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.