Wit'ch Fire
Ratings10
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings10
Average rating3.6
On a fateful night five centuries ago, three mages made a desperate last stand, sacrificing everything to preserve the only hope of goodness in the beautiful, doomed land of Alasea. Now, on the anniversary of that ominous night, a girl-child ripens into the heritage of lost power. But before she can even comprehend her terrible new gift, the Dark Lord dispatches his winged monsters to capture her. Fleeing the minions of darkness, Elena is swept toward certain doom--and into the company of unexpected allies.
Series
5 primary booksThe Banned and the Banished is a 5-book series with 5 primary works first released in 1998 with contributions by James Clemens.
Reviews with the most likes.
I found the start very promising. The narrator warning us of what was to come was pretty cool. And that scary night at Elena's house I found to be genuinely scary. I tend to read right before bedtime and I had some pretty wild dreams during the nights I was in the middle of this.
Unfortunately this didn't come into fruition for me. The fantasy was a bit too classic for me and the more grimdark aspects didn't affect me too much as I didn't really care all that much. There are a lot of characters that get introduced, even over the halfway point, and at times I had to remind myself who was who again. Not everyone got a chance to shine or enough focus to get myself to care about them.
I expected more from Elena as well. This is also perhaps the fault of the book's summary, that promises an “unforgettable heroine”, in a book where she spends a lot of time needing to be saved. I'm sure that promise becomes true in the following books of the series, but not yet in this one.
Then at the end the narrator that warned us comes back, just to tell us that the scary part is yet to come, which feels like a cop-out.
All in all, it feels very “old-school” fantasy, with lots of different creatures and races, and if you like that I'm sure this book will be a blast.
