Synopsis:
Where there is light, there must always be shadow… The fifth volume in Janny Wurts’s spectacular epic fantasy, now re-released with a striking new cover design along with the rest of the series.
The wars began when two half-brothers, gifted of light and shadow, stood shoulder to shoulder to defeat the Mistwraith. Their foe cast a lifelong curse of enmity between them that has so far woven three bitter conflicts and uncounted deadly intrigues.
It is a time of political upheavel, fanaticism and rampaging armies. Distrust of sorcery has set off a purge of the talented mageborn – none reviled more than Arithon, Master of Shadow. Through clever manipulation of events at the hands of his half-brother Lysaer, Lord of Light, Arithon’s very name has become anathema. Now the volatile hatreds that spearheaded the campaign against Shadow have overtaken all reason.
Those that still stand in Arithon’s desperate defence are downtrodden, in retreat and close to annihilation. The stage is set for the ultimate betrayal.
Review:
There is a challenge inherent in writing a review for the fifth book of a series, where almost any mention of the plot threatens to serve as a spoiler for the books that came before. The benefit of attempting the challenge, though, is that it encourages one to dive deeper into the story, and as is the case with anything Janny Wurts writes, diving deep is a rewarding experience.
Grand Conspiracy is the fifth of eleven volumes in the The Wars of Light and Shadow, and all the expected hallmarks of the series are present: gorgeous prose, expansive world-building, and heart-breaking predicaments. My only note on the plot is that it revolves around a tighter locus than most of the earlier entries, giving the book a unique feel when arrayed next to its predecessors.
I remain entranced by the way these stories unfold. The best of epic fantasy pulls off the incredible feat of combining world-shattering stakes with deeply personal conflict, and I don’t know of many authors as capable as Wurts at weaving those aspects into one powerful whole. I’ve mentioned in past reviews that reading The Wars of Light and Shadow, which runs many thousands of pages and has some of the most intricate and expansive world-building in fantasy, feels impossibly intimate.
Reading Grand Conspiracy reminded me, again, of what makes epic fantasy such a compelling genre: personal conflict with desperately high stakes, all honed to a razor’s edge by magic that makes the impossible possible. Every choice presented in this story, small as it may seem in the moment, has the possibility of shaping the world anew. That knowledge lends every scene and every decision an inescapable weight, meaning that personally, I had a hard time putting this book down. I found myself, more than once in the reading of this novel, moved nearly to tears from the emotion of minor scenes that in a lesser book would have been almost skippable.
Grand Conspiracy is an excellent and emotionally devastating addition to The Wars of Light and Shadow, and if you haven’t yet started the series, I would strongly encourage you to do so. The series is not a casual read, but it is one of the most rewarding series I’ve ever read, and an exemplar of epic fantasy.
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