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Defender (The Sanctuary Series Book 1) by [Robert J. Crane]

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Robert J. Crane

Defender (The Sanctuary Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Robert J. Crane (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

346 ratings

Book 1 of 10 in The Sanctuary Series

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From Million-Selling Author Robert J. Crane, comes the first novel in an Epic Fantasy Series set in the richly imagined fantasy world of Arkaria. Best described as: “...'Hobbit meets Game of Thrones'...” ★★★★★ This is a can't-miss series!

Ten thousand years ago, the gods themselves forged weapons of war unmatched by any mortal steel. Most were lost to the mysteries of time. A few...were not.

Cyrus Davidon, a warrior on the ragged edge of poverty, leads a trio banded together with others into a dragon's den in search of adventure – and gold. When things go terribly wrong, a chance encounter with the guild of Sanctuary saves their lives and brings Cyrus into a world he has only imagined.

But all is not rosy in the ranks of Sanctuary; betrayals are brewing, and tensions within the guild threaten to destroy them as a shadowy villain begins collecting the weapons of the gods for terrible purposes. Paired with a beautiful, caustic elf named Vara who harbors a mysterious secret, Cyrus must brave the lands of Arkaria and find out who is pulling the strings before Sanctuary, and the land of Arkaria, are destroyed.

What readers are saying:

“A thrilling fantasy, that leaves you guessing until the last page. An adventure with dragons, swords, and trolls, I only wish it was longer.” ★★★★★

“Crane has blended action, adventure, mystery, magic, suspense, even a little romance into a wonderfully rich tale of heroes conquering evil and going on through impossible odds to triumph.” ★★★★★

Length: 269 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert J. Crane was born and raised on Florida's Space Coast before moving to the upper midwest in search of cooler climates and more palatable beer. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in English Creative Writing. He worked for a year as a substitute teacher and worked in the financial services field for seven years while writing in his spare time.

Product details

File Size: 3615 KB
Print Length: 269 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Ostiagard Press (January 2, 2014)
Publication Date: January 2, 2014
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B0057OAXQ0
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:

Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,413 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #3 in Teen & Young Adult Norse Myths & Legends eBooks
- #23 in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy & Supernatural Mystery eBooks
- #29 in Folklore (Kindle Store)

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Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		20%
3 star		9%
2 star		5%
1 star		4%

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Michael

A Series Worth Reading

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2016

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I'm now through book 5 of the main series as well as the companion (dark elf) books, and so I want to provide some thoughts to someone who might be contemplating trying this series. The 1st book in the series won't give you much hope about the future of the series, but let me tell you that overall it's worth diving into and my review above really speaks to my feelings about the published series as a whole, not just this book. Part of the joy of this series is watching the author slowly become a significantly better and more confident writer.

During the course of that growth the world, the characters, and my love for the series has also grown. It starts out like a typical early 00's MMORPG and grows in depth and subtly with each passing book. I urge you give this series a chance and I hope by book 3 you'll have grown to love it as much I as do.

Book 1: Boring, predictable, mediocre fantasy novel. The first half is particularly bad. 2 of 5 stars
Book 2: Slightly better. The world begins to expand a little in this novel and the characters become a little more 3 dimensional. 3 of 5 stars
Book 3: The world opens up, the main characters begin to have a real voice, and you feel the actual stakes at play within this universe. Most importantly the author finds how to incorporate his trademark snark and sarcasm into these relationships. 4 of 5 stars
Book 4: The series asks questions that involve real more complexity including dealing with death, responsibility for our actions, and the importance of trust in relationships. 4 of 5
Book 4.5 Provides more color and complexity for one of the best characters in the series. 5 of 5
Book 5: I'm hooked. Can't wait to see the path that this story finally takes us down. 5 of 5
Book 5.5 More backstory, more complexity, just wonderful. This is basically Ender's Shadow to book 5's Enders Game. 5 of 5.

56 people found this helpful

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Fantasy series for fans of dungeons and dragons type books.

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2015

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I started reading this series after reading Girl in the Box from the same author. It is very, very different. Whereas Girl in the Box is urban fantasy, this one is straight Dungeons and Dragons fantasy.

I have to be honest -- this first book is bad. It's almost terrible. Let me explain. The first 1/3 of the book is taken up by unwieldy world-building where the author explains, mostly via bad dialog, all the classes that exist in the world (warriors, healers, wizards, illusionists/enchanters, druids, rogues, and rangers), and what races (human, elf, dark elf, dwarf, gnome, troll, goblin, and dragon), and even what spells are available to them, and what gods they worship. It's all very tedious.

Thankfully, the last 2/3rds of the book, along with the rest of the series, is much, much, much better, and by the third book, it's hard to put it down.

