Rating: 
Summary: Excellent read!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I am an avid reader of all types of fiction, but really enjoy well written Fantasy... and this novel is it. While the storyline is somewhat familiar to avid readers of the genre, the handling of the coming-of-age hero theme is one of the novel's strengths. Specifically, the pacing is quite unlike other standards of the genre, like Jordan, Brooks, or Goodkind; the pacing is brisk, almost thriller-like in its execution. This is a surprising and welcome relief for those of us who sometimes get a bit antsy wading through 600 pages of setup before the story actually begins to rock-n-roll (hello, Jordan, are you listening?!?). I found the characters to be quite likeable, the storyline and plot interesting, and the constant use of magic purely delightful. If you like a lot of magic in your Fantasy, this novel is a MUST READ. I especially liked the dark overtones to the magic. I do have one major criticism, however: excessive use of apostrophies! The overuse of the apostrophies slapped me out of the whole reading experience more than once and made me aware of the fact that I was reading rather than having the story unfold before me. I can't wait until the next volume in the series. Is it fair to compare this author to such genre giants as Jordan, Goodkind, Brooks, et al? Yes, quite fair indeed. Well done.
Rating: 
Summary: A 1st in a trilogy of high adventure!
Review: Well, what can one say after reading such epics like George r.r.martin, Feist, David Eddings, just to name a few...This one is different than all of those I just mentioned. It read like a fable with lots of action/adventure. I liked that the story had all the fantasy group, elves, nymphs, witch's, evil sorcerors, warriors, ogres, etc... I really wanted to love this book but it just seemed that the main character Elena just didn't seem the main character here. She finally started to use her magic finally and was kickin goblin butt when - all the sudden she stops and the next assault on her friends she stands idly by and watches friends get mauled! It was entertaining folks, don't get me wrong, get the book and see for yourself. I can tell you this author has written better novels in my opinion. I will still purchase the next book Witch Storm, because from what I'm reading from you folks, it gets even better - and I'm sure it does. Try this awesome new authors new book titled SUBTERRANEAN, written under the name James Rollins. Now that one was a page-turner and full of fantasy/sci-fi overtones. You won't be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Overambitious.
Review: After reading this first book of Clemens' Wit'ch series I can't help but feel that I've just read a Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" clone - with the difference that RJ takes more time introducing and developping his protagonists and his world/landscape. Not that I ever felt RJ could be compared with the real masters of storyline development like G.R.R Martin, Tad Williams or S.R.Donaldson. But, anyway, that's not the issue here...Actually Wit'ch Fire starts out pretty enthralling. After a grim prelude with a grand magic ritual gone awry at the eve of destruction of a whole civilization, we meet young Elena and her brother 500 years later, when their sheltered life is abruptly thrown into uproar. Her family is slaughtered by evil magicians and the siblings have to run for their very lives. The initial action is pretty dire and tense and gets even more dynamic when Er'ril appears, the sole survivor of the afore mentioned ritual, who has wandered the world for centuries - bitter, desillusioned and past any hope for his doomed existance. A first climax of the plot is quickly reached, when the magicians who pursued Elena face Er'ril and his companions, resulting in the destruction of an evil avatar and the kidnapping of Elena's brother Joach by the surviving magician. Until this point, I was like 'Wow, sinister and exciting - I'll love that series.' Alas I was terribly wrong. All of sudden, Clemens starts to add many secondary characters to his tale. Most of the introductions were hurried and pretty ungainly, so that I quickly lost interest to any of these subplots. I rushed through the book just to get to the chapters with Elena and Er'ril, but - oh what a disappointment - here things also turned out quite different than previously anticipated. Instead of taking time of develop Elena, to let her mature to a magic wielding witch who is slowing growing aware of her powers, she manages to handle her magic provebially over night. Also it takes only a few gremlins and a circulatory collapse of her beloved uncle to turn a frightened child to a resolute heroine. Not really plausible. But even worse is the development of Er'ril. Somebody who has lived as long as he did, should be past notions of a greenhorn swordsman, like impatience, misreading situations (i.e. when they first meet the shapechanger wolf, it's Elena who sees the wolf's intentions to help them, not the way more experienced Er'ril). Also I would have expected him to be much stronger in his beliefs: He has lived