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The Book of Elementals #2
The Crystal Palace
Cray and his friend Feldar Sepwin, a seer, craft a mirror of silver, wood and spider web, enchanted to show the viewer his or her heart's desire. Yet for Cray the mirror showed nothing for years. Then one day he was drawn to it to see the image of a young girl. But who she was and where she dwelled remained mysteries. In time, as the girl grew into a beautiful woman, Cray discovered her home with the help of demons of Fire, Air and Ice-a magnificent palace in the realm of Ice. Cray discovered that she was Aliza, a sorceress dedicated solely to the study of her craft. And Cray realized that his quest had just begun-for Aliza was as much prisoner as mistress of her Crystal Palace, and even Cray might not master the power to break the spell and set her free...
382 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
2 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Eisenstein
75 books91 followersPhyllis Eisenstein was an American author of science fiction and fantasy short stories as well as novels. Her work was nominated for both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 28, 2020
recently found this second novel to the Sorcerers Son- which i have read several times since i discovered it as a teen. Seems there was to be a trilogy, but the 3rd book was written and never published. enjoyed this high fantasy, with excellent and interesting magical conceits, a sympathetic protagonist, and satisfying high fantasy tropes
November 16, 2012
Not quite as delightful as the first volume, but still worth while.
September 4, 2017
Picked this up during a book sale over a decade ago and the crystal palace still remains vivid in my mind. The vision is staggering and haunting.
January 16, 2023
This was on my favorites shelf for years. I'd read it a couple of times in my teens, but carried few memories of it through the years. One of which was a layout of demon realms that never made sense to me, and still doesn't. The most I can say for my memories of reading it is that it left me with a nice feeling afterward.
Like most of my old fantasy books, this didn't hold up on a revisit. There are a lot of pretty descriptions of magical craft, and I was excited going in, thinking "Oh yes, this is why I liked it!"
As soon as the main character (Cray) meets the love interest (Aliza), it went downhill. First, I don't care for this trope of hundreds-of-years-old sorcerers/vampires/whoever falling in love with teenage girls. He first sees her when she's six years old, and watches her grow up. You'd think that would instill more of a fatherly feeling toward her. I'd think so, at least. Second, the way he immediately begins talking down to her about how terrible her life is and "marveling at her ignorance" was just awful. As I was reading, the thought foremost in my mind was, if anyone ever talks to either of my daughters the way Cray talked to Aliza, I hope they'd tell him to piss off. Then I'll feel that I did my job as a father.
He is constantly telling her everything wrong about her life, goading her by accusing her of being afraid, giving gifts with no obligation and later mentioning obligation... And with how often the tedious dialogue retreads old ground, it is constant.
The dialogue is tedious because in addition to being repetitive, it is ridiculously overly formal. Not just the "my lady" everywhere, not just the "O mortal/O demon/O [pronoun]," but paragraphs dedicated to people explaining weird minutiae of their thought processes just so the reader knows how perfect the characters really are in all their intentions, even though that is not how people talk. All of this is further burdened by 'so and so smiled' at least once per page. The only worse case of overuse that comes to mind is people's eyes filling with tears on every other page in the Wayfarer Redemption books.
The book slows to a crawl at something like halfway through, when the characters endlessly talk about nothing. Then when things need to move forward, hasty over-explanations are cobbled together to write the characters out of corners they've been written into. Friend stuck in the enemy's castle because of a spell? He can make a belt out of chunks of castle wall! Going to be stuck with this heavy belt of castle chunks the rest of his life? Not to worry, here's a couple paragraphs of loophole explaining how that's just a weak sliver of a spell now, and if the main character winds some cloth around the castlechunk belt then cuts it... I mean who cares?
Ice demons are having trouble maintaining an ice wall? Introduce a granddaddy ice demon, never mentioned before. Ice demons are cold and aloof? Have him help anyway, because reasons. Evil sorcerer can kill the love interest at will, then sends the command? Not to worry, it didn't work because of other reasons. What does it mean that he stole her soul in the first place? Doesn't matter...
When it becomes obvious the author is making things up as they go along, there's just no stakes and no tension. Piers Anthony comes to mind. Add to that one of the most condescending and unlikeable protagonists I can think of, and this was just a waste of time.
