Customer Reviews

The Sorcerer's Key

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HERE'S WHAT REVIEWER SYLVIA COCHRAN OF ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE SORCERER'S KEY:

THE SORCERER'S KEY is Clayton Bye's 272-page fiction debut novel that was published in January of 2005. While this novel of the Fantasy genre is Clayton Bye's first work of fiction, he is a seasoned speechwriter as well as a well-known author of motivational books, such as GETTING CLEAR, HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT FROM LIFE, THE IT CAN'T BE DONE, NO WAY, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, CRAZY OR UNBELIEVABLY STUPID TO TRY IT HANDBOOK FOR SUCCESS, and THE HUNDRED.

THE SORCERER'S KEY examines the reality of God against the backdrop of Eden (as the cradle of life) and Earth. Existing parallel to one another, yet with the majority of Earth's inhabitants blissfully unaware of the magical place that is Eden, the fragile border that separates both worlds is suddenly in danger by the workings of Morgan Heist, sorcerer and ruthless user of the "dark arts." Heist will stop at nothing to gain free access to both worlds, and seeks to conquer and rule both. In his path stands young Jack Lightfoot whose key allows him to travel between the worlds. Unfortunately, Jack is unaware of the powers that seek to control him, and he soon finds himself in mortal danger. Will Morgan succeed and literally take over the world? Will Jack stand in his way?

Clayton Bye's work of fiction creates a fascinating set of "what if" scenarios. What if God had tried to start over? What if the devil is still around and lending active support? What if magic and sorcery were God's gifts to mankind? What if they weren't?

THE SORCERER'S KEY is a fast-paced read that combines action, adventure, and even romance with the elements of spirituality, religion, and magic. Without taking the quick way out by route of an omnipotent deity and an equally formidable adversary, Clayton Bye avoids the easy answers to the age old question of good versus evil, and instead offers the reader a third version, what if God made mistakes? What if the devil is not as powerful as we would have him be?

An interesting read!



LEA SCHIZAS FROM ALLBOOKREVIEWS.COM WROTE:

Eden - haven to both good and evil?

Jack Lightfoot feels a need to end a lifelong battle with the most feared sorcerer devil in Eden, Morgan Heist; a battle his father has struggled in for over 20 years

Young and inexperienced for Morgan, Jack finds himself in a very compromising position when Morgan confronts him at one point. The overpowering spell to reveal how Jack is able to travel so freely from earth to Eden, with no side effects whatsoever, is a climatic scene. Jack, realizing he foolishly and prematurely stepped into this fight without truly understanding what he was facing, now needs to pull every trick in his possession to get out of this predicament,

Traveling back and forth from earth to Eden, Jack desperately searches for the answer he unknowlingly possesses, before his next and ultimate face-off with Morgan: how does he, indeed, possess this power to travel so freely? With the help of old friends on earth and new ones in Eden, Jack slowly begins to piece together this puzzle.

Alongside this battle enters Kate, a resident and eye-beholding beauty of Eden, who allies with Jack to help him capture and rev up his hidden magical powers.

Interesting and riveting characters amidst an intriguing plot sets this fantasy novel apart from ones I have read. Mr. Bye, using first person point of view, draws you into the Lightfoot family predicament, allowing the reader to step right along with Jack and help him solve the mystery of the "key."

Mr. Bye excels his writer's voice in this truly highly recommended read. At times, its appeal felt like an Agatha Christie mystery, intermixed with a bit of that Stephen King flair for bonding a reader with his characters.



AND MY THANKS TO SERENA POLHEBER WHO WROTE THE FOLLOWING FOR THE GOTTA WRITE NETWORK:

Jack Lightfoot has known that Earth is not the only place where man lives. Beyond The Sword lies a land of magic and sorcery, Eden. Both of Jack's parents traveled through the void to settle on Earth taking with them the secret of traversing the void. Being raised as a child of other-worldly people has not been easy. Jack spent weekends throughout his childhood training and preparing for the day that his father's ex-partner, Morgan Heist, would rip through the void in search of his father's secret. Now that day has come and Jack is forced to rely on unused skills and his wits. He traverses the void and is chased from one world to the next. During his race for his life he comes to learn a myriad of truths that have been only alluded to in the myths and religions of Earth.

Morgan Heist has finally found a way across the void to find his erstwhile partner, John Lightfoot. Now that he has begun the search it will not end until he is successful. He will rule this world without magic. With magic.

