The Web of Wizardry

Krantin #1

by Juanita Coulson

Book

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Speculative Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy

357 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 1978

About the author

Juanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her Children of the Stars books, published from 1981 to 1989. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juanita...)

Reviews

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I selected this book knowing that it was originally published in 1978, by an author who was most prolific during that decade. Although that's also the decade when I started reading sci-fi and fantasy avidly, I'd never read anything by her - and wanted to see what I'd missed out on!

Well... it was OK. However, the plot was firmly within genre tropes, without any strikingly original flourishes. The language was mainly unremarkable - but interspersed with occasional stilted phrases and overly-florid passages.

The main character, Danaer (I'll call him Dan) is a warrior of the horse tribes of Destre-Y, a country which has long been in conflict with the neighboring kingdom of Clarique, although both groups are part of the land of Krantin. When Krantin is invaded by warriors from over the sea from Maukland, led by an evil and power-hungry wizard who has no compunctions about using men as zombie warriors to gain personal advantage, Dan must try to help form an alliance between Clarique and Destre-Y in order to work together and repel the attack.

It doesn't hurt that one of the wizards of Clarique is a most-alluring young Sorceress named Lira, whom Dan has no trouble wanting to ally himself with at all. Soon their alliance is more than professional. Together - and accompanied by a fearsome sidekick in the person of the huge but goodhearted warrior Gordyan, they may be able to save their homeland and create a unified Krantin.

Before we get there though, there will be a lot of swords & sorcery.

Since this is clearly advertised as "Book 1" I was afraid that it'd end on a cliffhanger - but I was pleased to find that, no, this book wraps everything up in a nice, fully-resolved manner - it's fully a stand-alone.

Many thanks to Venture Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just found this oldy well worth looking out for.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

In today's world of large three volume fantasy novels full of hundreds of characters, many subplots and various points of view, its refreshing to read a 350 page paperback fantasy novel, which has no pretensions of grandeur, just a good story and interesting characters.

Daneer is from the tribe of Nyad Zzed, a conquered tribe of the Destre-Y, but has joined the army of Krantin and is employed as a scout for Captain Yaster, when he is called by magic to visit his Great Aunt. She is dying and unveils a prophecy that he will witness Andaru, when the King of the Destre-Y will be the King of Krantin, but she tells him that there will be a terrible blood price to pay and a war will be fought.

Daneer returns to the fort just as his troop is sent on the move. He learns at a meeting of leaders of the Krantin army, that the country of Maukland is led by an evil Wizard who seeks to conquer Krantin. The Maukland soldiers are given a foul drink that turns them into fearless killers who feel no pain and fight with no voice.

Daneer is asked by the Krantin military leaders to undertake a secret meeting to meet with an unconquered leader of the Destre-Y in Siank. Later the two forces pledge to fight together against the conquerors.

Daneer meets Lira, a Sorka (or mage) who works for the Web of Mages, who protect the Krantin army and Gordyan, a warrior of the Destre-Y, who pledges to be his sword brother.

The Krantin army travels to Siki, a Destre-Y stronghold to protect it against the evil Maukland soldiers. During the journey, Daneer comes to have feelings for Lira.

The action intensifies in Siki as the joined forces face both Maukland warriors, magic and traitors from within.

Later there is a battle with warriors of Maukland, the magical traitors and the evil wizard.

This is a light fantasy novel but it still holds up 20 plus years after I first read it.

[Epper Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual rating might be closer to 3.5. The most difficult thing about this book was the made up names, of which there were many. There were character names, city names, and god/lore names. One of the groups of people had their own language and unique history, a magic system that was hard to follow. Also, the magic didn't seem to have any range limits which ruined it for me a bit, since magic usually needs a limit.
On the positive side of things, this seems to be a stand alone book instead of a trilogy and it contained two different people with different cultures, which can be hard to write about. Following the main character was easy.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been on my TBR pile for far too long. Dusted it off and gave it a whirl.

I probably would have enjoyed this more if I had read it when it was first published. It's not a bad story, seems almost YA.

Prophecy, barbarian warriors, massive armies, magic, evil wizardry, and a love story; all the ingredients for epic fantasy, but completely contained within 300 odd pages.

I enjoyed it, but not sure if I'd recommend it. This was not a very memorable story.

I will continue with book two, The Death God's Citadel, sometime in the near future only because I already own it.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stand-alone novel of a multi-kingdom war complicated by the history of past conflicts, personal rivalries, and novel uses of powerful magic. Some nice touches in the cultural differences and historical interactions, and some innovative uses of war magic for the 1970s. At more than 350 pages, it is a long and elaborate story that seemed to drag at times and I just didn't really connect with the characters despite some well done character development.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I read by Coulson and I found it very well done with great characters.

