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The Crystal Realm #1
Krytor's Return
Two Worlds. One Enemy. A young boy's amazing journey into a lost subterranean world. Hanging around his neck is the only hope for all mankind. In an epic urban fantasy, the first book of the Crystal Realm trilogy will take you to a world like no other. Nathan, a 17 year old boy in possession of a mysteriously powerful crystal pendant and being pursued by a rogue leader of the Ku Klux Klan, flees through the massive underground labyrinth of the Mammoth Caves in an effort to save his life. Plunging deep underground, he discovers an incredible race of people living secretly under our world. Hailed as either their prophesied hero or the harbinger of great doom, Nathan becomes embroiled in a battle against an ancient enemy bent on the destruction of their world, Thuromest, and of Nathan's home above. Nathan’s pendant is known as the Key of Knowledge and in order to get home, he must somehow find a way to use its powers. Unaware that the Key works only by faith, Nathan’s situation is desperate. With almost no options left, he must somehow find the faith within himself to master the power of the key, elude the leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and destroy the most powerful creature this world has ever seen. There is only one problem. Nathan doesn't believe in faith! This is a fantasy book with a difference - there are no elves, dwarfs, ogres, wizards, fairies, werewolves, vampires or trolls! Every character in this remarkable book springs from the author's imagination with a touch of historical content that is designed to imerse the reader in an adventure like no other. If you are looking for something different, something that will have you guessing until the end, join Nathan and the friends he gathers throughout his journey into the spellbinding world of Thuromest.
506 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2011
About the author
C.J. Ballantyne
1 book7 followersChris was born in Kabiningie, South Australia, which is now just a railway station in the Barossa Valley. Chris was adopted as a child and has a younger sister. Raised in Seacombe Gardens, Chris’ family moved to Glenalta, in the Adelaide Hills, where he spent his primary and high school years.
Chris went to Urrbrae Agricultural High School where he had to write his first important piece of writing, a persuasive two page essay depicting why he wanted to go to that school! He went on to complete a Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing), then received his Bachelor of Nursing from Flinders University. This led onto a Post-Graduate Certificate in Rural Remote Nursing at the University of South Australia. He is currently studying a Masters in Education.
Chris is married, has four children and two grand children. He lives with his wife, Lise, and two of their children in the top end of Australia where he works for the Charles Darwin University as a Lecturer in the School of Nursing. He has spent the last thirteen years in nurse education and, prior to that, worked as a clinical nurse in various parts of outback Australia.
It was while Chris was working as a nurse in the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu that the idea of the Crystal Realm was born. But due to a new addition to the family and a career move to Tasmania, only four chapters were written and the manuscript was shelved until early 2008. Now, after three years of researching and writing, The Crystal Realm – Krytor’s Return is published!
Chris has a great advantage when it comes to editing and proofing his work as Lise has a Diploma in Editing from the Australian College of Journalism. He gives her a chapter and it invariably comes back covered in red marks and ready for a re-write!
Chris has finished writing the second book in the trilogy, “The Crystal Realm–The Lost Manuscripts”, which takes readers deeper into the adventures of Nathan, Delicia, Tsi, Karl and Axel in the world of Thuromest. This book is currently in the editing process, so it will not be long before the second book is ready to be published. The final book, “The Crystal Realm – The Ice Shall Flow” has been outlined with an aimed publication date in 2013.
Chris’s other interests, besides nursing and teaching, are fossicking and gemology, chess, caving, gaming on the PC, and of course reading. His favorite authors are J.R.R Tolkien, Asimov, Heinlein, and Donaldson and anything that is epic! His love for caving and caves of all kinds provided the impetus for the main character’s entry into the fantasy world of the Crystal Realm.
Chris’s hope for those who read his story is that they enjoy the adventure and find themselves lost in the pages of an epic urban fantasy!