This book was an amalgamation of magic, religion, self discovery, and adventure. Jack was a complex character that grew from the beginning of the book to the end. The fabulous world that CC Bye created was rich in details and consistent throughout the book. I felt as if it were not only possible, but probable. Morgan Heist did his job as the antagonist remarkably well. He was everything evil and his minions added an extra edge. I was amazed by the depth of character and the well-thought out plotline. With a unique look at the mythology and ideology of our culture CC Bye took a fantastical reality and drew the reader in from page one. I give Sorcerer's Key a full 5 turns of the key.
--Copyright Serena Polheber
September 18, 2006



EVEN PETER FERGUS-MOORE OF THE THUNDER BAY CHRONICLE-JOURNAL MANAGED TO SAY A FEW NICE WORDS:

...Bye succeeds in painting a believable picture through the eyes of his 20-something protagonist Jack Lightfoot, whose parents are fugitives from a parallel, magic-centred world named Eden. Bye loosely borrows his universe of Eden and Earth from the Judeo-Christian world view, with a Creator-God and a devil who more or less compete for influence. I say "more or less" because Bye's God is a deist God, who set the whole thing in motion and then walked away in disgust. Before leaving, however, God set up a barrier between the two worlds. That the barrier is somewhat permeable, and that people can occasionally travel between the worlds, though at great personal cost, makes Bye's narrative possible.

...The real competition for control and influence is between an evil, all-powerful sorcerer in Eden, Morgan Heist, and the Lightfoot family, who Heist sees as hoarding the secret to safe travel between the worlds. Heist desperately wants to extend his empire to the non-magical Earth, and so embarks on a deadly single-minded hunt for the Lightfoots, and Jack is caught squarely in the middle of it all.

...Bye's characters are largely believable, and the writer stays firmly within the parameters he has set up for his worlds. Much of the book is seen through Jack Lightfoot's eyes and rendered in Jack Lightfoot's language. Not surprisingly, Jack's story is not only a narrative of a struggle between good and evil, but a chronicle of Jack's growth as a person.



HERE'S WHAT PAYING CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING:

The Sorcerer's Key is a great, fast paced read. The narrative of the scenes was excellent. I could easily picture Jack running through the Safeway parking lot in Kenora, even though I haven't lived there for over 4 years. I could almost as easily picture in my mind the author's vision of Eden. Well done!

Gene, Mount Gambier, South Australia


Excellent! It should be made into a movie.

Lyle, Kenora, Ontario


I couldn't put it down.

Stephanie, Alexandria, Ontario


You've got a winner!

Andreas, Thunder Bay, Ontario


Better than J.K Rowling.

Judy, Kenora, Ontario


Enjoyed immensely. Read in a night. Very good read.

Hali, Kenora, Ontario


I am an avid reader of the genres of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and just plain "weird tales" ala H.P. Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien, Raymond Fiest, Tad Williams, Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, Charles DeLint etc. Clayton Bye's new fantasy novel, "The Sorcerer's Key" would not be out of place amongst these authors. The storyline of Eden and its parallel existence to our earth is storytelling at its finest, and I very much look forward to the continued interactions between the two worlds, especially the meshing of what is "traditionally" known about the biblical Eden and the realm of fantasy created by Mr. Bye. I recommend this book to any person with a taste for the fantasy genre.

Terence, Kenora, Ontario


Enjoyed your book. Well written & interesting.

Judy, Rainy River, Ontario

Jack Lightfoot has a family history that makes him unique to our world. His father is a sorcerer from Eden, an alternate world to our own, and although Jack was raised on our familiar Earth, the sorcerer blood runs deep in his veins. When an Eden bounty hunter tracks down his family, hired by the high sorcerer Morgan, Jack learns that he holds the key to both worlds--and the power to take on Morgan himself.

Bye offers an intriguing take on the classic hero's journey, meshing bibilical myth with Dungeons and Dragons-style sorcery to create a story that is as provocative as it is exciting. I enjoyed Bye's take on the Eden myth and its connection to modern day Earth, and the story's fast pace made it a quick read. His voice is strong, his dialog smooth, and with one exception, his style is flawless. I did find an overuse of "be" verbs, which was the only issue I had with this book, but it was a small fault to an otherwise exceptional story. I highly recommend THE SORCERER'S KEY to fans of high fantasy. It is a fun and adventuorous tale that readers will not soon forget.

Jack Lightfoot's parents were on the run from their homeworld of Eden. The nasty sorceror, Morgan, wanted what the Lightfoot family had: the ability to cross over into Earth to take advantage of the technology that Earth has, something that Eden does not.

When Morgan finds a way to send an assassin after the Lightfoot family to find the key to opening the door between worlds, Jack is thrown into a battle between sorcerors. Only problem is, Jack has lived on Earth his entire life and all the magic he knows is entirely theoretical.

With only the training his father has given him, Jack has to jump worlds and learn to use his magic ... fast. Morgan is out to kill Jack for the key to move between worlds.

The Sorcerer's Key is a fast action tale of magic and action. It's fast moving from the first page onward. I knew I'd like this book from the beginning.

It's modern, rather than medieval, setting makes Jack a young man who might be the teenager down the street. Very modern Jack has to cope with the 19th C. non-technological, yet highly magical world of Eden.

Clayton Bye's writing is smooth and exciting. He keeps the reader on their toes, or at least propped up in bed reading into the wee hours.

I'd definitely recommend this book for all fantasy fans.