centuries with the concept that witchcraft is the ultimate evil. It should take more than just pity for a poor frightened child and shy smiles to make Er'ril offer Elena his service as protector and mentor. Ouh, oh, especially that sequence made me cringe: When Er'ril explains Elena that he's actually knows how to train young sorcerers, and that he'd be willing to lend his support to her, the whole scene is so casually described (10 lines), it could also have been the lighting of a cigarette. But that's symbolic for the whole book: It actually lacks depth (even despite the many subplots), most characters are pretty sketchy and Clemens' style itself ranges between trivial and pathetic at best. Overall Wit'ch Fire disappointed me. Of course it holds some interesting ideas, and the concept of linking several individual plots into one grand scheme is ambitious. Especially since the individuals origin from very different cultures, races and even eras. But that isn't new and compared to other contemporary fantasy authors Clemens fares just poorly. Sure, not every debut of fantasy literature can be the second coming of G.R.R Martin, but Wit'ch Fire has too many weaknesses to come even close to a good fantasy novel. For me, the final dices have already been cast for this series: I won't waste time reading any of the other books of this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Clemen's Wit'ch Fire
Review: This is a page turner. I'm always wanting to know what is going to happen next. The book is divided oddly. Its like 4 books in one, but then at the end of each book the main characters all turn out to be on the same quest. I liked that approach to writing and is something I hadn't seen before. Clemens shows his great skills as you read while seeing the story with great description. Clemens's intro into the book telling of why everything was happening was what truly took my by the arm and threw me into Elena's world. Another thing I noticed (and saw other people didn't like) was the ' that Clemens put in words (like his title Wit'ch Fire). I think its another new approach to writing. Why not have it typed like that. It makes for more interesting and meaningful names. I hope to read Clemen's next page turner soon. I'd recomend this book to anyone I meet (and have!).
Rating:
Summary: Good. But not GREAT.
Review: Upon the sterling recommendation of amazon readers, I took the chance and read Wit'ch Fire last month. The first couple of chapters were awesome (making of the book, Greshym's search for the girl, blah, blah, blah), but thereafter, it took on a more ordinary turn. One thing I found bothersome about this story was the author's constant description of the character's feelings---not that this is a bad thing, but the overdoing of it (specifically in regards to Elena), kills the flow of the action and makes the character's look overly reflective. Now granted, the girl lost her parents, brother, found out she was a witch, all in the matter of 2 days, but her well-documented, emotional rollcoaster ride results in her looking whiney. By the end of the book, I had no desire to this follow this wimpy character into the apparently much-anticipated sequel. Sorry to ruin the 5 star average, folks.
Rating:
Summary: Overambitious.
Review: After reading this first book of Clemens' Wit'ch series I can't help but feel that I've just read a Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" clone - with the difference that RJ takes more time introducing and developping his protagonists and his world/landscape. Not that I ever felt RJ could be compared with the real masters of storyline development like G.R.R Martin, Tad Williams or S.R.Donaldson. But, anyway, that's not the issue here... Actually Wit'ch Fire starts out pretty enthralling. After a grim prelude with a grand magic ritual gone awry at the eve of destruction of a whole civilization, we meet young Elena and her brother 500 years later, when their sheltered life is abruptly thrown into uproar. Her family is slaughtered by evil magicians and the siblings have to run for their very lives. The initial action is pretty dire and tense and gets even more dynamic when Er'ril appears, the sole survivor of the afore mentioned ritual, who has wandered the world for centuries - bitter, desillusioned and past any hope for his doomed existance. A first climax of the plot is quickly reached, when the magicians who pursued Elena face Er'ril and his companions, resulting in the destruction of an evil avatar and the kidnapping of Elena's brother Joach by the surviving magician. Until this point, I was like 'Wow, sinister and exciting - I'll love that series.' Alas I was terribly wrong. All of sudden, Clemens starts to add many secondary characters to his tale. Most of the introductions were hurried and pretty ungainly, so that I quickly lost interest to any of these subplots. I rushed through the book just to get to the chapters with Elena and Er'ril, but - oh what a disappointment - here things also turned out quite different than previously anticipated. Instead of taking time of develop Elena, to let her mature to a magic wielding witch who is slowing growing