WIT’CH WAR

Third entry in Clemens's fantasy saga (Wit’ch Storm, 1999, etc.) set in the kingdom of Alasea, where young blood magick-powered wit’ch Elena and the usual array of helpers must recover the lost Blood Diary in order to defeat the world-threatening Dark Lord and his customary evil lieutenant. Ho-hum, though fresh in the detail and lively in the telling. The other piece of news: Clemens has succumbed to Doorstopper Syndrome, wherein plain things (“magic”) become pompous (“magick”), each succeeding volume grows larger (448 pp. to 496 pp. to 560 pp.), and the author, abetted by delinquent editors, heaves literary judgment out the window.