Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80602 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
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

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.

Customer Reviews

A Good Fantasy Novel
This is the first in a five book fantasy series set in Alasea. It tells of a world that is bereft of magic powerful enough to combat the evil of the Dark Lord of Gul'gotha and his minions. For 500 years Alasea and its people have been under the rule of the Gul'gothan hoards, unable to break free, until finally they did not even remember that life had been different to how it was now. That is except for the whispered stories told as fables and legends of the last Mages and their final sacrifice.

Elena, a thirteen year old girl just becoming a woman, is the hope of Alasea though no one but the Dark Lord is aware of it. The story tells of her flight from evil, her loss, her fear and her courage. It tells of the people she meets, sent to help or to hinder. And it tells of the difficult choices that will be hers alone.

I started this book thinking, "Another quest, another battle between good and evil, let's see how it pans out". Well I was impressed. It was James Clemens' first novel and although the plot could have been a well worn rehash of many others, I thought it was well thought out and fresh. Many of the magical aspects of the plot were original and inventive, and strangely enough for a fantasy novel, believable.

I especially liked the characterisation. There are many figures in this story and what I particularly liked was that the evil ones were not always knowingly wicked, and the good not always to be trusted. The relationships were also very well written, so much so that I felt as if I was there with the people, sympathising with or reviling their motives as I came to know them better.

I enjoyed this story so I'm looking forward to continuing the adventure in the next book, and hopefully learning more about the history of Alasea and the different races.

Elena!
This is the one of the best fantasy books I have ever read!!! its is so full, and there are so many charachters in it and each one has their own story which is just as good as the others, I mever re-read books, i have re-read the whole series 3 times already!!!!!!!! and each time is better than the first!

If you are into Fantasy-don't miss out on this rare gem!

An uneven read.
I am a bit ambivalent towards this book.

There is too much clichéd material to sit comfortably.

When the book is original it is very good, well written, good action sequences and flowing prose.
When the book is clichéd it is cringe worthy.

To start with this book has a teenager with powers emerging in a tragic way and dark forces chasing her, there is a mismatched group of heroes with an ogre, an elf, shape shifter and an angst ridden warrior (and a few more) who are brought together by fate to help the hero fend of the dark forces.

Sound familiar? It should.
Gathered in one descriptive sentence are some of the most overused fantasy clichés and they are all packed into this little book.


There are flashes of originality but they get lost in the masses of clichés, you get the feeling that the writer wasn't confident enough in his own ideas to really write freely and that is a pity.

He also has an annoying obsession with apostrophes, they appear everywhere from wit'ch to Er'il to og're and they just seem silly and a little pretentious.

The writing is good, the style and the pace keep you interested and the various characters are all reasonably distinct and interesting.

It is worth reading and hopefully the rest of the series will move away from the clichés but more a book to get second hand or from a library, I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.

It's more a 3 and a half star book than 3 but that's not an option.