I really like this book but I have a quibble. This is probably the third fantasy book I have read where (trigger warning for this and suicide) infanticide occurs ( the other one is a book by Sara Douglass). It never fails to surprise me. Like, was killing the newborn baby necessary? I don't really understand the usage of this as a device. Sure, a baby isn't so much a character as much as it is a macguffin in this story, but everyone was totally down for the illegitimate baby to be the heir to the kingdom. This book is really good at balancing the romance plotline and the fantasy plotlines. The worldbuilding was genuinely interesting, and as much as I hate series, I wish there was a sequel to explain more about this world. However, in a romance there must be a HEA or happily ever after. The ending implies that the ending wouldn't be an HEA for these characters because it is not the baby that the protagonists make together. In fact, the prince explicitly states that yeah, her having a baby is cool because it is saving his life, but wouldn't it be cooler if it were in fact his baby? This story wouldn't lose much if the baby lived, but because this society has a weird hangup about legitimate heirs the baby dies and the time traveling sorcerer is totally cool with that, it is all part of the plan. It just feels like the author is saying that having a cuckoo in the nest would completely destroy the HEA because it isn't their baby, when their romance is clearly strong enough to overcome this, and would have more positive messaging if the baby had lived. ( )

Good enough little stand-alone fantasy novel, with some fun magic, a genuinely shocking moment and a weird mix of bleakness and optimism. ( )

Beautifully written and original. I love Janny Wurt's books!! ( )

An early work by Janny Wurts. Lots of action, likeable characters, and an interesting world. My only complaint is the use of stupid choices by the characters to develop the plot. Yes, they were justified by the story but they were still not very bright.

But you can see her ability to weave a story already, so it was great to see her growth since then. ( )

Impressive, I can't believe it's the author's first book. Powerful, extremely fast moving, full of intrigue and twists, with a great, adult protagonist, a varied cast of characters, devious enemies, complex magic, smart world-building and a compelling story crafted with great prose.
Janny Wurts surely fulfilled all the author promises embedded in this work and much, much more.

While it’s clearly Wurts trademark style, particularly regarding the unpredictability of the plot and building of tension, Sorcerer's Legacy is very fast moving since the outset, tightly focused, and all the chapters are cliffhangers. I flew right through it. I would easily recommend it as an entry point into the author’s work, whose later books have more intricacy, with layered plots. Particularly the Wars of Light and Shadow series, which I loved, has a complex and slow burn nature better approached with some familiarity with Wurts’ rhythm and style of delivery. Before delving into it, I read To Ride Hell’s Chasm and The Master of White Storm, two very different and compelling standalones, with adult protagonists and depth, also excellent gateways to her work. Despite the time element the plot of Sorcerer’s Legacy is very linear, but again, it shows many of the things I love in Wurts books, I really enjoyed it and I liked to read light romance from this author.

Sorcerer’s Legacy is a court intrigue story with a romantic bent. Not the kind of romance that just sighs and turns on what one character hangs on another; there is a strong adult female lead and a Machiavellian turn of events. The book features a very intriguing magic system and time lore, a wealthy kingdom, a prince threatened from crown succession by a most puzzling law, enemies with hidden motivations, entrenched feuds, political ambitions, assassins, corruption and lip service, powerful sorcerers and simmering menaces. Not to mention, it’s always engaging to read a story about a woman with agency, and no chick in chainmail to boot.

Elienne suddenly faces the destruction of all she holds dear, her husband, her home, soon, her very life. But she refuses to let go of hope. In a dank dungeon cell, she is approached by a mysterious sorcerer who lays out the limited list of her possible futures, and with no guarantees, offers her an uncomfortable compromise to save both their life’s work.

She is no hero. She is an intelligent woman with a sharp tongue and a temper to match, but also an emotionally-scarred widow, who is cast in a kingdom she knows nothing of, charged to rescue a prince she has never met, and with no visibility as to who is friend or foe. Her only weapons are last minute instructions, a magical item, her own guile and life experience. I liked that, as the story unfolds, she is suffering but strives to find strength within, to shape her destiny and to protect the legacies she is entrusted with standing on her own merits, taking her own decisions and trying to make the best of circumstances. She refuses the comfort of an easy way out but instead clings to her identity, her powerful sense of purpose, even when she is not sure of her choices, even when the weight of her burdens threatens to break her. Uprooted, lonely, remorseful to let go of her past, she runs a course contrary to all understanding for the sake of an unknown realm’s future while trying to make sense of her own. She is a fascinating character and well-rounded, a woman whose actions are governed by both complex passions and cold wit.

Aware of the risks of ignorance, and the consequences of responsibility, Elienne plunges into the intricacy of Pendaire’s court intrigue armed with her wits and innocent smile, an unknown player in the unfathomable plan of a dead sorcerer, master of the secret of time, which blurs the edges of faith and duty.

The chess match has started. "This time, to the bitter death, with no bowing out." ( )