The books are much longer than Girl in the Box. About 3x longer. I read the entire Girl in the Box series in the same time that I managed to read the first two books of this series. Most of the time that's good. Sometimes it does seem like it plods along a bit slowly. Always the books end with enough intrigue to make you want to read more.

14 people found this helpful

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AmazonCustomer

NOT Just a D&D Manual

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2015

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I first picked up this book because it was free, and because it was by Robert Crane. I had been enthralled by the Girl in the Box series, and decided to give this other one a chance. I have to say that my first impressions were similar to those who complain that it is nothing more than a "D&D Manual", and so forth. Yeah - it starts out like a Tolkien thing, for sure. And no, I wasn't in the mood for that. But, Crane is a great writer, so I decided to at least read the whole first book before deciding to thumbs down it.

Good call on my part. Yes, this is a somewhat typical fantasy novel with humans, elves, trolls, titans, gnomes, dwarves, druids, wizards, dark elves, and other less recognizable beings. Lots of magic thrown around, with no real science behind it. So -- typical fantasy novel. But, this is a Crane novel. So, the characters quickly become yours. They become complex and you are driven to find out what happens next.

The suspense level is very high in these books (yes- I went on to read them all). The story becomes dense and impossible to predict. Some of the things that happen I foresaw, but, more often than not, I didn't see through characters all that well. It's very well written in that regard.

Crane has also written an extra book with spoilers on major characters which shouldn't be read until after Book Four, and he also has begun work on a new series featuring Terian, one of the more complicated and interesting of all the players. I'm wholly invested in this series now, and am glad that I gave it a chance. Usually the mere mention of "Trolls" results in my tossing a book aside. Don't do it with this series. It's a very good one.

5 Stars, and you should read all of the books. They're worth it.

11 people found this helpful

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Peter Dutcher

Very well done, Crane...

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

I have been searching for a very good fantasy writer to follow. I prefer an older style of writing, much like the classic Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, or like the original Dragonlance trilogy. These days, authors are told to write a certain way. Keep it simple, brief. To me, this takes the fun out of books. If you look at the best fantasy authors in history, none of them wrote in the styles pushed on us today. Therefore, after reading the "Top Fantasy Novels" of the last couple years, I had given up on the hope of finding any truly good writing.

Along comes Cranes' "Defender". I love his writing style. The book has a prologue (something frowned upon these days), and it is very interesting. I was hooked on the novel well before the end of chapter one. By chapter three I decided I plan to read everything Crane has written. He's that good.

The only negative is I got Defender for free. While it helped hook me on the author (which would not have happened otherwise), now I feel guilty for not paying for such great writing. Knowing how hard it is for authors to make a living these days, I hate that one has to put up more than one book for free to draw attention.

This book is well worth a full cover price. Period. In the future, I plan to buy any of Cranes' books I can.

6 people found this helpful

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Top international reviews

Fantasy Reader

Wade through...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2014

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Defender: The Sanctuary series Volume 1 seems at the beginning a bit slow, a bit disjointed and frustrating without a storyline to firm why the battles are fought but then all of a sudden it dawns on you as you read on that this is part of the story itself - a defender/ adventurer has a disjointed existence often entering battles for the thrill of it ( and the treasure) their lives more mercenary in nature than not. Once you accept this and move on the book then evolves, pieces come together and an understanding of the true plot starts to reveal itself.
The land of Arkaria holds cities of dwarves, elves, humans, trolls, dragons, gnomes, dark elves,gods and their treasures. Within these cities are guilds- groups of adventurers who target the cities treasures and steal these for the good of the guild ( to build the guild up to a more powerful association for its members).Each guild also seems to have an underlying reason for existence.
Book one introduces us to Cyrus Davidon a warrior, who after failing to get his own guild (Kings of Reikonos) to any standing joins a larger more powerful guild Sanctuary. The leader of Sanctuary believes in honour and therefore has other reasons for the guild other than adventuring ( he thinks this is a means to an end).
The story develops through his first few years in Sanctuary and is full of action, betrayal, and longing...
A very good read.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A great fantasy!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2013

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I have downloaded this book after reading Robert J. Crane's Girl in the Box Series (and I read that series after first book was free!). From the description I knew it was quite different from Girl in the Box, but since I enjoyed that series, I decided to give it a try. I have to say, I am now a great fan of both series! It has all the ingredients of fantastical suspense that make you turn pages and stay up late at night to finish just that one more chapter before turning the lights off... I have read all of the available books in less than a week! Yes, after downloading the free first volume, I happily purchased all the rest and am now stalking the authors blog and FB for the news of the release of the next one. There are heroes, villains, mystical beings (trolls, elves, dwarwes, dragons and even gods), there is war, love, secrets and mysteries that are slowly being revealed, but still so many to be explored. I do not want to reveal any of the stories, I recommend you read them for yourselves! One of my favourite fantasy authors!

