New readers - feel very warmly welcomed to chime in, if you have just encountered this book, and this series, now!
If you want to tell how you found out about it, I would love to know!
originally posted by Brittani
I will De-lurk for a moment to chime in on this one. I am not really new to this series but not really an old hand either.
I came across the series about 5 years ago. The first book I found was COTM. It so happened that the highschool I went to, an agricultural high school with a focus on equine science… in the middle of a huge city… go figure? Anyways, the school I went to was located inside of a large public library. I was told to bring a book I wanted to read to class and tell why I wanted to read it and how I learned about the book. Fortunately for me, I completely forgot about the assignment. So 5 minutes before class I rushed into the library and actually went down the isle to pick up a book by Tolkien that I had not yet read but there wasn't one there. So with one mintue till class I cast around frantically to find a book I thoght I could talk about for at least 30 seconds. And I saw the cover of COTM and thought, Wow that is really exceptional cover art! It was incredibly detailed and not at all like the overly muscled guys on the covers of romance novels that they slap a sword on and say "Hey look, now we a scifi fantasy novel!" Of course the obvious things stood, the white and black color symbolism, but what intrigued me was the fact that neither character on the cover looked evil as should have been Arithon's character…black… Anyways.
So I rushed off to class and explained why I had picked that book. Only I didn't tell them I had not chosen the book until about 10 seconds prior to the start of class. I made up something about how the book was recomended by a family friend, and the author was supposed to be very detailed in character analysis and so far that was proving to be true of the first 10 pages or so I had had the time to read… when actually I hadn't even read the back cover yet.
I intended to take the book back to the library after class because honestly I didn't have the time to read the novel, go to highschool and college at the same time and hold down a full time job to help support the family. But as I was sitting in the class listening to the kids who couldn't read explain that they picked their books because they thought they didn't look too hard. I started reading the back cover of COTM and then I started reading the intro and realized that what I had first liked about the cover art, was not that just a good artist, but that the artist was the author and this was sure to be worth the time.
And I have been hooked ever since, I tell everyone I know about you Mrs. Janny and I now have a reputation for giving away good books. As I have purchased the set at least a few times and given most of them away to people who tell me they like scifi fantasy but have never heard of Janny Wurts and are still lost in the land of Terry Brooks. Don't get me wrong, I like a Terry Brooks novel from time to time, but I just can't find anything that holds a feather to Janny! and the cover art just keeps on getting better!
originally posted by Konran
I'm not new either =P But maybe if we break the ice a little the newbies will be more inclined to jump in. I believe I mentioned I found Curse at the library… I've always been a little crazy for the library (at one time my sister, my mother, and I combined had around 75 books checked out at one time…) Anyway, I was just randomly browsing and picked it up off the shelf, thought "hmm, pretty cover art", and read the back. Sounded interesting enough, so I put it in my bag. This was my freshman year of high school, and in our English class we had those weekly silent reading periods that everybody hates but I loved because c'mon, getting good grades for doing nothing but sitting there reading is totally awesome. I'd happened to bring Curse in my bag, so I pulled it out. I remember this very clearly, actually. It was a cold and rainy November afternoon and so I was curled up in the window on the heating vent. (My English teacher was awesome, he totally didn't care, and he was the speech team coach as well and I was on the team so I could get away with a lot :P) So I cracked the book open and read the prologue, then flipped to the words "The longboat cleaved waters stained blood red by sunset…" Half an hour later, the bell rang, and I looked up, thinking "What just happened? Where am I?" Lol I went around the rest of the school day pretty much in a daze, and the instant I got home I grabbed a snack and blazed through a good chunk of the rest of the book. So Janny, you should be proud for writing such an addictive series, and a gripping first book! I'm trying to get into Erikson's Malazan series right now and having trouble with the first book =(
Actually though I didn't know WoLaS was a series! There wasn't anything in my copy to indicate that and the ending had wrapped things up enough that I'd figured it was just one of those "open" books where the end is left ambiguous. Two or three years later I was in the library again and saw Fugitive Prince. I think my squeal shattered windows. ^^;; I grabbed it of course but I didn't get very far into it because I couldn't figure out what was happening. Then a while later I saw Ships in a bookstore and instantly proclaimed, "Mine!" Lol. I guess the rest is obvious. I found the paravia.com url in the back of one of the books and here I am!
originally posted by Clansman
In order to roll out the welcome mat a bit further, as an oldie to the series and a relative newbie to this site (about 2 years ago, I think), I latched on to Curse of the Mistwraith when it was first released in paperback back in the early nineties. I came to it through my reading of Feist's Riftwar series, and Janny's collaboration with Ray Feist on the Empire Series. I still think that series is the best stuff with Ray Feist's name on it. Needless to say, when I saw a Janny Wurts book, I grabbed it!
