64 ratings | 56 reviews | avg rating:5.00

more photos (1)

Janny’s Year In Books

Janny’s 2022 Year in Books

Take a look at Janny’s Year in Books. The long, the short—it’s all here.

Go to Janny’s 2022 Year in Books

Janny Wurts’s Followers (1,361)

Janny’s Bookshelves

read (343)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (26)
borrowed (23)
own (108)

Janny’s Friends (175)

Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin

5,169 books | 5,000 friends

Jon

2,975 books | 130 friends

Karen

1,421 books | 75 friends

☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣

26,898 books | 4,157 friends

Vivian Wong

2,192 books | 46 friends

Michelle

2,494 books | 174 friends

Shel

2,105 books | 158 friends

Amanda

4,940 books | 76 friends

More friends…

Janny Wurts

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts

Twitter

jannywurts

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Member Since

January 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jannywurts

edit data

Janny Wurts is the author of War of Light and Shadow series, and To Ride Hell's Chasm. Her eighteen published titles include a trilogy in audio, a short story collection, as well as the internationally best selling Empire trilogy, co authored with Raymond E. Feist, with works translated into fifteen languages worldwide. Her latest title in the Wars of Light and Shadow series, Destiny's Conflict, culminates more than thirty years of carefully evolved ideas. The cover images on the books, both in the US and abroad, are her own paintings, depicting her vision of characters and setting.

Through her combined talents as a writer/illustrator, Janny has immersed herself in a lifelong ambition: to create a seamless interface between words and picture Janny Wurts is the author of War of Light and Shadow series, and To Ride Hell's Chasm. Her eighteen published titles include a trilogy in audio, a short story collection, as well as the internationally best selling Empire trilogy, co authored with Raymond E. Feist, with works translated into fifteen languages worldwide. Her latest title in the Wars of Light and Shadow series, Destiny's Conflict, culminates more than thirty years of carefully evolved ideas. The cover images on the books, both in the US and abroad, are her own paintings, depicting her vision of characters and setting.

Through her combined talents as a writer/illustrator, Janny has immersed herself in a lifelong ambition: to create a seamless interface between words and pictures that will lead reader and viewer into the imagination. Her lavish use of language invites the mind into a crafted realm of experience, with characters and events woven into a complex tapestry, and drawn with an intensity to inspire active fuel for thought. Her research includes a range of direct experience, lending her fantasy a gritty realism, and her scenes involving magic crafted with intricate continuity. A self-taught painter, she draws directly from the imagination, creating scenes in a representational style that blurs the edges between dream and reality. She makes few preliminary sketches, but envisions her characters and the scenes that contain them, then executes the final directly from the initial pencil drawing.

The seed idea for the Wars of Light and Shadow series occurred, when, in the course of researching tactic and weapons, she viewed a documentary film on the Battle of Culloden Moor. This was the first time she had encountered that historical context of that brutal event, with the embroidery of romance stripped from it. The experience gave rise to an awakening, which became anger, that so often, our education, literature and entertainment slant history in a manner that equates winners and losers with moral right and wrong, and the prevalent attitude, that killing wars can be seen as justifiable solutions when only one side of the picture is presented.

Her series takes the stance that there are two sides to every question, and follows two characters who are half brothers. One a bard trained as a master of magecraft, and the other a born ruler with a charismatic passion for justice, have become cursed to lifelong enmity. As one sibling raises a devoted mass following, the other tries desperately to stave off defeat through solitary discipline and cleverness. The conflict sweeps across an imaginary world, dividing land and people through an intricate play of politics and the inborn prejudices of polarized factions already set at odds. Readers are led on a journey that embraces both viewpoints. The story explores the ironies of morality which often confound our own human condition - that what appears right and just, by one side, becomes reprehensible when seen from the opposite angle. What is apparently good for the many, too often causes devastating suffering to the nonconformist minority. Through the interactions between the characters themselves, the reader is left to their own discretion to interpret the moral impact of events.

