Wizard's Bane: Book one of the Sojourn Chronicles [Paperback]

Kelly Christiansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

Wizard's Bane is the first book of The Sojourn Chronicles, sixbooks that recount the adventures of Dale, a member of a large space fleet, who is marooned on a world similar to 18th-century Earth. He discovers very quickly that being stranded is the least of his problems; the world he is on is about to be destroyed and he's the only one that can save it. Without any clear direction, or the tools to do so, he sets out to try, encountering magic, mayhem and chaos at every turn.Wizard's Bane has received rave reviews and even been compared to the Shadow Trilogy by George Lucas.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

I am both an author and agraphic artist, though my three cats would tell you a different story. I started writing in myJunior year of high school. At the time, I'd read everything the school libraryhad that interested me, so it just seemed natural to write what I wanted toread, since no one else was. A small group of us would get together and talkstories, developing characters, plot lines and just in general having fun. Myuniverse, and ultimately the books I have in print, developed out of that. Being a writer is a lotlike living on a wild roller coaster. Sometimes all you can do is hang on forthe ride while the story pours out of your fingers, and sometimes you have tofight tooth and nail for every letter! It's a lot of fun, and I wouldn't tradeit for anything in the world. When I'm not writing, I'mcreating art in other ways. I do a lot of computer graphics, including thecovers of my own books, the covers of other people's books, posters,illustrations, email signatures and various other pieces. A lot of my art iscreated for private individuals, and I don't have it on display any where, butI do have a nice gallery online. If you'd like to take a look, you can visit meat:http://artwanted.com/crystalwizardWhat little time is leftbetween writing and creating art I use fixing computers for people or pursuingchocolate ;) Seriously, you can't give a free-range chocolate bar a chance toescape! Illustrationsfrom my books can be found at http://sojourn.omnitech.net

Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1418423122
• ISBN-13: 978-1418423124
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,783,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Sarra Borne, July 12, 2007

By 

Front Street Reviews www.frontstreetreviews.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wizard's Bane: Book one of the Sojourn Chronicles (Paperback)

A classical style fantasy novel that draws its influences from many recognizable sources, Wizard's Bane captures the reader's attention and draws them into the pages. In the opening paragraphs that are vaguely reminiscent of the start of Terminator: The Movie we meet Dale, a man from a technologically superior world who finds himself marooned in a land of magic. Dale has a penchant for attracting a rag-tag band of followers that, not surprisingly, ultimately end up matching the character profiles found in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

This group of misfits sets out on a multi-focal quest to restore Dale's missing powers, discover the truth about themselves, and what good fantasy novel would omit - save the world from sure destruction at the hand of otherworldly invaders. The pacing of the story takes a backseat to character development in this book, so not much progress is made towards the fulfillment of their quest, a good thing in this case as all of the characters possess strong but likeable personalities making it difficult to choose a favorite.

As this is book one in a series, the ending is very much a cliffhanger, since it ends rather abruptly right before they reach their first of many goals. Fortunately books two and three, Villenspell: City of Wizards (2005) and Wizards and Wanderers: Book Three of the Sojourn Chronicles (2006) are already available, and books four through six are written but not yet published according to the author's website.

A few minor flaws: the proof-reading isn't perfect, leaving behind a few errors that wouldn't be caught by a spell-checker. The layout style is a little odd and takes a little getting accustomed to as there are an abundance of new paragraphs, the majority of which are only one sentence long.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must' for fans of fantasy, March 2, 2007

By 

D. J. Ford (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wizard's Bane: Book one of the Sojourn Chronicles (Paperback)

Crystalwizard is a storyteller of considerable ability. Some people aspire to be good writers; my own belief is that the art of weaving a good story is a prerequisite to the craft of putting that story onto paper (or computer screen). Others will doubtless disagree. But, if I aspire to anything as a writer, it is to become a good story teller. Crystalwizard is a good story teller.