[Noel Thingvall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this one and almost bailed a few times in the first half. As we moved into the second half, I felt the author's style really started to click with the big battle sequences, with their unplanned twists and chaotic hurls of bodies and blades against one another. There's an interesting backdrop for this story, of a crusades-esque holy war between the northern kingdoms and the southern desert tribes, where the two need to broker a truce to fend off a mutual invasion from overseas. Instead of exploring this through a rich ensemble, our perspective is isolated to a handful of characters, and writing that can be rich in descriptive text turns severe and arch in dialogue, with stiffly one-note archetypes going through typical relationship arcs. It also takes a long time to get a foothold as it just drops a ton of exposition and world-building on us up front instead of letting that build as the story unfolds, complete with an extended prophecy that never felt like a necessary part of the story. There's interesting stuff in here, but I'm not a fan of the swamp you have to dig through to get it, and will not be continuing with the next book in the series.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an old school heroic fantasy (originally published in 1978). You can just imagine a youthful Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role of a film adaptation.

There’s a myriad of strange names and strange vocabulary to absorb, but these are skilfully woven into the narrative without infodump for the reader to quickly understand what is meant. The world is well realised, detailed, textured, and consistent, even though the abundance of weird words makes the read hard work and requires concentration. Nevertheless, the effort is rewarding.

The writing is a little ponderous with a lot of cod heroic turns of phrase, the characters are a little caricatural, but well drawn nevertheless, and the plot is very straightforward without any real innovation, but as a whole the story rattles along with style.

I might get around to the sequel in due course.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow start

[Viking Jam · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://koeur.wordpress.com/2016/01/0...
Publisher: Venture Press

Publishing Date: September 1978

ISBN:9780345273376

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 3.2/5

Publishers Description: The outer islands have fallen, and soon the sorcery-driven soldiers will be striking at Krantin’s heart. The only hope for survival lies in an alliance of Royal forces with the fiercely independent desert marauders, the Destre-Y — and with a perilous linkage of all of Krantin’s adepts of magic. The young Troop-Leader Danaer, Destre-born but sworn to Royal service, is the key to the uneasy partnership of ages-old enemies.
But his love for the enchantress Lira is now imperilling the final confrontation between the malignant enemy sorcerer and the protection of the web of wizardry…

Review: This work has being re-distributed from the original publication in 1978. It has all the key elements that make up a good fantasy novel: reluctant/innocent hero, budding love, evil/good sorcery, impossible odds and subsequent triumph at great loss. This was a very good novel when the movement was paced but tended to drag, especially towards the end where dialogue and detail seemed to rule. The characters are well built and develop with the story line. Solid world building as well.

[Courtenay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me an absurdly long time to read this book as the beginning was full of superfluous descriptions and was overall dragging in plot. Unfortunately it took me 3-4 attempts at reading the book to actually get to the point where the plot picked up and the book enthralled me. Once I got to that point I was hooked and finished it within a day. Yes the characters are a bit one dimensional but Danaer was so engaging. One thing that was unrealistic was him being a troop leader with responsibilities yet he spent most of his time as a scout when the army was on the move. Traditional warfare dictates if a person is a scout they are a scout only with no other responsibilities than preventing their troops from entering an ambush. Overall if you ignore the long, descriptive language at the beginning and a few tactical errors concerning armies and warfare it was an enjoyable read. I would recommend this book as by the middle it was full of action and was a good novel.


I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Pieter V Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skullduggery, Magic, and Mayhem on a grand scale.

A complete world created with a mix of cultures, a few Gods, good and evil magic, and of course War.

Interesting characters and plotting make for enjoyable reading. Minor annoyances such as missing words and occasional mis-spellings are less frequent than most Kindle books I've read.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was just going to be a cheesy 1970s fantasy novel, but it's actually quite good. The villains are predictably one-dimensional, but the "good" cultures are well-developed and interesting.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this one from NetGalley. I can't say I'm a super big fan of the series. But I must admit it was a nice read on its own. I'm sort of disappointed with myself for not reading this before. If you're sick as a dog and you want some company to go with your flu, this is it.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad fantasy fare. It was a fun read that took me three on and off days. I will probably seek out other books from this author sooner or later.

[SciFiOne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade D.

[Venture Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is published by Venture Press.

[Kevin]

Could not get into the story

[John Parchman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

Really enjoyed this book. Great world building and lots of action. Look forward to reading more from this author in the future.