Says Janny of her work, "I chose to frame this story against a backdrop of fantasy because I could handle even the most sensitive issues with the gloves off - explore the myriad angles of our troubled times with the least risk of offending anyone's personal sensibilities. The result, I can hope, is an expanding journey of the spirit that explores the grand depths, and rises to the challenge of mapping the ethereal potential of an evolving planetary consciousness... explore free thought and compassionate understanding."

Beyond writing, Janny's award winning paintings have been showcased in exhibitions of imaginative artwork, among them a commemorative exhibition for NASA's 25th Anniversary; the Art of the Cosmos at Hayden Planet ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Janny Wurts questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Janny Wurts’s books

Average rating: 4.21 · 130,747 ratings · 3,991 reviews · 97 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow, #1) 3.76 avg rating — 5,609 ratings — published 1993 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Warhost of Vastmark (Wars of Light & Shadow #3) 4.06 avg rating — 3,401 ratings — published 1995 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ships of Merior (Wars of Light & Shadow #2) 3.90 avg rating — 3,272 ratings — published 1994 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fugitive Prince (Wars of Light & Shadow #4) 3.90 avg rating — 3,055 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Grand Conspiracy (Wars of Light & Shadow #5) 4.12 avg rating — 2,370 ratings — published 1999 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stormwarden (The Cycle of Fire, #1) by Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author) 3.81 avg rating — 2,261 ratings — published 1984 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Traitor's Knot (Wars of Light & Shadow, #7) 4.21 avg rating — 1,847 ratings — published 2004 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peril's Gate (Wars of Light and Shadow #6) 4.17 avg rating — 1,842 ratings — published 2001 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Keeper of the Keys 3.94 avg rating — 1,805 ratings — published 1988 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	To Ride Hell’s Chasm 3.83 avg rating — 1,554 ratings — published 2002 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Janny Wurts…

63 posts
Janny Wurts's Blog

Announcing the publication date for Song of the Mysteries

I am pleased to announce that we now have a schedule for Song of the Mysteries, the FINALE volume of the Wars of Light and Shadow series:

PRE-ORDERS will start in September of this year.

PUBLICATION DATE will be in May 2024.

This gives new readers a year to catch up, and older hands with the world of Athera time to brush up with a re-read.

This is the culmination of FIFTY YEARS of planning and work, a Read more of this blog post »

33 likes · Like • 5 comments • flag

Published on May 16, 2023 15:00 • Tags: fantasy, janny-wurts, wars-of-light-and-shadow

View all 63 posts »

Series by Janny Wurts

Wars of Light and Shadow (10 books)
by

Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author)

4.01 avg rating — 24,632 ratings

Arc 3 - Alliance of Light (5 books)
by

Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author)

4.10 avg rating — 10,413 ratings

Arc 2 - The Ships of Merior (2 books)
by

Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author)

4.00 avg rating — 7,077 ratings

The Cycle of Fire (3 books)
by

Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author)

3.90 avg rating — 5,797 ratings

Arc 4 - Sword of the Canon (2 books)
by

Janny Wurts (Goodreads Author)

