Product Description

Long ago the Mages of Alasea, beset by a dark and implacable evil, made a last desperate stand to preserve some remnant of their once-beautiful land. Knowing their own destruction to be inevitable, the Mages gathered the last of their magic and stored it away against the need and peril of a distant time. In doing so the Mages gave the people of Alasea a future and a hope -- and damned themselves forever ...Now, five centuries after their destruction, a young girl, Elena, inherits the powers that the Mages had so carefully hidden from their enemy. But though the Mages are long dead their ancient foe is not -- and when the Dark Lord learns of Elena's power he turns all of his terrible strength against her. Desperate and alone, fleeing from disaster, escaping into darkness, Elena seeks out the allies and knowledge that can help her to master her bitter gifts and cast down the evil that shattered the land of Alasea ...Find out more about this and other Orbit titles at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12394 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Review
'With every new book....Clemens' storytelling expertise becomes more compelling' T. Brooks '(the book) grabs at your heart & tears a little hole, then another & another--a brutal & beautiful ride. I can't put the book down!' R A Salvatore 'I loved every page of this book. Clemens has constructed a world of magic that's never been seen before, with a cast of beings who are so engaging & entrancing that you never want the story to end' John Saul 'The action is lively and a-plenty' SFX 'Clemens holds you gripped with these stories, each thrilling in their own right, and becoming more so as the strands come together. WIT'CH STORM is a romp, but the pace of the tale itself never lets up for more than an instant, just giving you enough time to catch your breathe before it drags you onwards. Masterful and compelling.' STARBURST

From the Author
Welcome to my world!
Hi, my name is James Clemens, and I am about to blatantly promote my first novel, WIT'CH FIRE.

Who am I? For those interested, I was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1961, and raised in the Midwest and rural Canada. I am now a veterinarian living in Sacramento, California, and share my home with two Dalmatians, a stray Shepherd, and a love-sick parrot named Igor. Since I was a youngster, I have always been an avid science fiction/fantasy reader. From Tarzan to Barsoom, from Asimof to Zelazny, I read everything I could get my hands on, and like most avid readers, I also dreamed of other worlds.

In WIT'CH FIRE, I will take you to one of these worlds and introduce you to Elena Morin'stal, the Wit'ch of Winter's Eyrie. Born during the "black age" of Alasea, a young girl will discover an ancient magick and awaken a slumbering evil. With a fist stained in blood magicks, she will fight to free her lands from the demonic overlords and release her people from five centuries of darkness.

It is a distinctly dark tale, and here is what bestselling horror writer, John Saul, said of the novel: "I loved every page of this book. . . A world of magic that¹s never been seen before, with a cast of beings who are so engaging and entrancing that you never want the story to end."

Yet, as dark as the tale is, it is also laced with wonder. As one of my favorite fantasy writers, R.A. Salvatore, wrote: "Wit'ch Fire grabs at your heart . . . a brutal and beautiful ride. I can't put the darned book down!" And I hope anyone who enters the lands of Alasea will not want to leave it either.

About the Author
James Clemens was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1961. He now has a veterinary practice in Sacramento, California, where he shares his home with two Dalmations, a stray Shepherd and a love-sick parrot named Igor. Wit'ch Fire is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Wit'ch Fire ; Immortal magic - Infinite vengeance
This is book one of five in the banned and the banished series, a series which, as far as I'm aware, is this authour's first published works. That said, I am shocked as this book blew me away. It starts slowly and takes a while to get into, and the prologues at the beginning can be slightly random and spoil the fun, as when u read about a world of magic, you tend to want it to always appear the same, not develop without magic! The story is great, I wont ruin it here! Towards the end of the book there is an amazing fight sequence between some minions of evil and three "elementals". Very atmospheric and exciting. A must have. I can assure you, as i am on Book four at this moment, that the series doesn't deteriorate at all as it goes on! A truly amazing literacy work and a must have!

Well done (A Book Swede Review)
Hmm. I must admit, it is with some trepidation that I begin to tap out this review. I have such mixed feelings over this book that I truly do not know where to begin! Having spoken to several other people about this book, I'm not the only one! This book is so full of cliches, so predictable, and yet, utterly readable, too! A veritable page-turner!

Right...characterisations...

You have your typical long-lived mage, Er'ril. You have the ancient menace, in the form of The Black Heart, Dark Lord of the Gul'gotha. You have the rural peasant child, Elena (the eponymous wit'ch), awakened to power, suddenly shaking the world. You even have the built-like-a-mountain, man of the mountains; an expert at almost everything, Kral even has a strict code of honour that prohibits him from lying.

Yet what you also have, away from this standard fantasy assortment of characters, are an intriguing medley of Tolkien-esque creatures, each with a special James Clemens twist. The most interesting to me were:

Two twins, Mogweed and Fardale are si'lura (shape-changers)...both are trapped in forms not of their own--one a human, one a wolf. Lest they find a way to regain their changerling abilities, both will truly become what they appear, with no memory of their past lives...

What I thought James Clemens did well with these two characters, was in portraying their relatonship with each other, as one becomes gradually more human and the other gradually more wolf. Fardale is, even in wolf form, loyal, kind and clever. Mogweed, in human form, is still cowardly and envious of his brother. But with the help of one of the Dark Lord's minions, Mogweed is becoming even more cunning, cruel and twisted...

Mogweed's eyes narrowed. Fardale was always the cool one, the brave one, the noble one. One day, Mogweed hoped to see him break and prayed he would be the cause of it...
One day, dear brother, I will teach you to fear...

An og're, sharing in his blood the heritage of a si'lura, is shunned by his kind as a half-breed...and a murderer. Sent to his punishment, forced to walk the paths of the dead, Tol'chuk is recognised by his spirit ancestors and ancient prophecy (not again!) as the one to free the dead souls of his people from the Bane. Mistrusted by all he meets, Tol'chuk is still possessed of a remarkable...humanity and insight which makes him a fun and readable character.

Add to this an elv'in, one of the ancient races, come to kill the wit'ch and resolve the line of their king--or queen! (Wonder who that could be!)

You'll notice I haven't spoken about the story much--well, it's standard, predictable stuff, really. Girl awaken to power. Bad guys show up. Escape. Travelers join them. Bad guys show up. Escape. Travel to hut in the middle of a forest, where, surprise surprise, someone guarding the ancient magick of the world lives. Bad guys show up...

That said, though, it was still fun to read, and it gave some time to introduce and flesh out characters, and to introduce some backhistory which was revealing. Later on, there's a bit of frolicking around in some caves (every fantasy writer's secret weapon!) with goblins. Yumm :)

Short chapters add a sense of pace to this book, which, makes you want to race faster and faster through Wit'ch Fire's pages. The use of non-required apostrophes in some words, is annoying at first but you get used to it.

So, despite the god-awful amount of cliches, the predictable ending (and story) and because it was actually such fun to read, I give it 7 out of 10. This is one of those books that you know you shouldn't like...in fact, you'll insist you don't...but you'll hurry of to the bookshop to read the rest!

For more fantasy/SF reviews, regular amazing competitions, and author interviews, visit: www.thebookswede.blogspot.com

Unapologetic Fantasy
Its been a while since I read a book that captured my imagination so quickly. Its also been a while since I read a book that contains so many of the expected fantasy adventure cliches, but what can I say ....it works! The story positively bounds along, the plot draws together an eclectic mix of characters almost like a magnificent seven of fantasy hero's. Although the book is fast moving, Clemens takes the time to develop the characters. Each having stories/histories of their own bringing them together to reach an exciting, if expected, finale. I ordered the second in the series before writing this review.......