Customer Reviews

Witch Star

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am very proud of James Clemens. He wrote a nice Fantasy Series. He wrote it well. All the books were enjoyable and most importantly, IT ENDED!!! Hey, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and the rest of you money grubbing hacks, TAKE A LESSON!!! (Sorry, I just had to get that out). I very much enjoyed this series. It was full of great characters, lots of action, a simple, familiar, yet entertaining plot and when all is said and done, I was happy to have read the series and see it come to a satisfying conclusion. There's nothing deep or conscience altering about these books. But, if you are on a long trip or need a moment to relax and enjoy a good, lighthearted read, these books are for you. Wit'ch Star completely wraps up the adventures of Elena and her friends in their work against those rather typical dark powers that seem to always crop up in these types of novels. The book jacket seems to indicate that a new character named Harlequin Quail will have some pivotal role in the novel, but in reality, he doesn't. The same characters that have kept the book going since the beginning are the real stars and the strength of the book relies on them, not on any new twists or turns. I recommend these books and this series to anyone. Especially those who like stories that have endings!!!

After Elena the Wit'ch triumphed in several confrontations with the deadly Dark Lord including the destruction of the Weirgates, she resides on the Rosewood Throne recovering from her harrowing experiences with her husband Er'rill providing solace. However her respite ends when Lord Tyrus introduces Elena to Harlequin Quail, a jester serving as a master spy just in from the cold of performing at the Dark Lord's Blackhall keep. Harlequin claims that one Weirgate mightier than the three just destroyed remains open but the little man has no idea where it is, but that the Black Heart must be stopped by Midsummer's Eve, only one moon away.

Elena and her companions begin the impossible quest to obliterate the final Weirgate before the Dark Lord can evilly use it. However, though keeping her own confidence Elena knows deep inside her heart that in the end it will be a duel to the death at high moon between she and he with the future of the world as the stake.

Though the story line is Tolkien fantasy with a good vs. evil quest, fans of the series will delight in the fifth Banned and the Banished novel, WIT'CH STAR. Apostrophe apologies aside, the current tale is an engaging confrontation that never slows down until the new scholars determine why the Kelvish Scrolls became banned. The key to these novels is that recurring characters never lose their essence though they grow, mature, and change inside well-written quest-based story lines. James Clemens has grown, matured, and changed as an author, which bewit'ches his readers to want more works from the Commonwealth scholars.

Harriet Klausner

The story ends with the final insallment of the Banned and the Banished series. And it does, in fact, end.

Elena and her motley crew face the biggest challenges yet in this climax to the story arc. Here we learn exactly who and what the Dark Lord is (a rather disappointing choice in my opinion, though unexpected) and more importantly, why he has corrupted the land (and an even bigger disappointment).

The reasons are hard to believe in that they really don't hold with the amount of devestation the Dark Lord has caused.

This last chapter as a whole is a good end to the series however. We do lay to rest many questions, although the ultimate question "what happens next?" isn't answered for us. It almost seems as though Clemens is leaving a spark with which to start a new series about the land of Alasea. At one point we are simply cut off from the stories of our characters' lives with only one small insight into what might have happened to them after the final showdown.

The end isn't entirely disappointing with the well-written battles we've come to expect and at least the characters aren't left hanging.

The character introduced in this book as an addition to Elena's crew seems underused. Almost as if Clemens had more in mind for him, but was cut short on length.

Some of the paths he sets his characters on in this final chapter are somewhat out of character, making it seem like he put these things in randomly simply to move the plot forward and with no real reasoning behind them. It left me feeling betrayed after reading about characters I've come to know doing things they would never do.

But overall the series holds up as a good read and worth the time. It isn't as brilliant as it could have been, but it doesn't completely lose shape and fall apart after the first 3 books either.

My daughter and I read Wit'ch Fire when it first came out and loved it! We could hardly wait for each new book to be published and would read each in 1-2 days. Clemens' writing takes the reader into the story with such vividly described characters and events that I almost felt like I was right there with them. I felt almost disappointed that the series ended. I have purchased the entire set and everyone who has read these books has loved them!

I have read all five books now and I can say that this series is one of the best I have read. Clemens stays true to his characters by allowing them to grow with the storyline yet keeping them grounded in their own personal beliefs and identities. Clemens brings the book full circle and ties up the many character's paths in one neat little package that is entertaining and amazing.

The last in this series has enough twists and turns to absolutely make you hold your breath in anticipation. You don't know who is going to betray whom, or which of your favorite characters are going to survive this white knuckle adventure. It's filled with new evils, some of which can only be found in your worst nightmares...(spiders, lots and lots of spiders! Ugh!) This last installment in this series is a fitting conclusion to a wonderful ride into a world of fantasy and magick. I am still in awe that such a splendidly complicated tale can bloom from anyone's mind. Bravo Monsieur Clemens, job well done.

I have all "The Banned and The Banished" books and I was really excited that I got to the last book and I was hoping to read a book that ends in a way that left me in tears. Well, it did, but in tears of anger. James Clemens decided to end his 5-Book-Long series in the worst possible way. It just . . . ends. It tells you what happened to Joach (my least favorite character), but you never know what happened to Er'ril or Elena or anyone else! Also, he decided to throw in a very boring sidestory that really had no purpose in the story. I think that he just got bored of the series and ended it so he can start his MUCH better book series, The Godslayer Chronicles, but either way, after 5 books of Er'ril of Standi and his fight against the Gul'gotha, this is the worst book to end to the series with. The only reason the story got a star above 1 is because of the spicy scene between Er'ril and Elena. Other than that, shame on you, James, but at least "Shadowfall" and "Hinterland" are amazing books.

Wow the adventures that Elena has gone throught to get here were spine tingling and now her adventure came to an end that is garenteed to surprise all.

The final book in the series which started with Wit'ch Fire, Storm, War, Gate and finally Star. While I did enjoy the series, and the writing was solid, it did not blow me away completely. The accents (') were a little annoying since every race, a lot of characters and places had them. Many familiar fantasy creatures were used such as goblins and dwarves, but Clemons put a nice spin on them to make them a little differant, as well as a unique take on magic. He had some great ideas and the feel of a great sprawling epic. I don't think this will be remembered as one of the great fantasy stories of all time, I do think this is a great beginning for a new fantasy writer and I will be picking up the book Shadowfall in his new series.

James Clemens is a wonderful author. This seris had me captured from the first chapter of the first book. He packs the pages so that it takes a whole ton of effort to put the book down. I'd seriously recommend the other books in this series, Wit'ch Fire, Wit'ch Storm, Wit'ch War, and Wit'ch Gate. He also writes as James Rollins writing books with a more sci-fi feel, but just as great to read.