I was hooked from the very beginning, with the sages of the 7th Age looking back to properly discern the history of the turbulent 3rd Age, but by the point of Konran's quote of the longboat "cleaving the waters stained blood red by sunset" I knew that I would be procrastinating big time on my school assignments. And I did. (Procrastinate, that is.)
Let's say that there has been a lot of procrastination since, as I have eagerly awaited the hardcover of each successive book in the series. 8 in perpetual re-reads, and 3 to go!
originally posted by Trys
Konran, it took me a while to warm to the Malazan series and I'm still not sure I like them though I've read four of them and I'm currently reading the sixth book. The reason I'm not sure I like them is that the world is very "dark" and the events that are playing out are often intense, though very interesting.
The reason I'm reading book 6 instead of 5 is that the author has previously went into the past in one of the books for the purpose (I think anyway) of introducing a character and I could have done without that. Also, I want to stay with the main story line. The author is running multiple storylines, though they are linked. I.e., book 1 takes place in Genabackis but book 2 takes place on a different continent (I think there are references to Seven Cities in book 1). This shifting occurs again in later books.
I do find the books intriguing and I'm hooked much in the way I was hooked by Stephen King's Misery. I despised the book because the incidents were so graphically intense (insane?) but had to finish it to find out how it all ended. While I'm not completely put off by the events (there was a mass event that irked me to no end) in these books… the end better justify the means. 
Trys
originally posted by Gary
OK. OK.
I'll chime in, too.
I also found Janny through Raymond Feist. While Magician hooked me on Feist, and I've gotten just about everything he's written, the step up in detail and density in the Empire series stimulated SERIOUS interest in Janny's work. Being an Amazon-aholic, I quickly snapped up everything that was out there (fortunately, still available at that time.)
Now, I sit waiting, on pins and needles, for the next installment.
And, unlike pretty much all of my other favorite authors, Janny has never disappointed. Instead, the quality and entertainment value seems to increase geometrically!
Janny, please finish the next book SOON! lol
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
Stormwarden was first for me, picked up in paperback in a hotel lobby shop of all places while on my first business trip after graduating from college. Pined for more for a couple years, and was richly rewarded with the Empire series (had independently discovered Magician by Feist, and so Empire was more than one could hope for…turned out that way, too!). Grabbed the rest of both series, then again was wanting more when I found Mistwraith in the *gasp* marked down section at the book store near the boardwalk in Rehoboth, Delaware during the annual trip to the beach (it still has the discount sticker on its dust jacket).
Hard to believe its been 15+ years since Mistwraith, but oh what a ride…
originally posted by Konran
Trys, it's not the "intense-ness" that bothers me per se, it's just that I'm having trouble connecting with the narrative. It's like, "ok, that's interesting, why should I care though?" I hear that the first book is the weakest in the series though and my husband is really enjoying them so I'm going to try to push through and finish up to the second book at least.
originally posted by Clansman
Konran, my difficulty is the same. The second book was better, but I barely started the third before it went back into the TBR pile.
But methinks we should move this particular discussion to the book nook.
originally posted by Technetus
My start was simple enough. A friend of mine (back in the days when GC was the latest release) handed me the whole series and spake thusly: "You will read this."
(I don't know if Janny remembers him, he says he hovered around during the last time she visited Swancon hereabouts…)
Thanks for all the folks who've chimed in - makes me hot to write, you betcha, since the pleasure is mutual when it's shared. Ah, and - the latest on the drafting board - very fun!
Technetus - I may - did he speak to me, give a name, get a book signed? I do recall, even, a few lurker faces, who hung about but didn't say much. Swancon WAS GREAT!!! It had such a fabulous bunch of people. One of my fondest memories, that trip, all of it…I'd go back in a heartbeat!!! I always wondered if the folks who brought us there realized how richly we enjoyed the experience, how warmly welcomed we felt, and how cool the people are. I sit here, halfway across the world, and think about you OFTEN.
originally posted by seljo
<delurk>
Also discovered Janny through Feist. I had been lapping up the Feist books but had prolonged the "dual-author" title for a long time (I knew I liked Feist, but who was this "Wurts" character). At some point there was nothing else on the shelves that I wanted to read – and I had to read something that day so Empire it was.