Chris went to Urrbrae Agricultural High School where he had to write his first important piece of writing, a persuasive two page essay depicting why he wanted to go to that school! He went on to complete a Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing), then received his Bachelor of Nursing from Flinders University. This led onto a Post-Graduate Certificate in Rural Remote Nursing at the University of South Australia. He is currently studying a Masters in Education.
Chris is married, has four children and two grand children. He lives with his wife, Lise, and two of their children in the top end of Australia where he works for the Charles Darwin University as a Lecturer in the School of Nursing. He has spent the last thirteen years in nurse education and, prior to that, worked as a clinical nurse in various parts of outback Australia.
It was while Chris was working as a nurse in the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu that the idea of the Crystal Realm was born. But due to a new addition to the family and a career move to Tasmania, only four chapters were written and the manuscript was shelved until early 2008. Now, after three years of researching and writing, The Crystal Realm – Krytor’s Return is published!
Chris has a great advantage when it comes to editing and proofing his work as Lise has a Diploma in Editing from the Australian College of Journalism. He gives her a chapter and it invariably comes back covered in red marks and ready for a re-write!
Chris has finished writing the second book in the trilogy, “The Crystal Realm–The Lost Manuscripts”, which takes readers deeper into the adventures of Nathan, Delicia, Tsi, Karl and Axel in the world of Thuromest. This book is currently in the editing process, so it will not be long before the second book is ready to be published. The final book, “The Crystal Realm – The Ice Shall Flow” has been outlined with an aimed publication date in 2013.
Chris’s other interests, besides nursing and teaching, are fossicking and gemology, chess, caving, gaming on the PC, and of course reading. His favorite authors are J.R.R Tolkien, Asimov, Heinlein, and Donaldson and anything that is epic! His love for caving and caves of all kinds provided the impetus for the main character’s entry into the fantasy world of the Crystal Realm.
Chris’s hope for those who read his story is that they enjoy the adventure and find themselves lost in the pages of an epic urban fantasy!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 8, 2011
Review of The Crystal Realm Krytor’s Return
I read this book when it was first published and I have now finished reading it for the second time. As it’s the first of a trilogy, I know I will be dipping into it yet again when the second book comes out – Yes, it is that good!
The story revolves around seventeen year old Nathan who badly needs a life-style change. He gets off a bus in Brownsville, Kentucky, and quickly finds himself on the wrong side of some nasty characters (loved these guys!). He is befriended by an African American man, Michael, and his family, (warning: this book doesn’t shy away from racial issues). Michael gives Nathan a mysterious and beautiful crystal pendant, and when Nathan unwittingly uses the crystal’s powers to protect Michael and his wife, Alice, from the Ku Klux Klan, the trouble begins.
To save his life, Nathan flees deep underground into an unexplored part of the Mammoth caves and eventually comes out in a remarkable underground world. Let me add at this point that this isn’t your average parallel fantasy world. The land of Thuromest is well described and totally believable, as are the characters who live there. I think the author’s skilful merging of two worlds is captivating and is a main part of this book’s charm.
Nathan has conflict riding with him when he enters the Crystal Realm and there is nothing he can do about it. Some people see the crystal pendant he is wearing and believe he is a long-predicted hero who will save them from their mortal enemy, Krytor (one really mean creature!), while others can see Nathan bringing about their world’s destruction. Nathan believes neither and that brings us to one of the main themes flowing through this epic book. How do you believe in yourself and what you can become in the face of overwhelming opposition? The reader follows Nathan along a journey as he learns to trust in the hardest person of all – himself.
Weaving through this journey, of course, is a mighty adventure as Nathan tries to work out how to use the awesome power of the crystal in his pendant, while staying one step ahead of Karl, the Ku Klux Klan leader who wants the power of the pendant and doesn’t care who he destroys in getting it. Not knowing who she is, Nathan befriends Karl’s daughter, who says she can’t remember how she got into Thuromest, (??) and soon Michael’s daughter, Delicia, who followed Nathan through the caves, comes on the scene. There is a lot of conflict happening between Nathan and these girls, and in the interest of not giving too much away that’s all I’ll say about that.
