title: The Cycle of Fire: Stormwarden / Keeper of the Keys / Shadowfane
author:  Janny Wurts 
description: This stout and epic tale mixing fantasy and SF was originally published in the 1980s in mass market in three volumes, Stormwarden, Keeper of the Keys and Shadowfane. Whether those novels have been edited for this edition or not, the joint publication brings out the essential unity of the story. Far in the future, a human-crewed starship crashes on a distant planet, carrying a load of alien POWs taken to help discover the secrets of a deadly foe, the group mind known as the Gierj. In time, the humans revert to a feudal society, the aliens are seen as "demons" and the starship's computer survives as a "magical" entity known as the Vaere. Two powerful human wizards learn the mental techniques (or magic) of the Vaere, but one, Ivain Firelord, dies mad, and the other, Anskiere Stormwarden, is distrusted and imprisoned. The burden of fighting the Shadowfane, the realm of the demons, falls on Taen Dreamweaver, a fisherman's daughter, and on an orphan boy named Jaric, who is actually Ivain's bastard son. They are in a race against time to master Vaere powers, because the Shadowfane are on the march, and Taen's brother has become a minion of the Shadowfane, known as Maelgrim Dark Dreamer. The race is full of action, splendid scenes of magic (including some terrifying dreams) and engaging secondary characters. It also has many well-handled seafaring scenes (Robin Hobb's Liveship Saga fans, take note) and an amiable, even tender romance subplot. Jaric and Taen are the eventual victors, but not without cost, nor without the possibility of future adventures among the stars and against the Gierj. (June) <br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  Stormwarden
  
  Janny Wurts is an author and illustrator of several highly praised novels,
  including the Cycle of Fire trilogy of which Stormwarden is the first. She is
  also co-author with Raymond E. Feist of the bestselling Daughter of the Empire
  and its sequels, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire. She lives
  in Florida, USA.
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  JANNY WURTS
  
  STORMWARDEN
  
  THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CYCLE OF FIRE
  
  
  
  
  
  HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy
  
  An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
  
  77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
  
  This paperback edition 1993 35798642
  
  Previously published in paperback by Grafton 1990 Reprinted three times
  
  First published in the USA by Ace Books, The Berkley Publishing Group 1984 200
  Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
  
  This edition first published in Great Britain by GraftonBooks 1989
  
  Copyright © Janny Wurts 1984
  
  The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
  
  ISBN 0 586 20483 0
  
  Set in Meridi