Stormwarden (The Cycle of Fire #1) by Janny Wurts.

From Goodreads

The first novel in the The Circle of Fire trilogy. As a new plot threatens mankind’s survival, three children stand at the crux. All possess extraordinary talents, but each of them is flawed. In need of all their help is the Stormwarden, last Vaere-trained sorcerer, condemned now and trapped in a desperate quandry.

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

This is the second book that I’ve read by Janny Wurts that she has written on her own. I’ve been determined to like her as an author as she co-authored one of my favourite all time series of books with Raymond E. Feist – The Empire Trilogy.

The previous book was To Ride Hell’s Chasm and although this is a very different story, the two of them are based around sorcery and a conflict between demons and humanity.

I’m not sure if it was me that found this book hard to get into or if it’s the style of her writing but I found it hard work. The characters of Taen, Emien and Jaric have all the potential of many classic fantasy characters as do supporting characters Tathagres and Telemark but bringing the elements together felt formulaic and forced. The whole mind training of Taen and the concept of the Vaere felt wrong. This blending of fantasy and science fiction has worked really well for other authors (Anne McCaffrey in particular) but not for me this time.

I think I’ll read at least one more book in the series as it has potential and it may just have been the wrong time for me to read this book.