The story grows as Nathan gathers friends and faces challenges and dilemmas. One of my favourite characters is Adamanta, the witch from the Desert of Tears (not a real witch, mind you; this is a fantasy book without the usual vampires and goblins, thank goodness!!). I thought the story was a bit slow for the first few chapters, but once the scene is set, the pace quickens appropriately and then the action never stops. There is mystery and suspense, and the story jumps seamlessly between what is happening in Thuromest to what is happening in the ‘real’ world.
There are many unanswered questions at the end of the book, but seeing that this is a trilogy that is to be expected. In short, I loved it, and I loved the strength and life of the characters. I quickly got caught up in the narrative, and this book is on my list of favourites. CJ Ballantyne is an Indie author, not that that is a negative point, but I counted about 20 punctuation errors, which isn’t not too bad out of about 150,000 words and the errors did not distract from my reading pleasure. Besides I’ve seen ‘Traditionally Published’ books with more errors. If you want a really good adventure that has good threads through it and isn’t ‘too fantasy’ then this is your book. Come on CJ – I want book number two!
I read this book when it was first published and I have now finished reading it for the second time. As it’s the first of a trilogy, I know I will be dipping into it yet again when the second book comes out – Yes, it is that good!
The story revolves around seventeen year old Nathan who badly needs a life-style change. He gets off a bus in Brownsville, Kentucky, and quickly finds himself on the wrong side of some nasty characters (loved these guys!). He is befriended by an African American man, Michael, and his family, (warning: this book doesn’t shy away from racial issues). Michael gives Nathan a mysterious and beautiful crystal pendant, and when Nathan unwittingly uses the crystal’s powers to protect Michael and his wife, Alice, from the Ku Klux Klan, the trouble begins.
To save his life, Nathan flees deep underground into an unexplored part of the Mammoth caves and eventually comes out in a remarkable underground world. Let me add at this point that this isn’t your average parallel fantasy world. The land of Thuromest is well described and totally believable, as are the characters who live there. I think the author’s skilful merging of two worlds is captivating and is a main part of this book’s charm.
Nathan has conflict riding with him when he enters the Crystal Realm and there is nothing he can do about it. Some people see the crystal pendant he is wearing and believe he is a long-predicted hero who will save them from their mortal enemy, Krytor (one really mean creature!), while others can see Nathan bringing about their world’s destruction. Nathan believes neither and that brings us to one of the main themes flowing through this epic book. How do you believe in yourself and what you can become in the face of overwhelming opposition? The reader follows Nathan along a journey as he learns to trust in the hardest person of all – himself.
Weaving through this journey, of course, is a mighty adventure as Nathan tries to work out how to use the awesome power of the crystal in his pendant, while staying one step ahead of Karl, the Ku Klux Klan leader who wants the power of the pendant and doesn’t care who he destroys in getting it. Not knowing who she is, Nathan befriends Karl’s daughter, who says she can’t remember how she got into Thuromest, (??) and soon Michael’s daughter, Delicia, who followed Nathan through the caves, comes on the scene. There is a lot of conflict happening between Nathan and these girls, and in the interest of not giving too much away that’s all I’ll say about that.
The story grows as Nathan gathers friends and faces challenges and dilemmas. One of my favourite characters is Adamanta, the witch from the Desert of Tears (not a real witch, mind you; this is a fantasy book without the usual vampires and goblins, thank goodness!!). I thought the story was a bit slow for the first few chapters, but once the scene is set, the pace quickens appropriately and then the action never stops. There is mystery and suspense, and the story jumps seamlessly between what is happening in Thuromest to what is happening in the ‘real’ world.
There are many unanswered questions at the end of the book, but seeing that this is a trilogy that is to be expected. In short, I loved it, and I loved the strength and life of the characters. I quickly got caught up in the narrative, and this book is on my list of favourites. CJ Ballantyne is an Indie author, not that that is a negative point, but I counted about 20 punctuation errors, which isn’t not too bad out of about 150,000 words and the errors did not distract from my reading pleasure. Besides I’ve seen ‘Traditionally Published’ books with more errors. If you want a really good adventure that has good threads through it and isn’t ‘too fantasy’ then this is your book. Come on CJ – I want book number two!
