is the storytelling that makes you feel like you are completely engulfed in the story, not so much the action...

I didn't remember how suicidal Arithon was at first, when captured. But I get it. He knows what he could expect from the King...

Arithon's curses are very jarring. Of course people would think him evil.

Johanna, we will be here:)))

Choko wrote: "I started. I had forgotten how rough the beginning is...

Very interesting thoughts on why The Lord of Light wasn't mentioned by name. I am thinking it does have to do with trying to make him more ..."

It's funny, it didn't work on me. I immediately took a liking to Arithon in the first few chapters. I like Lysaer, too. But Arithon seems tortured, grumpy, broody, but clearly kind, and I just immediately decided to adopt him.

And the thing is throughout the next four or five books that I'd read the last time my thinking always was

Spoiler for how I liked / disliked characters, so please don't look if you haven't read at least 4 books

(view spoiler)[I kept waiting to find out that I was wrong, and I should actually be on Lysaer's side, because Janny was all "things aren't how they seem" but I just - from the very start - was completely enamoured with Arithon, and my dislike for Lysaer grew and grew and grew, and kept wondering, surely no one can think Arithon is bad? (hide spoiler)]

I can't wait to finally finish this time around and find out how it ends :D

I’m not far in and I haven’t read these before but based on first impressions I like Arithon considerably more. And though he is explained as the bad guy, I'm just not seeing it. He has a lot to be angry about but the way he handles himself and how he treats Lysaer is a better indicator of character. Lysaer offers nothing but disdain and cruelty. The King is clearly the bad guy so far. Lysaer comes off to me as someone who thinks what he’s been told and doesn’t puzzle things out. Spends his days playing games in opulence.

And I hate their last names. I can’t figure out how to pronounce them in my mind so every time I see them I have to stall my process to think about it. Ha ha.

Choko wrote: "I started. I had forgotten how rough the beginning is...

Very interesting thoughts on why The Lord of Light wasn't mentioned by name. I am thinking it does have to do with trying to make him more ..."

I’m not sure, Choko. I’ve just had many people mention oh the beginning is a little slow but hang in there. I’m not finding it slow or boring at all. I am currently also reading the third Expanse book which is moving quickly and is very good in a completely different way so this one has been laid aside for a few days. I imagine I’ll finish that book before the weekend and then focus on this one. All the other books I have for this month are audiobooks.

Choko wrote: "I started. I had forgotten how rough the beginning is...

Very interesting thoughts on why The Lord of Light wasn't mentioned by name. I am thinking it does have to do with trying to make him more ..."

I took the prologue as don't believe what the religions tell you straight out, not everything is as it seems and I was biased more in favor of Arithon because of it

Oh, so much to comment on. :D I shall go from the top!

Johanna - No worries! We'll be here and waiting! :) We've got all month!

Choko - I think it does have an affect of making one seem more than human, (The Lord of Light) and the other seem flawed and human(and therefore, open to corruption/evil) but also serves on that same note, for us, the readers, to potentially tilt us toward Arithon, because of the fact that his name is given. A lot harder to find common ground with a distant, unapproachable figure you know only by title, is it not?

Olivia - I, as well, as in the second chapter, we get into his head a bit as we did Lysaer's, and what we find there gives us more insight into his character than what we see from Lysaer, at least in my opinion.

An important thing to consider this first few chapters and the warning from the prologue. The first things we see here are a fleet of ships that were laid waste to during battle at sea by unnatural means(or at least unnatural from the view of those who survived, sorcery and darkness being mentioned). We see those survivors looking for any one else and finding a pair of survivors, attempt to bring them aboard, only to find that one of them viciously attacks them.

We find the other is the source of the 'unnatural' means that laid waste to their ships and he makes attempts to escape and seems to be an unrepentant little hobgoblin who curses at them and does not behave as a human would, by their reckoning, recovering faster, being impossibly quick, refusing to react, etc. With no insight into his thoughts and only viewing from the outside or from those of the fleet, etc, well, what do we have?

