Wars of Light and Shadow

The stunning first volume in Janny Wurts's epic tale of two half-brothers cursed to life-long enmity, now re-released with a striking new cover. Let each who reads determine the good and the evil for himself. Athera is besieged by the Mistwraith, which blights the land and dims the mysteries guarded by the last fugitives of the old bloodlines. But from a prophecy springs hope: the gifts of two brothers—one dark, one fair, raised on opposite sides of a relentless war—when paired may challenge the Mistwraith's invasion, though at brutal cost...Arithon, Master of Shadow, musician and mage, commands the power of illusion and darkness. Taken prisoner in battle, his fate falls to his half-brother, Prince Lysaer—a man endowed with the gift of light through the mother they share. Lysaer is the legitimate son of a king who was betrayed by his queen's choice to father Arithon by his mortal enemy but that does not save him: Vengeful fury drives the king to banish both Lysaer and Arithon from the world they know to the troubled realms of Athera beyond the Worldsend Gate. The two exiles are thrown together by hatred and spilled blood—then bound by destiny to champion Athera's sundered heritage. The highest stakes ride the backlash of their conflict—they must reforge their adverse ideals into balance or destroy the etheric grace of a culture all but lost to antiquity. A subtle and intricate tale of morality and difference, justice versus compassion, told with epic scope and real magic, Curse of the Mistwraith remains a modern classic of the fantasy genre.

The long-awaited second book of the fourth story arc – Sword of the Canon – in the epic fantasy series, the Wars of Light and Shadow. Lysaer's unstable integrity lies under threat of total downfall, and as his determined protector, Daliana will face the most frightening decision of her young life. Arithon, Master of Shadow, is marked for death and still hunted, when his critical quest to recover his obscured past entangles him in a web of deep intrigue and ancient perils beyond his imagining. Elaira's urgent pursuit of the Biedar Tribes' secret embroils her in the terrible directive of the Fellowship Sorcerers, while Dakar - the Mad Prophet - confronts the hard reckoning for the colossal mistake of his misspent past, and Tarens is steered by a destiny far from his crofter's origins. The penultimate volume of The Wars of Light and Shadow will touch the grand depths of Athera's endowment, and deliver the thrilling finale of arc IV, the Sword of the Canon. War, blood, magic, mystery – and the most hidden powers of all – will stand or fall on their hour of unveiling.

In the final battle of Light against Shadow, warring factions prepare to meet the bare fist of Arithon's fury, sparked by the execution of the innocent murdered by divine decree. As the Fellowship Sorcerers clash with rebellious dragons bent on catastrophic annihilation, those faithful to the True Sect raise armies to extinguish the clans and fight a last, bloody conquest of the free wilds. All while the Prime Matriarch courts reckless power to seize charge of Mankind's destiny. As contention threatens to snap the final restraint of old Charter Law, bitter strife and vicious ambition threaten to revoke humanity's right to inhabit the world. The only hope of survival for all lies in the recovery of the Paravians, those who last called Athera home before Mankind. The true hearts of heroes will be challenged in the savage fires of conflict; Elaira and Daliana's steadfast loyalties must rise against the odds or fall as Lysaer's reckoning collides with the Mistwraith's secretive machinations. But not before Elder Powers arise to claim their debt for a grievance spanning millennia . . . 'It ought to be illegal for one person to have so much talent' STEPHEN DONALDSON 'Janny Wurts builds beautiful castles in the air . . . where every detail is richly imagined and vividly rendered' DIANA GABALDON 'Astonishingly original and compelling . . . A gifted creator of wonder' RAYMOND E. FEIST