I hate to be so critical, I was really looking to enjoy this again. It's been taking limited space on the bookcase I keep my favorites in for so long I couldn't remember what it is that made me put it there in the first place. On rereading it, I still don't know; no memories came back to me aside from getting lost as the descriptions of the demon realms and their boundaries. In years since, at some point, I found and read the first book, having not realized this was part of an unfinished series, and I have no recollection of that one either except mostly waiting for it to be over.
Like most of my old fantasy books, this didn't hold up on a revisit. There are a lot of pretty descriptions of magical craft, and I was excited going in, thinking "Oh yes, this is why I liked it!"
As soon as the main character (Cray) meets the love interest (Aliza), it went downhill. First, I don't care for this trope of hundreds-of-years-old sorcerers/vampires/whoever falling in love with teenage girls. He first sees her when she's six years old, and watches her grow up. You'd think that would instill more of a fatherly feeling toward her. I'd think so, at least. Second, the way he immediately begins talking down to her about how terrible her life is and "marveling at her ignorance" was just awful. As I was reading, the thought foremost in my mind was, if anyone ever talks to either of my daughters the way Cray talked to Aliza, I hope they'd tell him to piss off. Then I'll feel that I did my job as a father.
He is constantly telling her everything wrong about her life, goading her by accusing her of being afraid, giving gifts with no obligation and later mentioning obligation... And with how often the tedious dialogue retreads old ground, it is constant.
The dialogue is tedious because in addition to being repetitive, it is ridiculously overly formal. Not just the "my lady" everywhere, not just the "O mortal/O demon/O [pronoun]," but paragraphs dedicated to people explaining weird minutiae of their thought processes just so the reader knows how perfect the characters really are in all their intentions, even though that is not how people talk. All of this is further burdened by 'so and so smiled' at least once per page. The only worse case of overuse that comes to mind is people's eyes filling with tears on every other page in the Wayfarer Redemption books.
The book slows to a crawl at something like halfway through, when the characters endlessly talk about nothing. Then when things need to move forward, hasty over-explanations are cobbled together to write the characters out of corners they've been written into. Friend stuck in the enemy's castle because of a spell? He can make a belt out of chunks of castle wall! Going to be stuck with this heavy belt of castle chunks the rest of his life? Not to worry, here's a couple paragraphs of loophole explaining how that's just a weak sliver of a spell now, and if the main character winds some cloth around the castlechunk belt then cuts it... I mean who cares?
Ice demons are having trouble maintaining an ice wall? Introduce a granddaddy ice demon, never mentioned before. Ice demons are cold and aloof? Have him help anyway, because reasons. Evil sorcerer can kill the love interest at will, then sends the command? Not to worry, it didn't work because of other reasons. What does it mean that he stole her soul in the first place? Doesn't matter...
When it becomes obvious the author is making things up as they go along, there's just no stakes and no tension. Piers Anthony comes to mind. Add to that one of the most condescending and unlikeable protagonists I can think of, and this was just a waste of time.
I hate to be so critical, I was really looking to enjoy this again. It's been taking limited space on the bookcase I keep my favorites in for so long I couldn't remember what it is that made me put it there in the first place. On rereading it, I still don't know; no memories came back to me aside from getting lost as the descriptions of the demon realms and their boundaries. In years since, at some point, I found and read the first book, having not realized this was part of an unfinished series, and I have no recollection of that one either except mostly waiting for it to be over.
July 9, 2025
Sadly not a book about last season’s FA Cup winners nor indeed the building erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851 (subsequently moved to Sydenham in 1852 before it was destroyed by fire in the 1930s) and after which that football club was named. Neither is the palace built of crystal, nor even glass. Instead, it’s an ice palace, built in the realm of Ice from a seed planted by the demon Regneniel.
