Peril's Gate: Third Book of The Alliance of Light (The Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 6) (The Wars of Light and Shadow series)
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.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.