August 21, 2012
This was given to me by Goodreads First Reads
This book, in a word, is abrupt. Straight forward, to the point, 3rd person omnipresent, there you go, take it or leave it. The writing was abrupt, the style was abrupt, the characters were abrupt. Events would come and go so casully and so quickly I literally thought I'd dozed off. The only thing that didn't seem abrupt was the description of the realm and the crystal which may be why I rated the setting over character and plot.
I must say that adventure is not one of my favourite genres, especially coupled with fantasy (says the girl who LOVES Game of Thrones) but I did enjoy the idead of their adventuring across the realm. And that, right there, is the problem...We saw all the destinations, but none of the journey! That's how I'd describe the book: an adventure book full of destinations but not many journeys. Yes, literally, they went on a few journeys but the only time we encountered them actually travelling was when something pivotal to the central main plot happened. Because of this, the characters lacked in depth and a lot of the relationships felt forced (especially Axel's and Nathan's.) Nathan was a likeable main character and did experience some worthy self doubt but it felt like he always knew everything and that he just happened to always have the answer. Everyone liked him and the only character he reacted badly to was, well, the Klu Klux Klan leader. He just felt like a Mary Sue at times...I think the saviour for him was that he came across as a good person who did have inner conflict, and we weren't subjected to overly long, overly obssessive descriptions of him (infact...I don't think we got ANY descriptions of him...)
The plot was formulaic fantasy but did conlude with a big band and a satisfying but open end for the next book. (Although, in fashion with the writing, the end was rather abrupt). I felt like there were some holes, mostly created by the lack of anything but main plot revealing conversations/ scenes. The whole key-thing was quite interesting and I kept waiting to find out who the next holders would be (Axel and Delicia, anyone?) When the plot finally did clash with the real world, it was really exciting and kind of scary--major zombie apocolypse flashbacks--and I wanted to see more but unfortunatley we only got one chapter of that. That plot line will be a highlight of book 2. Some of the battle-preparation felt overdrawn and tedious but it did give the feel that the battles were on a large scale and not spur of the moment.
My main problem with the book was some of the plot holes and the lack of characterization. Besides Nathan, we had a cast of fillers who all seemed to melt into one for me. That said, the setting was very strong (if not questionable scientifically) and the descriptions of all the places felt very real (obviously the author was very inspired by the caves--I've been to caves like the Mammoth caves in the book and they. are. awesome.) The plot is heading in a good direction for the next book and I feel like another book with more time to focus on character development will really benefit the Crystal Realm series. It took me a long time to read this one and there were some low points but I enjoyed it overall, especially for a genre I don't always pick up, and I can pic kout some makings of a good new series.
Plot Rating: 5/10
Character Rating: 4.5/10
Style of Writing: 4/10
First 1/3: 6/10
Second 1/3: 5/10
Third 1/3: 5/10
MC Rating: 6/10
Scenery Rating: 7/10
Concept Rating: 5/10
Emotional Rating: 2/10
Overall Rating: 49.5/100
This book, in a word, is abrupt. Straight forward, to the point, 3rd person omnipresent, there you go, take it or leave it. The writing was abrupt, the style was abrupt, the characters were abrupt. Events would come and go so casully and so quickly I literally thought I'd dozed off. The only thing that didn't seem abrupt was the description of the realm and the crystal which may be why I rated the setting over character and plot.