Though Cray, son of sorceress Delivev Ormoru of Castle Spinweb, familiar from Eisenstein’s previous book Sorcerer’s Son, is the nominal protagonist of this sequel, it is actually Aliza, Cray’s heart’s desire as revealed in the mirrored web constructed by his friend Feldar Sepwin, around whom it revolves. After many viewings where he saw nothing in the mirror, she first appeared to him as a girl, then over the years grew into a young woman. Only much searching in the realms of Air, Water, Fire and Ice (each realm has its own kind of demon) by Cray’s mother’s demon lover, Gildrum - not a hyperbolic description, Gildrum is literally a demon in this scenario, but that does not necessarily mean he is demonic - finds Aliza’s location in the titular Crystal Palace. It is effectively a prison where she has been placed by her grandfather Everand, a minor sorcerer, to be taught to be a great sorceress by Regneniel whom she believes to be under her control but is really beholden to Everand. This involved Everand removing Aliza’s soul and hiding it somewhere in the palace.
Prior to the book’s opening Cray had freed as many demons as he could from their enslavement to their masters. For a certain kind of sorcerer this made him their enemy. Everand did not need Cary’s interest in Aliza to feel animosity towards him.
Everand is, though, an unsatisfactory antagonist, too one-dimensional and blinkered to be any sort of foil for Cray and his chums.
I only really read this one as I had already read Sorcerer’s Son. I prefer Eisenstein’s stories of Alaric the Minstrel to these ones.
Though Cray, son of sorceress Delivev Ormoru of Castle Spinweb, familiar from Eisenstein’s previous book Sorcerer’s Son, is the nominal protagonist of this sequel, it is actually Aliza, Cray’s heart’s desire as revealed in the mirrored web constructed by his friend Feldar Sepwin, around whom it revolves. After many viewings where he saw nothing in the mirror, she first appeared to him as a girl, then over the years grew into a young woman. Only much searching in the realms of Air, Water, Fire and Ice (each realm has its own kind of demon) by Cray’s mother’s demon lover, Gildrum - not a hyperbolic description, Gildrum is literally a demon in this scenario, but that does not necessarily mean he is demonic - finds Aliza’s location in the titular Crystal Palace. It is effectively a prison where she has been placed by her grandfather Everand, a minor sorcerer, to be taught to be a great sorceress by Regneniel whom she believes to be under her control but is really beholden to Everand. This involved Everand removing Aliza’s soul and hiding it somewhere in the palace.
Prior to the book’s opening Cray had freed as many demons as he could from their enslavement to their masters. For a certain kind of sorcerer this made him their enemy. Everand did not need Cary’s interest in Aliza to feel animosity towards him.
Everand is, though, an unsatisfactory antagonist, too one-dimensional and blinkered to be any sort of foil for Cray and his chums.
I only really read this one as I had already read Sorcerer’s Son. I prefer Eisenstein’s stories of Alaric the Minstrel to these ones.
May 22, 2020
I gave up after 75 pages. The setting is creative enough (though not very different from the previous book) but I just couldn't connect with the characters or their motivations.
January 11, 2021
This was really sweet and brought back all the fond memories I had of this world and its characters from the first book. Cray has grown in his sorcery and taken it into new dimensions but has no great purpose until an invention of his friend's shows him a glimpse into his hearts desire. I loved being able to reunite with the characters of the first story and learn more about the world through the introduction of Aliza. There's an interesting discussion on the types of slavery that exist in the world as well as what you are willing to sacrifice for love. All in all a great read that makes me even more sad the third book was never published.
September 3, 2008
If you ever want to read a book that will make you want to find a way to reach into the text and pistol-whip some respect into the protagonist, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. It has a LOT more dialogue than the first book ('Darling, I brought us some fruit!' 'Fruit! How thoughtful!' 'Fruit! So tasty!' 'Yes, fruit. Now, let us make out!') if such a thing is possible, and even less action, and not really a plot. At all.
September 11, 2008
Just as good as the first. ^.^
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November 17, 2008This was a good, fast read. Very well written and interesting trivia sprinkled throughout. Good story line and true!
April 3, 2011
Good second part of the sequel to Sorcerer's son but the first half is is a bit long as it has few new exiting things compared to previous book.
May 7, 2012
Read this as a young adult. Not sure it would hold up to my current standard (not gritty or dark enough) but really loved it at that time. Well written and interesting.
August 24, 2016
Another rating: 9/10
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews