Rating: 
Summary: An incredible first book! Great characters, great story.
Review: Looking for a fantasy book that you really "can't put down"? What a great find this book is. Ran across it while looking to see if the new George Martin book is out. If you like the first efforts of Martin and Terry Goodkind you'll love this book. It's full of likeable characters, great dialogue, magic, adventure and action. All is not as it might first seem, there's lots of interesting twists in story line and interesting fantasy characters not seen in other efforts. I hope this author stays around for a long while as he gives promise of being one of very few great fantasy writers. Try this one out--I guarantee you you'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: It thrilled me more than my first C. S. Lewis book.
Review: That edgy feeling in your stomach, the concern for the characters, a belief in their cause. This book has it all. I await with baited breath the second edition of the "Banned and the Banished". What is Elena going to do? A frequent reader of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown I was surprised at the fervor of my literary appetite for this fantasy novel. What's next, will I drop X-Files for Babylon 5?
Rating: 
Summary: Welcome to my world!
Review: Hi, my name is James Clemens, and I am about to blatantly promote my first novel, WIT'CH FIRE.Who am I? For those interested, I was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1961, and raised in the Midwest and rural Canada. I am now a veterinarian living in Sacramento, California, and share my home with two Dalmatians, a stray Shepherd, and a love-sick parrot named Igor. Since I was a youngster, I have always been an avid science fiction/fantasy reader. From Tarzan to Barsoom, from Asimof to Zelazny, I read everything I could get my hands on, and like most avid readers, I also dreamed of other worlds. In WIT'CH FIRE, I will take you to one of these worlds and introduce you to Elena Morin'stal, the Wit'ch of Winter's Eyrie. Born during the "black age" of Alasea, a young girl will discover an ancient magick and awaken a slumbering evil. With a fist stained in blood magicks, she will fight to free her lands from the demonic overlords and release her people from five centuries of darkness. It is a distinctly dark tale, and here is what bestselling horror writer, John Saul, said of the novel: "I loved every page of this book. . . A world of magic that¹s never been seen before, with a cast of beings who are so engaging and entrancing that you never want the story to end." Yet, as dark as the tale is, it is also laced with wonder. As one of my favorite fantasy writers, R.A. Salvatore, wrote: "Wit'ch Fire grabs at your heart . . . a brutal and beautiful ride. I can't put the darned book down!" And I hope anyone who enters the lands of Alasea will not want to leave it either.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading
Review: Here is the tale about Elena: a simple country girl whose life takes a sudden turn for the worse when she becomes a woman. She is no longer the daughter of an apple farmer in a quiet valley; now she becomes a Wit'ch, a woman who can wield great power but is feared among her land. Her destiny was forged five centuries earlier when three mages brought their powers together and sacraficed themselves to create the Book, which contains the last powers of the Chi in a land that was to succumb to dark powers. Once Elena became the Wit'ch, the Dark Lord who now rules over her land of Alasea is seeking her power, and she finds herself alone, very confused, and running away from the only home she knew. On her journey to find someone that can help her, she meets up with others who help her battle the Dark Lord's minion: a one-armed man, a half-breed troll, a nymph, and two shapeshifters stuck in their current forms. They work together to keep Elena from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord. I read this book on recommendation from my husband and was pleasantly surprise with it. The book was a bit tough to stick with at the beginning, whether it was the writing style or the focus shifting constantly between characters, but it melded nicely in the end. I did like the fact that the story didn't just focus on Elena but included the stories behind her ragtag friends as well. Clemens did a good job giving life to these supplimental characters with intriguing stories of their own. Yes, there are issues with his writing style, especially all those added apostrophes, but I think that it was worth working through since the story had a nice plot and good character development.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best fantasy series yet
Review: I LOVED this series. I love all of the characters. The plot, though it remindes me of the lord of the rings, is fast paced and captivating. I couldn't read fast enough, I never put the books down. I can't express how much I loved these books.
One warning, make sure you have the next book in the series with you because each book ends (though neatly tied up) with you begging for more.
