From Publishers Weekly
The latest installment in the Wars of Light and Shadow series, also the third movement of an inner story arc called the Alliance of Light, well represents the vast and tangled plot lines readers have come to expect from this prolific and popular author. In the first book in the series, Curse of the Mistwraith (1993), the half-brothers dark Arithon s'Ffalenn and blond Lysaer s'Ilessid were set against each other by the eponymous enemy, and now, 30-some years later, they're still going after each other. This book's action begins in mid-flight during a winter gale, with Arithon fleeing the walled city Jaelot, where he's been imprisoned. With him he drags the unwilling peasant Fionn Areth Caid'an, magically raised as his double to trap him. Soon they join forces with Dakar the Mad Prophet (whose prophecies have an erratic track record, though some have been important), assigned by the Fellowship of Sorcerers to defend our protagonist. Dakar has supplies and horses ready. Much geography is traversed with many turgid pages spent attempting to describe the indescribable effects of magic. Occasionally the focus moves to Lysaer, with his large retinue of soldiers and fanatic priests, who in private practice rituals as sorcerous as the techniques of which they accuse Arithon. While fans have compared this series to Robert Jordan's extended Wheel of Time series, newcomers may be put off by the stilted language ("The guard captain's baleful stillness held threat") and the mishmash of plot. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Sustaining the considerable momentum of previous volumes, the third in Wurts' Alliance of the Light series opens at a dead run with Arithon, Master of Shadow, just barely escaping the clutches of evil. Though wounded, desperately sick, and on the run in the depths of winter, Arithon realizes that if his world is to have any future at all, he must stay alive at any cost. Already, the cost in the lives of his countrymen has been high and weighs heavily on his soul. Meanwhile, the sorcerers of the Fellowship of Seven are spread thin attempting to hold together the wards and other magics that keep the world of Athera whole and spinning, and other factions are hotly pursuing their own ambitions. The building pressures and responsibilities fall directly on Arithon's weakened shoulders. Yet, despite many real and potential external threats, Arithon's final undoing may lie within the depths of his heart. Wurts is in fine form here, providing endless twists and turns of plot and an artful complexity that is marvelous to behold. Paula Luedtke
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FROM THE PUBLISHER