The Bewitchments of Love and Hate: Second Book of the Wraeththu, Storm Constantine

Swift's Story

The Bewitchments of Lave and Hate, is narrated by Swift the young harling son of Terzian, and the story takes us through Swift's childhood and into his maturity. As Swift grows we learn more about Wraeththu culture, including Swift's passage into adulthood and his initiation in aruna, the act of intimacy between two hara; and it is clear this is not just a physical coupling, but something which transcends to the spiritual into the realm of Magic.

The characters are fascinating: Terzian the Varr warrior who lives for the battle; Swift's hostling Cobweb, enigmatic and extraordinarily beautiful consort of Terzian but whose love for the latter is not reciprocated; and Cal, irresistible, mysterious and sardonic, who eventually reappears in the story to cause among other things considerable disruption in Swift's family and set's up his story in book 3.

The Wraeththu story follows on from Book One, where we left the Gelaming under the mighty Thiede's overall direction preparing their advance on the Varrs and Megalithica, to that eventual confrontation between the opposing forces, and the surprising and magical deciding battle in which Swift and aruna both play a vital role.