Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One

I had only read the girl in the box series from Robert Crane. As I wait for the next book to come for the series, I decided to try something else by this author . And I am so glad I did. Wow! He has caught my attention with another great series I’m looking forward to the second and third books which I have downloaded in my medley already. Great job Mr. Crane you are definitely becoming one of my favorite authors. I read continuously every day. So I have read several authors books so being in my top five is saying something. Keep them coming.

I can’t help but love this series. Do you have a show or movie you watch to improve your mood? That’s this series for me. I’m hoping the rest of the series gets published in hardcover because, we’ll, it’s gonna look good in my shelves.

It was a pretty decent book. Quick read.There wasn't much character development, which I didn't like. The storyline does seem a bit unique though, so that's a perk. It was sometimes a little stale in places though. On top of it, the book moved excruciatingly fast and wasn't very detailed for the most part. Life just kind of whizzed by for the characters and I wish there'd been more time actually spent of the story with less action.The action itself is pretty poorly done as well. I like the ingenuity during the second dragon kill though, as that's not something I've seen done in a fantasy novel where the hero has to slay a dragon. Unfortunately, for the most part there's no real description to the action either, which is a big deal when your novel focuses on that action. It was definitely disappointing in this area, but it's not an uncommon or necessarily rare problem. I see it all the time with any book with action sequences. Too often it's sub par.I like how it was a very fantasy oriented book- not just in terms of setting, etc, but also in terms of how it had a more DnD type feel to it. Guild systems, questing, etc. While some have called the magic use questionable and unrealistic, it's actually really not. The concepts of teleportation and resurrection, and the laws under which they operate in the novel are at least on par with the type of fantasy games that I feel this makes an attempt to emulate. To top it off it's realistic as well- unlike others which talk about it as if there are no laws or limitations. It's true to it's genre, at least. I think we've just gotten too cozy with realistic fiction, so this seems foreign to people who didn't grow up with these sorts of spells and systems, or who have never bothered to play a tabletop style RPG let alone a common computer-based MMORPG.One character I thought should have, truthfully, been the actual focus of the book is Vara. Cyrus is an interesting character (though definitely not as interesting as he could be, truthfully), but Vara was the only character in which we really got to see emotion and growth, and I wish it had been her story instead of Cyrus' in all honesty.None the less, it's a decent YA read if you want something quick. I'm actually interested in seeing what the rest of the series is like based on the teaser in the end of the book... Though not too sure if I'm invested enough to actually pick it upFor more of my reviews, see my Goodreads account here: [...]

I first picked up this book because it was free, and because it was by Robert Crane. I had been enthralled by the Girl in the Box series, and decided to give this other one a chance. I have to say that my first impressions were similar to those who complain that it is nothing more than a "D&D Manual", and so forth. Yeah - it starts out like a Tolkien thing, for sure. And no, I wasn't in the mood for that. But, Crane is a great writer, so I decided to at least read the whole first book before deciding to thumbs down it.Good call on my part. Yes, this is a somewhat typical fantasy novel with humans, elves, trolls, titans, gnomes, dwarves, druids, wizards, dark elves, and other less recognizable beings. Lots of magic thrown around, with no real science behind it. So -- typical fantasy novel. But, this is a Crane novel. So, the characters quickly become yours. They become complex and you are driven to find out what happens next.The suspense level is very high in these books (yes- I went on to read them all). The story becomes dense and impossible to predict. Some of the things that happen I foresaw, but, more often than not, I didn't see through characters all that well. It's very well written in that regard.Crane has also written an extra book with spoilers on major characters which shouldn't be read until after Book Four, and he also has begun work on a new series featuring Terian, one of the more complicated and interesting of all the players. I'm wholly invested in this series now, and am glad that I gave it a chance. Usually the mere mention of "Trolls" results in my tossing a book aside. Don't do it with this series. It's a very good one.5 Stars, and you should read all of the books. They're worth it.