I must say that adventure is not one of my favourite genres, especially coupled with fantasy (says the girl who LOVES Game of Thrones) but I did enjoy the idead of their adventuring across the realm. And that, right there, is the problem...We saw all the destinations, but none of the journey! That's how I'd describe the book: an adventure book full of destinations but not many journeys. Yes, literally, they went on a few journeys but the only time we encountered them actually travelling was when something pivotal to the central main plot happened. Because of this, the characters lacked in depth and a lot of the relationships felt forced (especially Axel's and Nathan's.) Nathan was a likeable main character and did experience some worthy self doubt but it felt like he always knew everything and that he just happened to always have the answer. Everyone liked him and the only character he reacted badly to was, well, the Klu Klux Klan leader. He just felt like a Mary Sue at times...I think the saviour for him was that he came across as a good person who did have inner conflict, and we weren't subjected to overly long, overly obssessive descriptions of him (infact...I don't think we got ANY descriptions of him...)
The plot was formulaic fantasy but did conlude with a big band and a satisfying but open end for the next book. (Although, in fashion with the writing, the end was rather abrupt). I felt like there were some holes, mostly created by the lack of anything but main plot revealing conversations/ scenes. The whole key-thing was quite interesting and I kept waiting to find out who the next holders would be (Axel and Delicia, anyone?) When the plot finally did clash with the real world, it was really exciting and kind of scary--major zombie apocolypse flashbacks--and I wanted to see more but unfortunatley we only got one chapter of that. That plot line will be a highlight of book 2. Some of the battle-preparation felt overdrawn and tedious but it did give the feel that the battles were on a large scale and not spur of the moment.
My main problem with the book was some of the plot holes and the lack of characterization. Besides Nathan, we had a cast of fillers who all seemed to melt into one for me. That said, the setting was very strong (if not questionable scientifically) and the descriptions of all the places felt very real (obviously the author was very inspired by the caves--I've been to caves like the Mammoth caves in the book and they. are. awesome.) The plot is heading in a good direction for the next book and I feel like another book with more time to focus on character development will really benefit the Crystal Realm series. It took me a long time to read this one and there were some low points but I enjoyed it overall, especially for a genre I don't always pick up, and I can pic kout some makings of a good new series.
Plot Rating: 5/10
Character Rating: 4.5/10
Style of Writing: 4/10
First 1/3: 6/10
Second 1/3: 5/10
Third 1/3: 5/10
MC Rating: 6/10
Scenery Rating: 7/10
Concept Rating: 5/10
Emotional Rating: 2/10
Overall Rating: 49.5/100
December 29, 2013
What is it about Australia that brings us so many good new authors? I was lucky to find Trudi Canavan and her first book The Magicians' Guild and was lost in her great sequels, prequels and other books. Now another australian has arrived, Chris J. Ballantyne.
Krytor's Return is about Nathan, an african-american boy who is a bit lost in the world and seeks his own identity, and his purpose in life. He's good natured and gets into trouble with troublemakers in a small town. He's beaten up badly and is cared for by a local family and the father, Michael, gives him a red crystal he found 30 years earlier in a cave.
Things get ugly when the local Ku Klux Klan attacks Michael and his family, and to everyone's astonishment Nathan's red crystal helps defend them against the Klan. Now the Klan is after Nathan and the red crystal and Nathan must flee for his life. He flees into the cave system and finds another world deep underground, where he slowly must begin to accept his role in this world, although reluctantly at first.
The story unfolds an epic drama of good against evil, but not the typical one-dimensioned black or white moral often seen in such stories. There are characters with depth, like Karl, the KKK leader, who seems bad to the bone at the surface but is really in the gray area and evolves as a person when he's challenged with moral issues.
The book raises a lot of questions about ourselves and how we treat one another in our own world. The contrast to the underground world of Thuromest, where people seem more happy and content with life is huge. There's also the element of faith - faith in yourself, your fellow humans, and maybe some elusive bigger purpose set by a higher being. We're left with a lot of unanswered questions and loose ends. Who made this underground world and its ancient library? Who's Lord Omnipotent and who's Krytor? Are they related? How will Nathan handle the task of saving everybody, and the burden of being the one who is supposed to save everybody?
It's a very good book and I look forward to reading the next one in the trilogy. I'm currently reading it for the second time now and find it even more enjoying than the first time. Recommended to all fantasy lovers!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews