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The Crystal of Light: An Epic Fantasy Romance Heist Thriller LitRPG Adventure
Everyone is happy in the Kingdom of Imperia. Humans farm, dwarves mine, elves craft golden items. People sing and dance in the streets. Everyone is happy!
But beneath the surface, trouble is brewing. An evil wizard named the Dark Wizard seeks to steal a magical item named the Crystal of Light, with which he will have the power to summon dragons who can destroy the entire realm. The Crystal of Light is safeguarded in a heavily fortified magical temple named the Temple of Light, where it is watched over by the most powerful wizard in the realm, a legendary magic user named the White Wizard. So, to steal it, the Dark Wizard recruits six hapless, down-on-their-luck, flat-broke fantasy heroes to raid the temple, crawl the dungeon, and steal the treasure from the dungeon boss, the White Wizard.
Those six heroes, a.k.a. the thieving crew, are:
Yarid, a Fae King, who leads the faerie court into exile after a goblin army forces them to flee from the Fae Realm. The Dark Wizard promises to give him the money to hire mercenaries and raise an army to take back the Fae Realm.
Sylis, a simple young farm wizard with a proficiency in time magic from a rural backwater town, who is forced to flee when assassins come after him and burn his farm to the ground and he barely escapes with his life. The Dark Wizard promises him the knowledge of who is hunting him and why.
Nathan, a necromancer who owes a ton of gold to the necromancer who trained him and who will reclaim payment for his student loans as either gold, or blood. The Dark Wizard promises him money to pay off his debt.
Rose, a wizard-thief crime boss, who is in her element stealing things from other people. She is eager when the Dark Wizard offers her a heist.
Glorissa, a young female paladin cadet, whose twin sister went missing from their paladin academy one year ago, and who is on a mission to find and rescue her sister. The Dark Wizard offers her something she can't resist: information that could lead her to her sister.
Kylus, a young male soldier-in-training recently expelled from his military academy after they learned about his dark secret, which the Dark Wizard offers to sell him a cure for. (Hint: his dark secret has something to do with gender and sexuality.)
These six heroes are good, and innocent, and noble, and heroic, and they should know better than to take a job offered by an evil wizard. But being poor and having a prize of a huge pile of gold coins dangled in front of your eyes makes people make bad decisions. They make the poor choice to take the job offer and go on the quest to steal the Crystal of Light. And the quest begins!
Author's Note: The elements of LitRPG in this novel are light/creamy, and the two romance arcs (the cishet romance arc between Yarid the fae king and Glorissa the girl knight, and the queer/gay coming-of-age romance arc between Sylis and Kylus) are a subplot to the main quest but do form an important part of the book. Mostly, the book is just the best epic high fantasy quest adventure you will ever read. It's a character-driven soap opera with plenty of action and strong motivations to move the story forward. It is a fantasy heist novel, and the edge-of-your-seat thrills of watching the six main characters face the many dangers of stealing their target make it a gripping, compelling thriller suspense novel, while also being a traditional fantasy story set in a high fantasy realm with humans, elves, goblins, wizards, a feudal society of kings and knights, and a hard magic system with six types of magic. The magic plays a central role in how the heroes try to steal their target, because they will need all six of the six different types of magic for their heist to succeed. The novel begins with standalone stories that introduce the main characters, and then after all main characters are introduced, the characters meet by chance at an inn and tavern where they meet the Dark Wizard, and the main plot arc begins.
But beneath the surface, trouble is brewing. An evil wizard named the Dark Wizard seeks to steal a magical item named the Crystal of Light, with which he will have the power to summon dragons who can destroy the entire realm. The Crystal of Light is safeguarded in a heavily fortified magical temple named the Temple of Light, where it is watched over by the most powerful wizard in the realm, a legendary magic user named the White Wizard. So, to steal it, the Dark Wizard recruits six hapless, down-on-their-luck, flat-broke fantasy heroes to raid the temple, crawl the dungeon, and steal the treasure from the dungeon boss, the White Wizard.
Those six heroes, a.k.a. the thieving crew, are:
Yarid, a Fae King, who leads the faerie court into exile after a goblin army forces them to flee from the Fae Realm. The Dark Wizard promises to give him the money to hire mercenaries and raise an army to take back the Fae Realm.
Sylis, a simple young farm wizard with a proficiency in time magic from a rural backwater town, who is forced to flee when assassins come after him and burn his farm to the ground and he barely escapes with his life. The Dark Wizard promises him the knowledge of who is hunting him and why.
Nathan, a necromancer who owes a ton of gold to the necromancer who trained him and who will reclaim payment for his student loans as either gold, or blood. The Dark Wizard promises him money to pay off his debt.
Rose, a wizard-thief crime boss, who is in her element stealing things from other people. She is eager when the Dark Wizard offers her a heist.
Glorissa, a young female paladin cadet, whose twin sister went missing from their paladin academy one year ago, and who is on a mission to find and rescue her sister. The Dark Wizard offers her something she can't resist: information that could lead her to her sister.
Kylus, a young male soldier-in-training recently expelled from his military academy after they learned about his dark secret, which the Dark Wizard offers to sell him a cure for. (Hint: his dark secret has something to do with gender and sexuality.)
These six heroes are good, and innocent, and noble, and heroic, and they should know better than to take a job offered by an evil wizard. But being poor and having a prize of a huge pile of gold coins dangled in front of your eyes makes people make bad decisions. They make the poor choice to take the job offer and go on the quest to steal the Crystal of Light. And the quest begins!
Author's Note: The elements of LitRPG in this novel are light/creamy, and the two romance arcs (the cishet romance arc between Yarid the fae king and Glorissa the girl knight, and the queer/gay coming-of-age romance arc between Sylis and Kylus) are a subplot to the main quest but do form an important part of the book. Mostly, the book is just the best epic high fantasy quest adventure you will ever read. It's a character-driven soap opera with plenty of action and strong motivations to move the story forward. It is a fantasy heist novel, and the edge-of-your-seat thrills of watching the six main characters face the many dangers of stealing their target make it a gripping, compelling thriller suspense novel, while also being a traditional fantasy story set in a high fantasy realm with humans, elves, goblins, wizards, a feudal society of kings and knights, and a hard magic system with six types of magic. The magic plays a central role in how the heroes try to steal their target, because they will need all six of the six different types of magic for their heist to succeed. The novel begins with standalone stories that introduce the main characters, and then after all main characters are introduced, the characters meet by chance at an inn and tavern where they meet the Dark Wizard, and the main plot arc begins.
- GenresFantasy
490 pages, ebook
Published September 22, 2024
About the author
Russell Hasan
66 books109 followersRussell 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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 22, 2024
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.
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.
November 24, 2024
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?
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?
August 31, 2024
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.
I enjoyed this book! I think the writing was somewhat simplistic, but I did enjoy the story a lot.
Want to Read
March 26, 2025I 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.
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.
April 12, 2024
Good book
September 12, 2025
🎉🎉🎉
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews