Wit'ch War (The Banned And The Banished Book 3) by James Clemens

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Wit'ch War (The Banned And The Banished Book 3) by James Clemens
pub: Orbit/Times Warner. 710 page paperback. Price: Ł 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-84149-190-X

check out website(s): www.OrbitBooks.co.uk and www.TimesWarnerBooks.co.uk

In the third instalment of 'The Banned And The Banished' series, Elena has to now find and use the Blood Diary to defeat the Dark Lord.

While she is preparing to approach A'loa Glen, Kast and Sy'wen are embarking on their own mission. Desperately trying to enlist the combined forces of the Merai and the Dre'rendi in the nearing war.

Unfortunately, evil hordes and minions are all around trying their very best to usurp and vanquish the wit'ches comrades. I read the second book in the series of James Clemens fantasy epic and didn't like it at all.

I had hoped that by some divine intervention his third book would at least get slightly better. I fell over my hope within the first few pages and left it behind! This is more of the same.

The crucial thing is I want to like it but it is just too bad to like. Yet I also want to hate this book but I actually feel indifference towards it. On some level that seems worse. The detail is so overwhelming you feel like Clemens is dragging you through the story by your hair and pointing out every minute detail.

The art of a writer is to show the reader what is in his or her mind's eye. The fact is when we as the reader finally get our mitts on the book, certain characters may appear totally different to each of us.

Backdrops may seem different but this does not mean that the writer has not achieved their goal. It just means that they have succeeded in getting each individual reader's imagination going, fuelled it. Clemens also has a nasty habit: it is very nasty in this volume of the series.

He dangles a carrot, a twist that could save the story, then divulges the twist very quickly. Throughout this book there is a puzzle, Elena the main character appears to be threatened by her very trusted ally in the concluding events of the war. The concept should be clever but it sadly falls short.

You have several hints and by the time it actually happens, it predictably turns out the way you envisioned it. To add to an already badly written book, this third one reads like a Mills and Boon.

The amount of romance in it can hardly be ignored, if this is anything to go on the follow-ups due to come out soon will be just as bad. The hints that Clemens has given at the end of this one seem to point towards him branching out and making Science Fiction among the stars part of Elena's mission.

Oh joy! Alien meets Wit'ch... (Don't think about it, it'll make your eyes water!) So again, I have to say that this is bad fiction. The follow-ups to this one will be 'Wit'ch Gate' and 'Wit'ch Star' (where no doubt that vision of loveliness will emerge!), keep reading if you like these books.

Although I still hold that the front cover buzz-line should be changed from 'Immortal Magic - Infinite Revenge' to 'Immortal Detail - Infinite Boredom'!

Donna Jones

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