Synopsis:
A powerful, layered weaving of myth, prose and pure imagination – The Ships of Merior continues an epic fantasy series perfect for enthusiasts of The Dark Tower and Earthsea.
The second volume of Janny Wurts’s incomparable series following Arithon and Lysaer, two brothers forced to take opposite sides in a relentless conflict.
After defeating the malevolent fog that blighted Athera, Arithon and Lysaer battle the throes of the Mistwraith’s insidious retribution: a curse set upon them at their moment of triumph compels them each to seek the other’s downfall.
Lysaer, the charming and charismatic Lord of Light, drives his brother out of hiding and hounds Arithon with a massive army at his command. Meanwhile Arithon, Master of Shadow, the sensitive mage who prefers music to violence, must take to the seas to evade capture and strike back against Lysaer’s mighty war host.
Locked into lifelong enmity, the brothers’ pursuit of each other’s destruction will test the foundations of human morailty, even as threat to the world’s deepest magic rides on the outcome.
The Ships of Merior weaves a rich and complicated tapestry, bringing readers deeper into the mystical world of Athera. Striking a balance between epic scope and intricate subtlety, the Wars of Light and Shadow is a must-read series for readers of intelligent fantasy.
Review:
I don’t know if any series in recent memory has captured my attention as fully and completely as Janny Wurts’ The Wars of Light and Shadow series. The first book, The Curse of the Mistwraith, jumped immediately to the top of my “best of the year” list, and I was almost afraid to continue the series, as it seemed impossible for anything that followed to live up to the promise of that opening salvo.
I shouldn’t have worried.
The Ships of Merior is a worthy second entry in the series. It continues to follow the adventures of the half-brothers Arithon and Lysaer, and that’s about all the summary I’ll provide in my effort to avoid any spoilers.
All the hallmarks of the series remain strong with this second entry. The prose is rich and complex, rewarding the careful reader. The worlds are ancient and brimming with magic. Characters are layered and nuanced. This is particularly true of Arithon in this entry, but applies to even minor named characters.
There are a few features of this story, though, that elevate it beyond other great epic fantasies. The first has to be the razor sharp focus on the two half-brothers. I think often of the phrase “epic yet personal,” and I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything that embraces that ethic more than WoLaS. This is a sprawling, ancient world with dozens of plot threads weaving the story at any one moment, and yet the spotlight is relentlessly focused on the cursed brothers. Every small detail eventually leads back to Arithon and Lysaer.
I think this is one of the reasons why this series hits the emotions as hard as it does. Every worldbuilding detail is in service of character.
This second novel also began to introduce another aspect of the series that I can only imagine will become a common theme, which is how seemingly small and insignificant decisions lead to tremendous change. Time and time again, there’s a small action or decision which seems entirely insignificant. In most series, it would be. Yet here, nothing is wasted, and these seemingly meaningless choices quickly become world-altering.
Reading that last paragraph, it almost sounds forced, but the genius of this series is that it isn’t. It instead feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I’m fascinated by the theme of “Choice” that runs through this tale. Many writers have tackled the theme in their work, but I can’t think of any who have explored it in such a powerful fashion. I’ve mentioned already the small choices that have world-changing effects, but this stands in stark contrast to the curse of the mistwraith that poisons the half-brothers. A minor character’s choice, freely made, might change the world, but the protagonists with the power to change the world at their slightest whim are denied many of their most consequential choices due to the curse’s influence.
That stripping away of choice both drives the story forward and haunts me, long after the last pages are finished.
In short, even though I was doing everything in my power to slowly savor this story, I ended up plowing through these pages in fairly short order, and I can guarantee I’ll be moving on soon to book 3. This series has the feel of a masterpiece in the making, and I’m thrilled to be on the ride.
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