The Crystal of Light

by Russell Hasan

A boy is expelled from his military academy. On the other side of the city, a girl's sister goes missing, prompting her to leave her order of paladin knights to search for her. A mysterious force marshals the scattered goblins into a unified army in a way not seen in generations, and the goblin army attacks the fae realm, forcing the faerie court to flee into exile. A young woman who is secretly a crime boss in the criminal underworld double-crosses another rogue and then she herself is double-crossed. An innocent wizard who lives on a farm in the rural countryside and poses no threat to anyone suddenly becomes the target of well-financed assassins with ties to the nobility. A necromancer gets a job with a reward offer of many gold coins, only for his plans to unravel.
These seemingly unconnected events come crashing together into the lives of six characters who live in a fantasy realm – Kylus the soldier-in-training, Glorissa the paladin cadet, Yarid the fae king, Rose the crime boss, Sylis the wizard, and Nathan the necromancer – and throws them together, as they get caught up in a convoluted, sinister plot involving ancient powerful forces who threaten to destroy the entire realm. As the plot unfolds, the heroes will learn that this evil plan centers on the magical Crystal of Light, an ancient relic that protects the human species from being destroyed by an ancient race of evil elder dragons – and that the six of them have the opportunity to take the Crystal of Light and use it to save the kingdom or steal it for themselves and cash out to an enormous profit – the choice is theirs.
For fans of Mistborn, Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Indiana Jones, and Lord of the Rings, this novel provides a rare experience that combines heart-pounding action, intense drama and laugh-out-loud comedy. You won't want to miss this one!

Genres: Fantasy

485 pages, ebook

Published June 1, 2024

About the author

Russell Hasan (any pronouns) is a writer and lawyer who lives in Connecticut. A graduate of Vassar College and the University of Connecticut School of Law, his distinctions include having written for the libertarian magazine Liberty at a time when its print edition was distributed to bookstores nationwide and being one of the pioneers in the field of self-published indie nonfiction, with his self-published nonfiction titles having sold 10,000 copies. His essay "A System of Legal Logic" continues to be one of the only books in the field seeking to apply symbolic formal logic to legal analysis and jurisprudence, and his essay "What They Won't Tell You About Objectivism" is regarded as one of the best essays on the subject. He has recently shifted focus from nonfiction to fiction, where his specialty is fantasy and science fiction. He also food blogs about pizza and coffee. He follows the UConn Huskies men's and women's college basketball teams, the New York Yankees and the New York Giants, and he plays Magic: the Gathering, both paper and digital, and has achieved Mythic rank on MtG Arena in multiple seasons. Of interest is also the fact that he volunteered as a program facilitator for the largest LGBTQ social services organization in southwestern Connecticut for five years, where he co-led an in-person community group for playing board games and card games to provide a sober space for the LGBTQ community.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

In a fantasy world, the dragons have all been banished, allowing humans to thrive. Elves and Goblins are also around. The magic is divided into colors. all the wizards have to wear the color of the school of magic they belong to.

A representative of each color is recruited to steal a magical object. That's right, a heist where all the principles are wizards.

Then we get some Millennial type flirting. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but it's unspeakably sad.

There's a lot of tension once the heist gets started.

[Kirk Weikart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tolkien-ish like quest. The world is basically divided into six (6) types of people, classified by color. The quest involves one person from each color. It also involves reflection and introspection into good and evil, as well as DEI issues for all of the six (6) main characters.

The book starts out VERY slowly, as it examines each of the main characters in great (too much?) detail without giving much connection to the plot or the other main characters. The reader's patience is (eventually) rewarded as the plot finally coalesces and progresses. The strengths of each color also become apparent.

The relationship, especially sexually, between each main character are examined in detail. For some readers, this may be too much. However, these details seem to solidify the plot and connect the main characters together.

Two main questions: if the dragon fills the entire Crystal Chamber, why does it need to teleport? And do dragons really have lips?

[Christine Timmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won in a goodreads giveaway - thanks!

I enjoyed this book! I think the writing was somewhat simplistic, but I did enjoy the story a lot.

[empy]

I won this as a giveaway, here are my thoughts and notes as I read :)! (I decided to put it on the review instead of updating it just this once.)

4/26: I started reading it. The map.. could be better drawn and the font of the title and author could be changed to something better... or is it that I am just too picky?

*ON HIATUS... this book is in line for my other books after my hiatus. Thanks for waiting!!

** 3/25: cleaning up my things, forgot this existed… Honestly, I don’t think I will finish this because I just realized the cover looks like AI. Maybe I will pick it up another time.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[AMAO · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎉🎉🎉