Wizard's Bane
Crystalwizard
Reviewed by Sarra Borne
A classical style fantasy novel that draws its influences
from many recognizable sources, Wizard’s Bane captures the reader’s
attention
and draws them into the pages. In the
opening paragraphs that are vaguely reminiscent of the start of
Terminator: The
Movie we meet Dale, a man from a technologically superior world who
finds
himself marooned in a land of magic.
Dale has a penchant for attracting a rag-tag band of followers
that, not
surprisingly, ultimately end up matching the character profiles found
in the
role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
This group of misfits sets out on a multi-focal quest to
restore Dale’s missing powers, discover the truth about themselves, and
what
good fantasy novel would omit – save the world from sure destruction at
the
hand of otherworldly invaders. The
pacing of the story takes a backseat to character development in this
book, so
not much progress is made towards the fulfillment of their quest, a
good thing
in this case as all of the characters possess strong but likeable
personalities
making it difficult to choose a favorite.
As this is book one in a series, the ending is very much a
cliffhanger, since it ends rather abruptly right before they reach
their first
of many goals. Fortunately books two and three, Villenspell: City of
Wizards
(2005) and Wizards and Wanderers: Book Three of the Sojourn Chronicles
(2006)
are already available, and books four through six are written but not
yet
published according to the author’s website.
A few minor flaws: the proof-reading isn’t perfect, leaving
behind a few errors that wouldn’t be caught by a spell-checker. The layout style is a little odd and takes a
little getting accustomed to as there are an abundance of new
paragraphs, the
majority of which are only one sentence long.