A vicious, hostile little man who seems inhumanly strong, does not react to any sort of discomfort as others do and possessed of powers that burned seven warships.

Conversely, as we meet Lysaer, we find him affably charismatic, perhaps a bit naive, but charming to his companion with the classical good looks you'd expect from a Prince.

Now consider if we chopped off the meeting Arithon bits at the beginning and started our account with Lysaer at the beginning, and our first encounter with Arithon was lacking any sort of insight into him, or built up possible empathy from the rough handling dealt to him by the crew of Briane? How would we feel then? :) What information we know/is provided to us on the page is vitally important but also considering the slant of those we're observing as we read.

(view spoiler)[Olivia, Arithon being very much a 'stand on your own two feet' if you want to be my ally/companion vs the allure of 'I will solve all your problems, just put your faith in me and do as I bid unquestioningly' approach that Lysaer uses, exploiting their prejudices to bind them in blind following complicates that question a fair bit. (not to bring politics in, but it's even more relevant to see an example of it in play over the last few years in the US, with someone amassing a following and everyone else going: wait, what? as they adhere to him in defiance of all reason.) (hide spoiler)]

Can't say too much more here though, since we're still early!

A few things so far, with just the first chapter. We know Arithon is a sorceror, referred to as such by the high mage at Rauven at chapter's end. But what does that mean, truly? How does he see the world, etc? (just things to keep in mind).

Felina - Lysaer's a pampered prince who seems to be a bit well-meaning, but is also well, pampered/sheltered. I would definitely say Arithon's question to him is true: "What would you know of hardship?" He has convictions and charisma, but is woefully limited in his world-view and the generations of conflict with the other nation, Karthan, have clearly left their mark on him, including a deeply personal hurt as we learn in their meeting.

A common issue that seems to come up with Curse is that it seems to meander and is more a series of vignettes. (I've seen it derided as being nothing more than a travelogue). In truth, we go lightning-quick from the setting that the story opens on, to a whole new world that both are ostensibly strangers to and they are swept up and prodded by events outside their knowing.

By the time that they truly start getting their bearings, disaster strikes and strife and conflict erupt. Before that though, we do get a picture painted for us, of people who once 'ruled'(for whatever ruling means here) driven into the wilderness and city-going folk that are gleeful at the prospects of slaughtering them all, forcing those driven out to unpleasant actions in response.

But all the same, the reasons why for this conflict remain a mystery shrouded in mists(hah), and those who might know don't appear to be volunteering information and at least as far as we see, Arithon and Lysaer don't ask a whole lot, for differing reasons. (how much either understand is a ?)

But yeah, the 'they go to X location, then y, etc' before the latter part of the book when events heat up seems to throw people off as they don't(to them) feel interconnected. Curse is setting the stage though and lots of tidbits scattered throughout that make it very much interconnected. (nothing is placed by chance!) This is pouring the foundation, as it were. :D

Tonari no Emily - Exactly, both the fragments of manuscript and the temple archives make claims... here's what *really* happened, now you decide who is good and who is bad, if even such labels can apply. :)

Emily, I completely agree. Can't trust any of the sources, because they all have different biases...

Felina, I don't find it slow and boring either. I would call this immersive writing. Also, I am also reading The Expanse, only right now I am in book #2:)))

Olivia, up to where I got, I was also leaning (view spoiler)[ Arithon all the way. Although, I was starting to feel sorry for Lysaer too, despite almost hating him before that... (hide spoiler)]

Chibipoe, absolutely! The writing slants our point of view, depending from which side we see the happenings. I think JW does a great job keeping us guessing and off-balance at all times. This is what makes it so engaging, despite the seemingly not so much action going on...

Choko wrote: "Emily, I completely agree. Can't trust any of the sources, because they all have different biases...

Felina, I don't find it slow and boring either. I would call this immersive writing. Also, I a..."

Immersive is spot on! My favorite thing is how this can suck you in while reading. I can take the book and start reading and no matter where I am, the locale fades away as I get pulled down the rabbit hole into Athera. Painting with words. The page is her canvas and the ink and words her colors.