aware of her powers, she manages to handle her magic provebially over night. Also it takes only a few gremlins and a circulatory collapse of her beloved uncle to turn a frightened child to a resolute heroine. Not really plausible. But even worse is the development of Er'ril. Somebody who has lived as long as he did, should be past notions of a greenhorn swordsman, like impatience, misreading situations (i.e. when they first meet the shapechanger wolf, it's Elena who sees the wolf's intentions to help them, not the way more experienced Er'ril). Also I would have expected him to be much stronger in his beliefs: He has lived centuries with the concept that witchcraft is the ultimate evil. It should take more than just pity for a poor frightened child and shy smiles to make Er'ril offer Elena his service as protector and mentor. Ouh, oh, especially that sequence made me cringe: When Er'ril explains Elena that he's actually knows how to train young sorcerers, and that he'd be willing to lend his support to her, the whole scene is so casually described (10 lines), it could also have been the lighting of a cigarette. But that's symbolic for the whole book: It actually lacks depth (even despite the many subplots), most characters are pretty sketchy and Clemens' style itself ranges between trivial and pathetic at best. Overall Wit'ch Fire disappointed me. Of course it holds some interesting ideas, and the concept of linking several individual plots into one grand scheme is ambitious. Especially since the individuals origin from very different cultures, races and even eras. But that isn't new and compared to other contemporary fantasy authors Clemens fares just poorly. Sure, not every debut of fantasy literature can be the second coming of G.R.R Martin, but Wit'ch Fire has too many weaknesses to come even close to a good fantasy novel. For me, the final dices have already been cast for this series: I won't waste time reading any of the other books of this series.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: This book is very well-written and stays fresh nearly all the way through. The other reviewers seem to dislike the way Clemens puts his apostraphes in weird places, I somewhat agree... I find it pretty distracting the way he names things like Ogres, Og'res or Elves, El'vinn. A good read no matter how he spells things though and the plot is cool. Once again the elves are like 20x more powerful than any other race.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing series!!!!
Review: This is one of the best series I have read-it gets better and better as you read each book. Every story, every character has a place in this world, and I was riveted from the first time I opened Wit'ch Fire until I closed Wit'ch Star. Read these books, they are worth it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad; could have been better
Review: To tell the truth I thought it would turn out to be better. The way it opened up was good, but then too many new characters at once started coming in, so that the reader cannot concentrate and get to know one character. Also, many of the characters are not given room to develop because of this, and their backgrounds are unclear. The plot is basically a cliche; bad guy with his monsters against good looking misunderstood heroine with unknown powers and her group of strange adventurers. I liked the fact that the writer focused on the elements and put in creatures like ogres, nymphs and shape-shifters, however here too there wasn`t enough space given to really define each of these. I also liked Elena`s character (the bits I`ve seen of it) and want to read more about her; however I hope that the second book will tell me more about the characters allready there and not just push in more hastily-sketched characters instead. There are a lot of battles which happen in just a few days; which is not very credible; though possible. On the whole it is not bad, but it could have been better if Clemens had explored the characters more, and if he had explored more the relationships of the persons. Oh, another important mistake was that all of the main characters are magical creatures or have magical powers; there are no normal poeple; if there were, they would have helped to emphasize the power of the magical characters. All in all, I think I will buy the second book - I am curious to see if it will be better or have new mistakes :)
Rating: 
Summary: I ha'ted th'is bo'ok
Review: I was willing to give it a chance, and the book started out well. But about a chapter or so in, I wanted to throttle the writer. Pu'tting a'postrop'hes in str'ange pl'aces is n'o subs'titute fo'r cr'eatin'g a ne'w and uni'que worl'd! Wit'ch was bad enough. Then D'warf and og're. It just got to be annoying. It's the same old "generic fantasy" with a western european setting and feel, with the standard fantasy races. The plot differed somewhat from the norm and was mildly enjoyable. But the apostrophes stuck everywhere distracted me and made the book almost unendurable. I finished book 1. But read book 2 and 3? I'd rath'er p'ut ou't m'y o'wn ey'es f'irst.
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