Submitted by Ben 
(Jan 03, 2005)To Ride Hells Chasm marks Wurts first departure from her Wars Of Light And Shadow series since she started writing it.
You can tell it's Wurts right from the beginning. The extraordinarily detailed writing style is very distinctive, and for those familiar with tWoLaS, the central character Mykkael bears a few striking similarities to Arithon and the slightly less central character of the High Prince of Devall bears an even more striking resemblance to Lysaer.
Thankfully however, similarities end there. The setting, is much more tightly contained, taking place almost completely within the small kingdom of Sessalie. Being a standalone novel, Wurts has also managed to keep the scope of the novel smaller, keeping the focus on the central characters.
Also, her changing views on how the magic of each of her worlds operates is refreshing. Rather than being permission based, magic relies upon demons, lines, minions and other things to complicated to go into in a review. Or too interesting. You can find out for yourself.
However, Wurts style is not suited to shorter novels. The ending is sadly disappointing. The fact that Wurts was running out of time clearly shows in the rushed way she has to tie up all the loose ends.
Overall, an excellent novel only let down by it's ending.
| 