4.29 avg rating — 1,283 ratings

More series by Janny Wurts…

rss
Janny’s Recent Updates

Janny Wurts wrote a new blog post Announcing the publication date for Song of the Mysteries I am pleased to announce that we now have a schedule for Song of the Mysteries, the FINALE volume of the Wars of Light and Shadow series: PRE-ORDERS wi Read more of this blog post »
May 16, 2023 03:00PM · 33 likes · like
Janny made a comment on Brent’s review of Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt, #2) " This series totally did not let me down...break my heart - yes, keep me reading long past bedtime - yes, and wreck me many time s over - yes. This boo ...more "
May 04, 2023 05:20PM · see review
Janny voted on a poll in the group Beyond Reality Fantasy FINAL Poll for July 2023 BotM She voted for: The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold ...more
Apr 26, 2023 07:31AM · like · take the poll
Janny made a comment on R. A. Strich’s status in Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt, #1) " I really loved this series - not just for the variety and depth of the characters but for the amazing and astonishing breadth of setting. "
Apr 21, 2023 06:39AM
Janny made a comment on SONG OF THE MYSTERIES - is Turned In/final manuscript " David wrote: "This has series has always been one of my go-to 'I need something complex and rich to read' selections. Am both glad, and melancholy abo ...more "
Apr 11, 2023 04:40PM · see blog post
Janny has read Lord and King (The Drowned Kingdom, #3) by P.L. Stuart (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was fortunate to be asked to read an ARC of this title. If you have not yet read The Drowned Kingdom saga, this is the third book, and with each new release PL Stuart takes it to another level. Volume I, The Drowned Kingdom sees Othrun and the last s ...more
Mar 28, 2023 08:30AM · 10 likes · like · see review
Janny has read The Way of Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #1) by Philip Chase (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is a delightfully well written book with strong classic elements, set in a somewhat Norse styled society at the opening mark. The departures from the classic elements add wondrously to the depth - elves and elven magic that are dangerous and not ...more
Mar 28, 2023 08:16AM · 17 likes · like · see review
Janny has read Fair Trade (Liaden Universe #24) by Sharon Lee	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 08, 2023 08:25AM · 2 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fair Trade by Sharon Lee. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fair Trade by Sharon Lee <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Janny wants to read Neogenesis (Liaden Universe, #21) by Sharon Lee	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 08, 2023 08:24AM · 2 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Neogenesis by Sharon Lee. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Neogenesis by Sharon Lee <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Janny made a comment on JHollywood ’s status in Flesh and Spirit (Lighthouse, #1) " One of my favorite series. Loved it! "
Mar 02, 2023 06:19AM

More of Janny's books…

Quotes by Janny Wurts (?)

“When hope dies, you breathe it back to life again! No matter how long it takes, or what time's required to heal the wound. Disappointment will not last a lifetime unless you lie down and give in.”
― Janny Wurts, Initiate's Trial

tags: inspirational

18 likes

“An illusion threatens no one with harm. Neither can it be dispelled by armed force.”
― Janny Wurts, The Curse of the Mistwraith

tags: illusion

11 likes

“The miracle left him dumbfounded, that his heart had not yet shirked its weary task of pumping his bored blood through his brain.”
― Janny Wurts, Grand Conspiracy

5 likes

See all Janny Wurts's quotes »

Polls

SERIES DISCUSSION: This run-off poll determines which series will be the subject of our second official Beyond Reality Series Discussion!

The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts

32 votes, 52.5%

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

29 votes, 47.5%

61 total votes

6 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Beyond Reality: Nominations for August	21	95	May 20, 2009 09:17AM
SciFi and Fantasy...: What am I also reading in May	46	134	May 26, 2009 11:10AM
Fantasy Book Club: What Are You Reading in May?	75	176	Jun 05, 2009 04:47AM
Fantasy Book Club: May-June Nominations -- GR Authors	34	132	Jun 19, 2009 11:54PM
SciFi and Fantasy...: What I am Also Reading in June	69	218	Jun 27, 2009 08:51AM
Beyond Reality: What are you reading right now?	180	500	Jul 01, 2009 01:34AM
Beyond Reality: Nominations for October!	16	142	Jul 20, 2009 11:00AM

More…

Janny’s Quotes

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

tags: books, thought

30346 likes

“Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.”
― Joseph Campbell

tags: inspirational, journalism, myth, story, truth-telling

395 likes

“A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing.”
― Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science

tags: language, power-of-words, vocabulary, words

223 likes

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
― Winston Churchill

tags: attributed-no-source, convictions, criticism

7717 likes

“Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club.”
― Jack London

tags: club, inspiration

680 likes

More of Janny’s quotes…