Free Kindle EBook Review: Wit'ch Fire by James Clemens

I recently started using the free Amazon Kindle for PC application on my small laptop. Amazon has a number of free ebooks for Kindle, and I decided to take a chance on the fantasy book Wit'ch Fire.

I haven't read a great deal of fantasy books because I find some series too dark for my taste and tailored to either men or young readers. I liked Wit'ch Fire because while it was somewhat dark, the main character Elena is a strong woman who takes responsibility and fights her own battles. In the beginning of the story Elena is just discovering her powers. The action picks up from there and never stops, moving at a brisk pace throughout the book.

Elena and her brother Joach encounter others along the way. The book has plenty of magical creatures, including nymphs, elves, shape-shifters, ogres, evil mages, and scary winged monsters. Elena also meets Er'ril, the ancient one-armed knight who becomes her liegeman and mentor. Er'ril's brother Shorkan is one of the evil mages, who lost his goodness when the Blood Diary was created 500 years before the first book begins. The Blood Diary becomes the object of Elena's quest, to free the author-created world from the Dark Lord.

Clemons isn't re-inventing the fantasy genre with this work. It has the usual elements of a young person having to find a magical object to save the world and encountering terrifying creatures and loyal friends along the way. He does do an excellent job of making most of the characters neither completely good nor bad, however. Elena is written in shades of gray, as is her brother Joach.

The author uses an excessive amount of apostrophes in his writing, which may annoy some readers. I can't see the reason for using one in el'vin (for elves) and that's only one of many examples. I'm sure Clemons has his reasons for the punctuation, but it does become distracting at times.

Apostrophes aside, I found the non-stop action and complex characters of Wit'ch Fire to be very satisfying. So much so that I read the other books in the series. While some of the magic and creatures in the book are dark, it's suitable for teenagers and should appeal to all adults. If you're looking of a free ebook to add to your reading list, Wit'ch Fire is more than worth the download.