Rating:
Summary: Go'od Read
Review: I'm an avid reader, and usually buy all the books in a series I can find. I have to say that the series as a whole was very good and quite enjoyable. The first book seemed very close in themes to the Stephen Donaldson "Thomas Covenant" series, but soon diverged into areas that were original and unpredictable. The only annoying thing as already mentioned was the punctuation. Like other reviewers, I found myself staring at the punctuated words, repeating in my mind the phoenetics of the word instead of reading steadily.
Rating:
Summary: A well-rounded fantasy novel
Review: The first book in the Banned and the Banished series, Wit'ch Fire starts off strong. With twists and turns that never let up (some more easily guessed in advance than others) it captures your attention. James Clemens is an easy writer to read, with a good mix of action and description.
You begin to care for his characters early on. The plot is fast paced enough to keep an action movie fan entertained, but complicated enough to satisfy a discerning reader.
He gives you just enough in this first book to make you want to rush out and buy the second. But he doesn't leave you hanging in such a way that is overly frustrating as some authors are wont to do when writing a series.
His world is fleshed out nicely and the reader isn't spoken down to or told about the workings of the culture, you are merely immersed in it. Knowledge is revealed through the story, which is my personal preference.
Although the story is complicated, with characters being introduced up to the last chapter, you never feel as though you are being left behind or missing something important.
Yes, there are quite a few cliches as other reviewers have mentioned. But I didn't find them overly tiresome, and felt the story was not diminished by their use. Someone who regularly reads fantasy (as I do not) might have a different opinion.
This book is one of the better examples of fantasy fiction that I have read.
Rating: 
Summary: Average Fantasy Novel
Review: With Robert Jordan giving the novel accolades, I was not surprised when I read the book and realized it was only an average fantasy novel. Don't get me wrong, Robert Jordan isn't a bad author (nor is Clemens), but let's be realistic... Jordan deals in cliches and so does Clemens.
The book isn't bad by any means... but it isn't anything above normal or average. The story is just like any other story. One lone (person) has been born in prophesy to kill the evil overlord. (Person) joins up with other people driven by fate and prophesy to journey towards the evil overlord. Meanwhile, evil overlord sends bad guys to kill (person). Cookie. Cutter.
The story's only reedeming factor is that the author does come up with unusual bad guys that seem like they belong more in a horror book than a fantasy book. The ill'guard's deep and dark secrets are worth reading the book for.
Otherwise, it's really just an average book. I'd borrow this one from the library.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't touch this if you aren't twelve years old.
Review: I got this book as a Christmas present, several years ago. When I finally got around to reading it, I was probably fourteen or fifteen. Even at that age, it came off as a children's book.
By no stretch of imagination is this book worth reading. it's very poorly written, and more often than not, you're left wondering how the writer thought he could pull some parts of the novel off.
I'll admit, I didn't even finish this book. It was slow torture. I could stomach the parts about Elena, but when I got to the story about the Ogre, and the one about the shapeshifter... I mean, it isn't that it was too outlandish for me: I love a good fantasy story.
This just isn't one.
Run away and don't look back.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading
Review: Here is the tale about Elena: a simple country girl whose life takes a sudden turn for the worse when she becomes a woman. She is no longer the daughter of an apple farmer in a quiet valley; now she becomes a Wit'ch, a woman who can wield great power but is feared among her land. Her destiny was forged five centuries earlier when three mages brought their powers together and sacraficed themselves to create the Book, which contains the last powers of the Chi in a land that was to succumb to dark powers. Once Elena became the Wit'ch, the Dark Lord who now rules over her land of Alasea is seeking her power, and she finds herself alone, very confused, and running away from the only home she knew. On her journey to find someone that can help her, she meets up with others who help her battle the Dark Lord's minion: a one-armed man, a half-breed troll, a nymph, and two shapeshifters stuck in their current forms. They work together to keep Elena from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord. I read this book on recommendation from my husband and was pleasantly surprise with it. The book was a bit tough to stick with at the beginning, whether it was the writing style or the focus shifting constantly between characters, but it melded nicely in the end. I did like the fact that the story didn't just focus on Elena but included the stories behind her ragtag friends as well. Clemens did a good job giving life to these supplimental characters with intriguing stories of their own. Yes, there are issues with his writing style, especially all those added apostrophes, but I think that it was worth working through since the story had a nice plot and good character development.
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