16 people found this helpful

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MarekJ

A poor start to what is a pretty good series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 9, 2013

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I started reading the Sanctuary when I ran out of the Girl in the Box books to read.
The Girl in the Box kept me hooked and I am now waiting for the last two books in the series to come out.
As I had found those books to be most enjoyable, I thought that I would give Robert Crane's other series a go.

A previous reviewer mentioned that this book feels like a Dungeons and Dragons manual and I agree there is something to be said for the accuracy of that comment. I found this book quite tedious and difficult to get into. There was a very palpable feeling of let down and I found myself wishing that I could return to Sienna and the Girl in the Box.

And yet...there was just something enough to keep me going and then to purchase the next book and then again the next one after that.

Each book is better than the last and I can now say that I am enjoying the Sanctuary series.

In summary, you may find this book a bit of a struggle to read, but rest assured that if you persevere the next books do turn out much better to read. Unfortunately, they do need this book to set the story up, but in fact the pay off is quite acceptable.

2 people found this helpful

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Richard G. Monson

This is a pleasant easy read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2017

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This is light and easy fantasy in the vein of Dnd. Don't take that as an insult. While a lot of Dnd like writing can be samey and subpar, this was anything but.

It flowed easily with likeable characters and an interesting plotline. It didn't break any of the cardinal rules for myself (i.e. it didn't include overly graphic violence or sex scenes nor was it filled with swearing).

Seamless and enjoyable.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Much better than other reviews suggest

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2013

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I always read the reviews before buying books. In this case the book was free and I had run out of other stuff to read so this was one of 14 books I loaded onto my kindle. I wasn't expecting much.

In fact this is a well written and gripping book. The story is told from the point of view of a warrior in a D&D style world. There is nothing wrong with starting from a world with that cast of characters. It is a world that most fantasy readers will know well as most fantasy books seem to include a subset of the same races/abilities/classes. It made a change for an author to be refreshingly honest about his influences and it made me smile when the character was first brought back to life.

The story is well worked. There are a number of sub plots, some of which reach fruition within this book and others that are left hanging. Unlike most of the starts to series that I have read for free on my kindle I will purchase the next book (which will be only my second purchase since getting the kindle at christmas - 30+ books reviewed so far).

There is enough to this story and this world that I want to go back into it.

One person found this helpful

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H. Crane

Average start to a very good series.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2013

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I bought this following an Amazon recommendation.

I need to preface my comments by saying I'm now reading book 4 in the series and have really enjoyed this world and the characters that the author has created.

This first book starts quite poorly and, initially feels like a regurgitation of a Dungeons and :Dragons game. It introduces and explains in fairly short order the classes, their skills and characteristics of that game along with the whole theory of adventuring. For anyone familiar with this (and that maybe by a generational thing)" this jars quite badly. This exposition affects everything in that parts of it come from dialogue from characters which prevented me from engaging with them.

One that's out of the way, things start to pick up rapidly and it develops into a cracking read: entertaining, engaging and well paced. The other books get better and better.

So, stick with the initial exposition and you're in for a great read.

One person found this helpful

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A Brown

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2014

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I can't deny I absolutely love this book and the series that follows. I can only give it 4 stars because in my mind a 5 can only be given to something beyond scrutiny and a 1 to something irredeemably terrible, but rest assured a 4 to me is a book I have greatly enjoyed reading.

I was quite surprised at first to find a world and system of classes and magic that wouldn't feel out of place in an MMO or an RPG, but after reading the free sample and seeing the book was free on kindle I decided to give it a go. I wasn't dissapointed, the world and rules within it begin to add the charm. It possibly helps that I'm a gamer though, so that I wasn't so phased as others may be. If I had one complaint, it would be that death or injury seem to carry little weight in this world, with healers taking away any serious danger. There are ways around it which are explained well enough but rarely come into effect.

The characters are well written, certainly the main 3 or 4 accompanied by a good supporting cast. This is important as the story becomes one of character interaction and camaraderie, with an overarching plot that seems to exist purely to get the team out on their raids. It reminds me very much of the early days of World of Warcraft, playing within a guild, raiding the dungeons and the good natured banter between the guildmates. This is mainly prevalent in this book though, with the following books getting darker.

The story is rather fast paced, possibly due to the teleportation mechanic that means the characters can jump between points of action rather quickly. This possibly impacts the level of character depth and development which has been stated by other reviewers but I personally found that the characters shone through during the action. I would perhaps have liked more background on some of the characters, or minor characters that I liked and wished could be brought to the fore but I still found myself caring about the cast. Perhaps most importantly, I found myself wanting to know what happens next.

