Some of you may know I am a long-time vocal fan of Janny Wurts, a fantasy author some may have discovered in the Empire Trilogy with Raymond Feist. I’ve even taken Janny and her husband Don out to dinner a couple of times. This past year or so, several vloggers have discovered Janny and many older fantasy readers that sheepishly admit to not reading female authors when they were young have also discovered her books.
This all coincides with the coming final publication in her epic series The Wars of Light and Shadow, that title being The Song of the Mysteries coming in May '24. She started planning this series in the 70’s. The first book was published in 1994. It is a massive piece of work and one I consider to be brilliant in so many ways.
I rank two of its books, Peril’s Gate and Stormed Fortress as two of the best books I have ever read. I consider the magic system to be one of her signature inventions, giving life to something that in other such series’ we only see the results and not the act of grand conjury. In this series, you see and feel how magic is woven through all life.
It is a lot to read. There are 11 books, and they are large volumes with dense prosaic writing. Readers that prefer a book to be read in a day or two and tossed aside would be unlikely to enjoy her style. But those who embrace strong writers with deep storytelling should read this series.
Just wanted to say this here and I’ll be promoting this series everywhere I can in the next 6 months. I plan to bring her to Chicago for a reading next year.