Wit'ch Fire

Clemens is not shy about using fantasy tropes, but there are enough unique aspects that I found the story intriguing. Some of the characters have more depth than one might expect of a stereotype. There is a Dark Lord whose minions are not always what one might expect. There is a young person with a destiny who gathers protectors and comrades for a quest of sorts. The companions are of various races and, as the series title (The Banned & The Banished) suggests, they are loners or outcasts. There are magicks--elemental, Dark, and Chyric (from a god). There is despair and hope, sorrow and courage. And there are 4 more books in the series!

Witch Fire begins with a book within a book, a literary device I love. There is something fascinating about that “literature turned back on itself” idea that just seems to have limitless potential, from The Princess Bride to In the Mouth of Madness to The Arabian Nights. Here the beginning is very promising. The first thing we read is a warning that continuing to read without authorization is illegal, and in fact in the past was punishable by death. We are also cautioned that everything we are about to read is the most vile and cunning lies. The next part is a manuscript fragment telling us about the origin of the real story, which we are about to start (so there’s actually a manuscript within a manuscript within a manuscript; are show more you lost yet?) Then the actual story begins.

Unfortunately, this is when everything falls apart. We get very standard fantasy: Humble person of average status is actually the chosen one, unbeknownst to her. One day with no warning terrifying beings of awesome power start pursuing her and she must flee, starting her on a massive quest to jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
Whoops, sorry, my nose hit the keyboard as I fell asleep. Did you notice that the “actual” story is simply The Fellowship of the Ring with a sex change? Yes, complete originality is hard (or impossible?) at this point in history. Yes, there is value in telling The Story* in a new way. But you have to give us something original! To be fair: The passage in which the bad guys first attempt to get the heroine is done a little better than in the average fantasy novel. But with such an often-used plot element, a little better isn't really enough.

Just like a previous reviewer, I have started this twice and twice been unable to finish it.

* "There is only one story anyway. Our hero has an ordinary life, goes on an adventure, meets with forces that change her, and returns home a new person." - LT member zodiacdeb, FantasyFans group, 6/8/08. show less

I was pleasantly surprised by this author's first novel. There are a few rough spots and I didn't really buy the intro (book-within-a-book device), however the characters are quite engaging and there's plenty of action. It's your typical good vs evil tale set in a fantasy environment. I've read many books by seasoned authors that didn't hold my attention as well as this one.

Good fantasy novel, slightly too long and certainly far too much time spent in tunnels - is this a fantasy writer's homage to D&D players?

Quite good chracter development and plotting. I have the next four books so we'll see how this all develops.

A young girl finds out that she is a wit'ch (they love their apostrophes in this book) and meets up with a whole bunch of different characters from different races to help her to fulfil her destiny.

It's a well meaning book with some good ideas, but the quality of the writing lets it down and I abandoned it a third of the way through.

This book was surprisingly good for a completely random pull off the shelf at Powell’s. I now have to track down the second book. There were a few times where the author’s style got in the way, as if he makes too much a point of being descriptive, uses too many adjectives. And all the apostrophes! Wit’ch, og’re, moon’falcon, the list goes on and on—that gets annoying, but I got past it and was quite surprised. This book is about a girl who develops magic powers in a land where (at least all good) magic has long been lost. The evildoers conspire to capture and use her, the misfits flock to her and protect her. It’s a good story by a new author (who daylights as a veterinarian of all things). Make this one of your next books.

I originally reviewed this book on my blog - The Cosy Dragon. For more recent reviews by me, please hop over there.

Wit'ch Fire is part of The Banned and the Banished Chronicles. First we follow Elena, who is coming into her womanhood, then we add a dark magician, an un-aging man, a werewolf and an og're to the cast - all with likely important roles. There are plenty of characters to follow - it's a pity that the book didn't live up to my expectations at all.

First off, I love the prologue/foreword. It describes almost exactly how I feel about studying texts at a university - it takes all the fun out of it! It also serves to draw the reader subtly into thinking that they too are being initiated into the secrets.

The initial chapter appears show more forced, and didn't draw me into the book. I persevered however, unwilling to give up this early. I know from experience that often authors seem to have a problem with the first couple of chapters, and then the narrative grows in strength.

I tried to keep persevering in this book, but it just didn't grab me. I felt like Clemens didn't leave enough time for me to get to know each character, and the plot was also lacking. It went from having 3 characters, to suddenly getting more and more and more. As a first book in a series, it's understandable that Clemens is setting up everything he will need in the next couple of books, but I'd still like to see more plot movement (rather than just giving me more characters to keep track of).

The title of this book irritates me as well. Seriously, what extra meaning does an apostrophe give? There are plenty of different ways in which magic/witches have been presented in the past that no longer fit with the original concept of magic (if there is such a thing). By the time I got to el'ves, rock'goblins and og'res, I was really unimpressed.

Because I was having second thoughts about the book, and was very disillusioned, about half-way through reading I decided to google the author to give me a bit more information about what I was reading. The knowledge that this book is the first in a 5 book series was not comforting - even if I pushed through to the end I might not get a satisfactory ending. Also, Clemens also writes thrillers under another name James Rollins. This further showed to me why I found the style of this book not to my liking. I'm not fond of thrillers, and I think regardless of whether his pen name is different or not, the style is probably carrying through.

I'm looking for something to like about this book. The concept of magic as 'Chi' reminds me of Chinese therapeutic medicine, but the usage here is not the same. What I garnered was that Chi is a type of blood magic (different to dark magic) where the user stores his/her power in his dominant hand in the form of a red stain. As they use up their magic, the stain gets less. It is an interesting concept, and I'm glad he came up with something really original. It doesn't save the novel for me though.

I got through 190 pages of 496 before I almost gave up. I have plenty of other things I would prefer to read, or have waiting on my shelves to be read for the first time. It felt too much like cheating to give up though... A quick look at the last couple of pages reveals another couple of characters that I haven't met yet, and also a cliffhanger to the next book. However, I decided I had to keep going. And perhaps it was a good thing I did! All the different character strains came together, and there was a type of final showdown. I still lacked a personal connection to the characters though, and that leaves me not wanting to buy any more of the books in this series. I felt sorry for Elena, but that was it. I don't think I would care if she died. Even the language choices such as her uncle Bol calling her 'Honey' just jarred for me and I couldn't accept it. Things that should have been subtle, and shown to me were just stated. Not the type of book for me.

If I had to suggest an age group for this novel, I would say adults only, because it is filled with blood, guts and people dying for no reason left, right and centre! I wouldn't recommend this book. I picked it up as part of a 3 for $15 deal a number of years ago, and I now see why it was in that stack. If you do feel compelled to read it (I'm not sure why you would, after reading my disillusioned review), you're welcome to have my copy! show less