Though I have only read the first book of the Sojourn Chronicles, it is clearly an epic tale of Tolkien proportions. The characters are believable, in a fantastic sort of way, and there is both a noble goal (that spans books) and immediate challenges and dangers for the hero, Dale, to overcome. Dale has a mission to accomplish, though he only slowly becomes aware of its scope while struggling to survive on the world into which he has been thrust. His survival is accompanied by his gathering a strange assortment of misfits on his journey to the "city of wizards".

There were some nice touches in the story. I was tickled by the idea of programming as 'magic' (a spell got stuck in a 'for ... next loop')which reminded me of Arthur C Clarke's quotation "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

In one sense, I was disappointed in the way that book one ended; there was less of a climax than I would have liked. But in another sense, this is part of the epic genre; how do you end a story that is a part of a much larger story? If you read Wizard's Bane, then be prepared to read book two (and book three, and ...)

Also be prepared to encounter the odd misplaced word on the way through. These things didn't bother me, but I did notice them. If you are pedantically inclined, then don't let this spoil an otherwise great read.

All in all, I consider this to be a read that shouldn't be missed, and I will be reading the second book very soon.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique, creative blend of science and technology with fantasy and magic!, September 6, 2007

By 

Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wizard's Bane: Book one of the Sojourn Chronicles (Paperback)

Dale is a man in trouble, stranded, lost and seriously out of place - transported through a galactic space warp and marooned on Earth by means and enemies unknown! He is worried to discover that his sophisticated, technologically advanced tools and weaponry, normally capable of modifying and controlling the people and the environment around him are now undependable, inconsistent and frequently out of commission entirely. But the tools that he does have and his charismatic force of personality are sufficient to gather around him a ragtag collection of misfits that seem to have also lost their place in the world - a thief bent on reform and self-improvement, an "animal-whisperer" who dropped out of the local wizard's college, the spoiled son of a baron, a demon held in thrall by a sorcerer's spell who can't seem to stay out of trouble and the runaway pacifist son of a cutthroat murderer.

As Dale and his strange fellowship fight for their lives against Gorgs that, time and again, materialize out of nowhere to attack them, (think really mean, really ugly and really powerful ogres - big brutes with a serious attitude problem) they come to the realization that the entire world is under attack by a magical force that survived the Wizard's War thought to have ended over fifty thousand years earlier. The world's only hope for survival against an impending all-out attack rests with Dale's technological know-how reaching the city of Villenspell and enlisting the magical aid of the City of Wizards!

The obvious themes of "fellowship", "quest" and "world survival" beg for the reader to compare "Wizard's Bane" to Tolkien's classic "Lord of the Rings". I wouldn't presume to make such a grandiose comparison but it is clear that Crystalwizard has succeeded admirably in drawing on the work of the giants before her while still injecting a dose of originality that is at once charming, thrilling, humorous, moving and unique in its own right! As the first novel of a six-part epic, "Wizard's Bane" focuses primarily on the character development of the "fellowship" and the realization of the extent of the trouble the world is really in as it comes under attack from the Gorg army. In a manner reminiscent of Clifford Simak's warm pastoral style of writing, Crystalwizard's characters are realistic, personable, down-home and easy for any reader to identify with and care about. Her credible, completely natural dialogue flows easily and there are plenty of light moments that will cause a chuckle or a wry smile. That "Wizard's Bane" barely gets revved up on the plot can be forgiven on the understanding that there are five novels left for the now eager reader to enjoy.

Where "Wizard's Bane" creatively departs from the standard medieval based sword fantasy is Crystalwizard's unique marriage of sci-fi and creative technology with good old-fashioned wizardry and magic - the science even touches quite clearly on relativistic concepts of time dilation and space warping!

Highly recommended for lovers of both sci-fi and fantasy! In fact, I can't think of a better book to introduce devoted readers of one genre to the joys of the other! I think I'll head off to the bookstore to look up a copy of "Villenspell - City of Wizards".

Paul Weiss