From what I understand, this was the first book released by this author, and it's a fantastic effort that paves the way for an enjoyable series. I believe the current average waiting of 4.3 stars is about right in terms of enjoyment and given the fact it's currently free on Kindle, anyone who's looking for a more light hearted fantasy has little reason not to give it a go.

3 people found this helpful

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Mark Stephens

Heroic Fantasy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2013

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I felt compelled to write this review, because the author is one of those that self publish on Amazon and I think these people should be supported. For a free book I think this would be a good choice for those people that enjoy fantasy reading, it is not a high fantasy read which is my usual fare but for a light read and something slightly different I would recommend this book, in fact as soon as I finished it, I bought the next two books which says a lot. The next two books flesh out the plot and add different dimensions and throughout the series I quite like the dry humour, mixed with violence and a conspiracy theme. It might not be your type of read, but you can try it for free and make up your own mind. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book.

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Benjamin smith

Awesome

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2019

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Having read the entire sanctuary series I have to say Robert is on of my favourite authors, all his books are packed with action, romance and some sadness along with twists all over 10/10.

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Mascha Collier

Start to a great series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2014

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I have to start this review by confessing that in the early noughties I devoted far too much of my spare time playing EverQuest, an online multiplayer game. Night after night I would join my guild as a cleric in long raids where we tried to take down huge monsters.
Reading the first Sanctuary book with its descriptions of big raids was like reliving my EverQuest days. My guild, Hands of Doom, was like the Sanctuary of our server :-) We were the plucky fourth guild on the server - the first smaller guild after the Big Three to move into the Planes of Power. I briefly wondered if the author had been a member of our guild - but we were a European guild and I don't think we had any Americans!
But I digress.... The story interested me initially because of my EQ days. However, there was plenty to keep me reading beyond that and more than enough to persuade me to purchase book two, and book three not long after that. I think this volume is one of the author's earlier efforts as it was a lot less polished than The Girl in the Box series, which I'd read first in its entirety. However, there are plenty of interesting characters and some promising plot lines. Book Two kept the story developing very nicely and I've just finish book three which was excellent! And now you'll have to excuse me as I'm off to buy book four....

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John Preston

sanctuary series volume 1

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2013

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very enjoyable read. starts off a bit like a written version of everquest 2 with guilds and different races and character types but the author is actually very good at bringing out the characters and getting you involved. It is one of the few books that I just couldn't stop picking up to see what happens next. the whole series is really good, and indeed book 2 and 3 (I am still reading book 4) are probably even better than the first!
buy and read them, it is unlikely you will regret it.

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Cornish Invader

I'm off to buy the 2nd volume

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2014

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I'm going to keep this short. I got this book as it was a freebie. This has been responsible for me not getting enough sleep since I got it as I didn't want to put it down very time I read it. Anyway can't stop as I need it to buy the next one in the series. Love the characters. Fantastic writing & story. You've got nothing to lose by trying the first volume and I suspect you'll be hooked.

2 people found this helpful

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Jas97

Basic, plain, easy.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2013

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I ordered this book on boxing day and is the first book to read on my kindle. It is very quick to download. It is a good simple read, however it lacks description. The writer leaves you wanting to know more about different parts of the story. Maybe to leave you guessing like the other characters in the book. The chapters are short. However it just isnt desciptive. It doesnt pull you in, you feel like your just reading a story writen to be read. Not a story that pulls you in, makes you feel joy or misery along with the main character. A simple book I would recommend to those who are not so good with reading. The readers who like a challendge and/or a rollercoaster ride read I recommend not getting this book, as you are not likely to find it compellng enough to finish. May not be good for young children as it does contain a large amount of death which parents may not be happy with their children reading.

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Book One Free - Happy to Pay for Book Two

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2014

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This is one of the rare Free Kindle reads that will probably lead to me buying the next volume. There is some lovely descriptive text in this story but there are also some very laboured bits - the author could probably trust his audience a little more as I felt some of these sections were bending over backwards to explain plots. That said, I have been left curious as to how Robert Crane moves this story along in Book Two.

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Craig Nichol

Good book but much better series.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2014

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I thought that this was an decent book. Caracters are great and there is a lot of thought put into the dialogue. As others reviewers have stated the world is slightly unoriginal and draws a lot from RPG and MMORPG ideas but this does not detract from the story.
Where this book is good, and maybe does not deserve the 5 stars, the series is absolutely amazing! Characters who at first were good keep getting better, more characters get brought in and their back stories are published as short stories which really brings them alive. Plots which at first seemed to be slightly lacking become well thought out and gripping.
I could not put the books down and cannot wait for the next book to come out.

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