Sanctuary Series Review

J A Myers
Aug 1, 2017
3 min read

Hi all,

I did a small quick review of this on my Facebook page, but if you are intrigued about the first three books in the series then read on..! There may be a few spoilers, so just be careful, I do like to charge on when I get excited. And I can say for certain, these books got me excited.

Book 1- Defender

Book 2- Avenger

Book 3- Champion

The series is 8 books in all. They are an Epic Fantasy Series, which definitely deserves to be read all the way through! I certainly shall be!

So, the books follow Cyrus who is a human adventurer, on quests to better himself as a soldier and as a person. There are twists and turns, such action I didn't want to put my phone down. I read this at an alarming rate, as soon as I started it was ten or twelve chapters on before I thought I best go to bed, to actually get some food. Although they are big books, I can get a little bit anxious about reading them in physical form, so having them on my phone was so much better for me.

I got the first three books in a trilogy on Amazon, they were suggested to me by following my previous bought books and when I was browsing around. All three start in the most intriguing way, the hook at the start is the very first page. When a book started with NOW and then a prologue, you know you are in for a treat!

From the very beginning, the pacing is spot on, it immediately draws you in with action, you don't even know who the character is, only they are male and they are riding a horse. I was instantly there with him, I felt a sudden anxiety about the character, about the place her was in. After the prologue, it gives you a map, (which might be different in the physical form) but then.... it jumps beck EIGHT YEARS! I am a sucker for build-up, after seeing the fall out of some major event, I didn't turn the page immediately hoping for a flashback, instead of it just carrying out. This made me incredibly happy. So the rest of the book you are reading knowing that something bad is going to happen, but Robert. J. Crane does not disappoint when he says "facing great battles against magical and fantastical foes". The amount of research gone into creating these creatures is incredible, although, at the beginning, I did get a little lost on the names and who people were. There are a lot of characters to remember, the description about the characters is very well done for me because I prefer to be led slowly into who they are and what they look like, it means I can keep track of things.

The books carry on through this style in all three, they slowly introduce new characters. Even the description is fast moving, you don’t get stuck on two or three pages of things not happening. But even when the characters are sitting down there are still things happening in the dialogue, there is never a silence. The writer has managed to make the narrative almost conversational, it is in the third person and still manages to keep the characters thoughts in, without the narrative just telling you something and the reader not really believing the character because they can't see it. Show don't tell is an important asset to every writer. There are different styles of writing ad different styles readers prefer, I like to know my information slowly rather than straight away. It draws the reader in to know more, almost like bread crumbs, rather than being given the whole loaf straight away.

Although, since doing my Creative Writing Course in University, I have now begun to edit things while I am reading them when it wasn’t even me who wrote them! But I did find a few personal issues I thought could have been handled better. Occasionally the sentence structure is very strange and doesn’t quite make sense. The words were all there, just in an odd order and I needed a moment or two to grasp. I believe this happens when the writer is passionate and excited about their writing. It could also be the way I have read it.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about the book, I have already suggested the books to another family member, and is enjoying them immensely. I shall be buying the next 5, possible physical copies (If I have room on my shelves!)