Defender: The Sanctuary series Volume 1 seems at the beginning a bit slow, a bit disjointed and frustrating without a storyline to firm why the battles are fought but then all of a sudden it dawns on you as you read on that this is part of the story itself - a defender/ adventurer has a disjointed existence often entering battles for the thrill of it ( and the treasure) their lives more mercenary in nature than not. Once you accept this and move on the book then evolves, pieces come together and an understanding of the true plot starts to reveal itself.The land of Arkaria holds cities of dwarves, elves, humans, trolls, dragons, gnomes, dark elves,gods and their treasures. Within these cities are guilds- groups of adventurers who target the cities treasures and steal these for the good of the guild ( to build the guild up to a more powerful association for its members).Each guild also seems to have an underlying reason for existence.Book one introduces us to Cyrus Davidon a warrior, who after failing to get his own guild (Kings of Reikonos) to any standing joins a larger more powerful guild Sanctuary. The leader of Sanctuary believes in honour and therefore has other reasons for the guild other than adventuring ( he thinks this is a means to an end).The story develops through his first few years in Sanctuary and is full of action, betrayal, and longing...A very good read.

I started reading the Sanctuary when I ran out of the Girl in the Box books to read.The Girl in the Box kept me hooked and I am now waiting for the last two books in the series to come out.As I had found those books to be most enjoyable, I thought that I would give Robert Crane's other series a go.A previous reviewer mentioned that this book feels like a Dungeons and Dragons manual and I agree there is something to be said for the accuracy of that comment. I found this book quite tedious and difficult to get into. There was a very palpable feeling of let down and I found myself wishing that I could return to Sienna and the Girl in the Box.And yet...there was just something enough to keep me going and then to purchase the next book and then again the next one after that.Each book is better than the last and I can now say that I am enjoying the Sanctuary series.In summary, you may find this book a bit of a struggle to read, but rest assured that if you persevere the next books do turn out much better to read. Unfortunately, they do need this book to set the story up, but in fact the pay off is quite acceptable.

I always read the reviews before buying books. In this case the book was free and I had run out of other stuff to read so this was one of 14 books I loaded onto my kindle. I wasn't expecting much.In fact this is a well written and gripping book. The story is told from the point of view of a warrior in a D&D style world. There is nothing wrong with starting from a world with that cast of characters. It is a world that most fantasy readers will know well as most fantasy books seem to include a subset of the same races/abilities/classes. It made a change for an author to be refreshingly honest about his influences and it made me smile when the character was first brought back to life.The story is well worked. There are a number of sub plots, some of which reach fruition within this book and others that are left hanging. Unlike most of the starts to series that I have read for free on my kindle I will purchase the next book (which will be only my second purchase since getting the kindle at christmas - 30+ books reviewed so far).There is enough to this story and this world that I want to go back into it.

At times this read like someone had asked a classroom of teenagers to create a fantasy story. It's almost as if there was so many idea's bubbling around that they burst out in quite random order. There's a lot packed into this and other less inspired writers would have spread this out into more than one book. I suppose it's a bit like a fantasy quest game. There's treasures to collect after fighting all sorts of creatures such as dragons or titans to name just two of them. It has potential to be an imaginative and entertaining series.

I bought this following an Amazon recommendation.I need to preface my comments by saying I'm now reading book 4 in the series and have really enjoyed this world and the characters that the author has created.This first book starts quite poorly and, initially feels like a regurgitation of a Dungeons and :Dragons game. It introduces and explains in fairly short order the classes, their skills and characteristics of that game along with the whole theory of adventuring. For anyone familiar with this (and that maybe by a generational thing)" this jars quite badly. This exposition affects everything in that parts of it come from dialogue from characters which prevented me from engaging with them.One that's out of the way, things start to pick up rapidly and it develops into a cracking read: entertaining, engaging and well paced. The other books get better and better.So, stick with the initial exposition and you're in for a great read.