"Curse of the Mistwraith" is a high fantasy novel, written by Janny Wurts, and first published in 1994. The book is (like many high fantasy novels), the beginning of a series and is subtitled "The Wars of Light and Shadow, Vol. 1". Since even the first volume is over 650 pages, plus glossary, it looks like this is one of those high fantasy door stoppers that gives an entire immersive world. But given that this book series had multiple volumes of hundreds of pages, and that I have spent the last few decades scouring anywhere I could find used books and am generally pretty up to date on fantasy, I can't remember ever hearing about this series, or the name Janny Wurts. Was this a hidden gem that would redefine how I thought about fantasy? Or at least a guilty pleasure that managed to execute high fantasy tropes well? When I picked this book up from the library gazebo (along with four subsequent volumes), I had high hopes, but what would I really find? Also, content warning for my description of this book, for war crimes and atrocities.
So what is really going on here?
The basic plot of the book has two enemy half-brothers, magically transported from one fantasy world to another. The second fantasy world is under the titular curse of the Mistwraith, and an order of powerful wizards has called the two half-brothers to seek out and seal the Mistwraith. There then follows a high fantasy quest where they track the Mistwraith to its layer, and capture it in a mystic artifact. This only occurs around the half-way point of the book, because at that point, the Mistwraith, as an act of vengeance, mystically captures one of the half-brothers, the light mage Lysaer, and reinflames his animosity towards his brother, the dark mage Arithon. The last portion of the book shows the two as captains of two armies, fighting a bloody, merciless war. During the centuries long period when the world was covered in mist, the disposed royalty had fled to the hills, and engaged in a guerrilla war against the burghers who had taken over the cities. The brothers now lead the two factions, and the book ends with devastation, leading the way to the many sequels, which stretch on for thousands of more pages.
I hope that sketches in the basic plot: it is always a challenge when reviewing to give enough of a basic idea of what is going on without going into a full recap. There is a lot more going on here, in terms of major and minor characters, and worldbuilding. There is a world map (which is too small in my edition to be of much use), the world is divided into "ages" with thousands of years of history, and there is a glossary with a language behind it, as well as lots of terminology. And names like "s'Ffalenn".
A novel depends on character and plot. A fantasy novel depends on character, plot, and worldbuilding. This series has lots of all three, but the problem for me is they never seemed to fit together in a way that felt natural. There were lots of good and interesting ideas, and some character development, but they always felt a little disjointed. Starting with: if the characters are already from one fantasy world, why transport them to another fantasy world? Why have a "heroic quest" section in the middle that then becomes a much more grim war story? Why have the character development of the brothers reconciling, only to ignore that part entirely. The centuries of the Mistwraith's dominance aren't really described, other than things being dismal (but there is apparently still enough light for plants to grow, etc?). The power shift from nobility to urban industrialists is a historical thing...but is a bit out of place in a fantasy novel with magic.
And finally, this is the content warning part: during the final battle scene, it is revealed that the town people use rape and sexual assault as weapons in their war against the deposed nobility guerrillas. The brother who is leading them, Lysaer, does order them to stop...but does permit the execution of non-combatants. This is where the books tone shift goes from being just janky to being actually offensive. It is not that a realistic depiction of how atrocious warfare can be is totally out of place in a fantasy book---but in this particular case, with a book that started out with promises of being more of a romantic quest, it seems jarring. The book can't seem to decide wither it is going to be a fun fantasy romance, or a grim war story. I could have forgiven its flaws in the first case, but not in the second. Plot holes or stereotypical world building aren't things that necessarily block my interest, but an unpleasant and inconsistent tone do.
So while I liked a few ideas in this book, I could never get into it, and won't be reading further in the series.
Also: this is why I like fantasy written for young adults, because they are usually edited to be more consistent, and they don't use rape and torture as plot devices.