Oh, my god. I'd found something deeply intense that Fiest never had (his books had clearly good and clearly evil – other than Fairy Tale (which was also fantastic). Am 41 now. I think I've (sadly?) outgrown his books (and I'd add Brooks to that list, too, but I digress)).
But – who was this Janny Wurts… because clearly I'd never read any of this sort of intrigue, hidden plots, "gray" characters before, twists and turns that in hindsight made perfect sense but were completely unpredictable. Was this really the result of collaboration or could she do it on her own???
So… I start hunting and come up with these "light versus dark series" – which I was desperately hoping didn't turn into some cliche.
Wow, again. No cliches here. Goodness and evil entertwined. Great story. Great premise. Lots of history. And intrigue? Even "The Tudors" themselves would shake their heads.
Absolutely fantastic, intelligent, thought provoking, relevant, original.
I'll never outgrow these books. Question is will I ever really be old enough for them…
<relurk>
p.s. But if I ever see a combo "Wurts - Fill in the blank other author" – I'll probably still take a while to warm to the idea of My Author "in book" with someone else…
Hi Seljo - welcome to delurk! Nice to hear from you - and I did get a laugh - because if ANYTHING, ever, appears with my name on it, either as half or whole partner - it WILL meet a standard. No exceptions. But I don't blame anyone for reservations - collaboration does change the dynamic.
originally posted by Konran
I will say that I've never read a bad book from Janny – and I think I've read just about her entire collection *insert rolling of eyes and muttering about obsessions*
originally posted by Susan C
I'm another who found Curse of the Mistwraith in the library. I read it over and over because I kept discovering new things each time I read it. My mother was diagnosed with cancer that year and I took care of her until the end, and reading the series (up to that point FP) kept me sane. I have never failed to discover something new everytime I read the series. They make me think, they make me feel, and they have given me so many hours (days, weeks, months, years) of enjoyment. I had to replace COTM several times because I have loaned it out to people to get them started and then didn't get it back.
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
Same year my mother was diagnosed with cancer, Susan, and I have to agree about the value of respite here; mine only made it halfway to Grand Conspiracy, as well. Another reason to thank you for the great stories, oh Talespinner.
originally posted by Susan C
Grand Conspiracy gave me something to focus on in my grief. Yet, for all the heartache going on Janny's books don't bring back those memories. Instead they were and are the bright spots. When I found the website and discovered I could actually email her, I was over the moon. And she responded. I felt very honored. I, too, thank-you Janny. Your books have meant more to many of us than just fantastic reads. They literally become life lines for some of us in our darkest hours.
Susan and Mark - I am awestruck - not by what the books did, but for what you've gone through, and that you managed to read at all - I am glad that the books were there for you, to help you get through.
It is proven, in fact, that reading books reduces stress.
I've always embraced the idea that stories are gifts of experience, made for somebody else.
originally posted by Susan C
Thank-you Janny. Everyone suffers loss and tragedy. I have always turned to books to reduce stress as well as for hours of enjoyment. Though, to be fair, you have made it hard to read other authors. Your books are so exceptional. Currently, I am cleansing my mental palette by reading light mysteries.
originally posted by Marie
I also discovered Janny through the local library. To the say the least, I've been an avid reader from a young age. I was 11, fresh from conquering all the young adult section had to offer, and ready for a challenge (if I only knew…). For me, reading equalled staying out of trouble; however, the average 300 page book was generally devoured in less than a day, so keeping me supplied was quite the task. My mother (poor woman *grin*) took me to find the thickest, nongraphic books at the library (Tad William's series ending in To Green Angel Tower), and when that didn't phase me, moved on to another plump volume near it…Curse of the Mistwraith. That was a good day (or days…I was certainly unable to finish it in one setting!). I do not know how I managed to comprehend half of what was happening below the surface, but I've been hooked since, impatiently waiting the release of each new book. Four re-readings later, and I still find new meanings and depths. You all know all the amazing qualities of our great author here–suffice to say that, in my opinion, Janny Wurts = Best. Author. Ever. 