Initiate's Trial

January 30, 2012
Magical factions scheme in the shadow of impending religious war in the hefty ninth installment of Wurts’s Wars of Light and Shadow. After 249 years of imprisonment by the Koriathain, the captive prince Arithon is freed but left amnesiac and alone. Pledged to noninterference, the Fellowship field sorcerer Asandir cannot intervene directly as the Koriani Prime Matriarch’s search for the lost prince stirs to action both the fanatical True Sect and Arithon’s accursed half-brother, Lysaer, whose precarious self-control is challenged by Arithon’s reawakening powers of shadow. Though this installment is burdened by overornate language (“Sweated by the fact she laid bare his worst fear, Lysaer slashed back with as brutal an honesty”) and challenging to the new reader, Wurts (Stormed Fortress) neatly balances both the epic scale of the coming clash and the individual perspective of those swept into it while weaving an impressive tapestry of politics, religion, and magic.

March 15, 2012

Though the fortunes of the world rise and fall, the enmity between half brothers Arithon s'Ffalenn, Prince of Rathain, and Lysaer s'Hessid, Prince of Tysan, continues unabated. Arithon wastes away in a magical prison kept by members of the Order of the Koriathain. Lysaer, meanwhile, fights a constant battle to prevent the powers of the Mistwraith from overcoming him. A daughter's sacrifice, a betrayer's service to his dragon master, a divided religion, and a world in turmoil are the launch pads for the ninth novel in Wurts's "The Wars of Light and Shadow" series as well as the beginning of a new story arc. The author of Sorcerer's Legacy demonstrates a formidable command of epic storytelling as a multitude of characters spring to life against a richly detailed world of magical and divine powers, human courage, and the unshakeble bond between two powerful siblings. VERDICT A must-read for series fans as well as a starting point for newcomers, this represents the best of multivolume fantasy.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.