[Cygnus]

I am referring to the series by Janny Wurts that starts off with the book, Curse of the Mistwraith. I'm curious what those of you who have made it through this series thought of it.

I'm only 100 pages into the second book and I'm about ready to give it up. The first half of Curse of the Mistwraith was great, it showed two similar yet opposite characters and how they pulled it together to solve a problem. The rest of the book languished to me, but I finished it and I picked up book two out of a stubborn belief that the story would pick up. So far it hasn't.

Some of my comments listed below may give parts of the plot away, so if you haven't read the series stop here!!!

SPOILERS
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Okay the two princes are cursed and according to the prologue in the first book they are going to be fighting for the next 500 years. That doesn't inspire any eagerness on my part to read a series that puts long winded authors such as Goodkind and Jordan to shame! I mean I've read about 1,100 pages so far and we're only six years into the fight! AAARRGGHH!

And I get that Arithon has been unjustly labeled as evil because he works with "dark" sorcery. And I think that Lyaser is a pompous jerk blinded by his own warped sense of justice. Wurts seems to take every opportunity to make her readers hate Lyaser and love Arithon.. so much so that it's getting irritating. She's as subtle as a brick to the head.

Should I hang on? Does this series have any redeeming parts?

[Hobbit]

Can't help you here, Cygnus. I only managed the first book here myself, after feelings that sound very similar to yours.

Hobbit

[Eventine]

I prefer the term "descriptive" over "long winded".
I am a fan of this series, and would place it in my top 5.

Redeeming parts?
I like Wurts's writing.
I like where she takes the two brothers.
I like trying to work out what has happened in the past and how it affects today.
And I like Dakar :-)

[Keyoke]

I agree that I found the Wurts series to be long winded, or descriptive, depending how you look at it..

I found it extremely difficult to get through the first book, and gave up on it after reading almost half of it.

Keyoke

[Cygnus]

Sorry Eventine! I meant descriptive... really!

Dakar is the ONLY reason I am still reading this book. That guy is a real piece of work.. and so unrepentant! I'm getting through about 20 pages at a time which puts me finishing this series in the year 3025. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Eventine]

If I were you I'd read to the end of the second book. If it hasn't grabbed you by then, the rest of the books aren't going to succeed.

Toa ll those who stopped halfway through the first book:

I suggest you read the whole bok. Whilst the first half is slow, I do feel that it is the slowest and hardest to read part of the series.

[Macros]

I gave up half way through the first book as well. Asandir and Dakar were interesting but the plot doesn't seem all that gripping.

[Warewolf]

I read up to book four or five (not that I've quit, but I decided to wait until the series was done so I could read it all at once) and, while I agree with the fact that Wurts can be a little verbose at times and get caught up a little too much in her fancy vocabulary, am truly enjoying the story. It's both epic and personal at the same time, much like Jordan's WoT. I look forward to being able to read it in its entirety once it's complete...

[Eventine]

Just another $.02 -
My little sister just started reading this series and tore through COTM like you wouldn't believe.
I found this strange however, seeing as she couldn't even get a quarter of the way through A Dragonbone Chair (which seems to be much more popular).

Maybe it's genetic?

I thought a few more people on this board had looked at a few of these books - Caldazar and JohnH? Or maybe I was dreaming...

[Ntschotschi]

I read the books till book 5, haven't read the latest.
There are some interesting ideas and characters but the story is dragging along.
It's quite repetetive : tension is growing till it comes to the unavoidable confrontation between the two brothers. End of book.
I'd rather see more of the witches, the lovestory and what a shame that Lysaer's wife died. That development would have been interesting.
All in all it's way too pompous a series imo although I will eventually finish it for the sake of some of the interesting bits. There are still a lot of questions unanswered and so I keep reading but I'm quite frustrated how things are at the moment.
I think there are still three or more books to come.
So I can't really recommend to start this series although there's a lot of talent and imagination.