originally posted by Konran
I've been meaning to post this for a while now, just never got around to it.
Okay, so the first time I read Curse of the Mistwraith, I was a freshman in high school (a whole six years ago now… lyke whoa.) I remember I grabbed it off the shelf at the library because the cover was so pretty, but from the description on the cover I thought it was going to be one of those stereotypical fantasy novels.
Ha, was I wrong.
Anyway, in my English class that year we had "silent reading time", which was in my opinion the best part of school, and I can clearly remember sitting up in the window on top of the heater, because it was October or November and it was cold. It was very grey and rainy too. I started reading and from page one I was sucked in. I wasn't able to read for the rest of the day, but as soon as I got home, I kept going. I'd been obsessed with iced tea for a while before that, so I remember going and making a huge glass of lemon iced tea and curling up on the couch to read.
So, the point of this unnecessarily long post is that I will forever associate lemon iced tea with Janny's books.
Do you remember the first WoLaS book you read? Do you associate anything in particular with your first time or the series in general? (I'm used to giving out spoonfed discussions on the other message board I frequent. XD )
originally posted by Auna
I also got that book because of the shiny, pretty cover. I thought it was going to be a trilogy. Heh, boy was I wrong!
originally posted by Konran
I had no idea there were other books in the series for maybe two or three years. I just thought it was one of those cliffhanger, "you decide what happens" endings.
originally posted by Beth Caudill
Actually, I bought my first WoLaS because it was a Janny book. I didn't care what it was about, I figured it would be good just because she wrote it. My first one was Curse of the Mistwraithe but I really don't associate anything with it. (well, other than a great book that I recommend the series to everyone 
)
My first Janny book was Sorcerer's Legacy. I loved this book and bought it while I was in high school, over 15 years ago. At that time I didn't read Janny because she was Janny. This was just a cool book I found. Then a few years later, I read the Cycle of Fire and connected the author of that with the Sorcerer's Legacy and I just bought anything of Janny's since then.
Beth
originally posted by Hannah
Konran,
I had the same misconception after SoM and WoV. I wasn't reading very closely (lots of life distractions) and I thought that WoV was the end of the 'series' and trying to force a trite happy ending on the book, I thought the reference in the last triplet to Feylind sailing away with Arithon was somehow Elaira!
Because I bought SoM and WoV for travel reading, I'll always think of dark wood, bamboo, scented tanning oil, tropical drinks, palm ceiling fans circulating sea-scented air, and wide open patio doors with sweeping caribbean vistas. My first times snorkeling, taking our rental for a less than legal cruise around the block, collecting piles and piles of nifty seashells… those were all punctuated by half-understood readings of the books.
Happy memories all. (Well, the seashells did give off an unexpected, almighty fishy reek by the time they got home to Oregon, but…)
originally posted by Konran
I saw Fugitive Prince in the library a few years after and squee'ed, and immediately grabbed it. I read the first few pages and was totally disappointed that I had no idea what was going on, so I never finished it. I looked in the front of the book and saw that Ships was the next one, but the library never had it. Then I was at Barnes and Noble and just happened to see it sitting on the shelf.
I glomped onto it and didn't let go until I had to put it down to pay for it. Then I put the entire rest of the series on my Christmas list with five stars next to them.
originally posted by R’is’n
A boyfriend of mine had them, up to Fugitive Prince, all of which I read in 1998. I was thrilled with the series. I had read Janny's Stormwarden cycle and before, and of course the Empire series and loved them. It wasn't until Peril's Gate that I matured into a proper reader of her work. To me, this series is her signature work and Peril's Gate, the book of the series. (So far…)
originally posted by Melissa Avery
I found CotM at the library A few years ago. The first thing I did was check to see when it had been published and thought, finally, no waiting, the whole series must be out by now! Flash forward to Nov. 2004, flash forward to Mar. 2005 (I live in the U.S.), forward to present. SIGH. Ah well, GREAT read and well worth waiting.
originally posted by Susan C
I was between jobs and needed something to read so I went to the library and found Curse of the Mistwraith. It was so complex that I felt I had missed something by the time I finished it so I read it three more times. Then I went online and order it, SoM, WoV, FP, and GC. I read them over and over again waiting for PG to be published. No matter how many times I read them I discover something new. I have had to replace a few of them from reading them until they fell apart. I loved the complexity, the character development, and Janny's maddening way of making you really think. While I want to know the end of the story, I don't want to lose these characters. I'll miss new stories about them when the series is completed.
originally posted by StarGazer72
Funnily, I will always associate CoTM with the section in the corner of my library that I found it, even though I don't with any other book I found there. I was way too young at the time - about 11 - to understand all the subtle things going on, but loved it anyway and was bummed to think, like Konran, that it might be the only one, with just an open ending. Then, 2 years later, Ships showed up in my house as a Christmas present, and I pounced on it (even thought it wasn't for me). Been hooked all the years since then!
originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
From a distance, in my bookstore, I caught this wonderful glimpse of two handsome brothers back to back. I had to see what this beautiful cover was about. I got it the first few days it was out on the shelves. It was like a halo was shining down on the brothers even then and shining on Lysaer's blond hair. It's been love at first sight with Arithon ever since. lol I was drawn to it like a magnet. Fun to remember how we first discovered the series.
originally posted by Ruth
always with a library. found the first copy of ships of merior I ever read in a public library, back when the building still had tall metal shelves for books, and fiction was shoved off in a poorly lit and cramped corner, that was nevertheless wonderful for privacy reasons, forming dead-end passages with the shelving. Spent hours reading and reading Ships of Merior, and borrowed it out several times, and every other extent book written by Janny that I could find, in public libraries, secondhand bookshops that did book rentals, and bookshops.
originally posted by Maggie
I will always think of my freshman year collage dorm room, complete with falling apart desk, pictures drawn for me by my niece, and posters from my favorite football team ever, the STEELERS. Oh, and haylofts. I was pretending to study, and decided to look up Janny's website (having read the cycle of fire a few years earlier). I read the excerpt in the hayloft… and then I went onto amazon and bought the book. I spent an anxious week waiting impatiently for it to arrive, immediately followed by a week of copying all my homework from friends.
On a totally unrelated note, you should never try to read one of Janny's books for the first time during your first semester at college, you you may almost fail out.
originally posted by Ruth
…so does that mean I shouldn't be trying to reread Janny's book during my final year in college?
originally posted by Lisa
I definately remember there being a drop in my grades whenever one of Janny's books came out, and Harry Potter… well any new book of one of my favorite authors really
originally posted by Jeff
My introduction to Janny's writing was by way of the Empire trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire & Mistress of the Empire) co-authored with Raymond E. Feist.
I first saw Curse of the Mistwraith while browsing the fiction section at the library.
originally posted by Ashley Reay
I worked at my local library through high school and I remember looking at Curse day after day, but always passing it by. What an idiot I was! I finally took it out with a bunch of other books to take with me on vacation to my grandparents and immediately fell in love. As soon as I returned home, I frantically searched for the next book in the series… and then the next… and then the next…
Ashley Reay - and Jeff?
Due a welcome here, to you both!
originally posted by Jeff
Thanks, Janny.
I've been a longtime lurker and read posts by email subscription. I've posted before, but it's been a while.
originally posted by Ashley Reay
Hi Janny. I too have been lurking around this chat room. I love reading the discussions and hearing from you.