Ceremonia - Shop now
Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
$1.99 with 82 percent savings
Print List Price: $11.18

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Rob Donovan
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Crystal Spear: Book 1 in the Forbidden Weapon Saga (Forbidden Weapons Saga) Kindle Edition

by Rob Donovan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
The Crystal Spear is a weapon so powerful that legends tell of how any warrior that carried it could single-handedly demolish entire armies. It was a story sung by bards across Merindel but nobody truly believed it…until now. When Klayton is told by a mysterious stranger that the Crystal Spear is real and given instructions how to infiltrate the palace at Erisea to find it, he cannot resist the challenge. Naïve? Sure! Foolish? Completely. But Klayton could not have possibly known that his discovery would have deadly consequences and reveal an inexplicable bond to the weapon even the myths are unclear about. Prince Horan had given up trying to impress his father. He has been considered a failure and a disappointment from the moment he could walk. But when the King and Queen are on a diplomatic visit to a neighbouring island and Erisea comes under attack, Horan sees an opportunity to alter the perception of his father by saving the city, without a thought of the long-term consequences of his actions. Finally, there is the Black Shade. The most notorious pirate of the four Isles. The mere mention of his name causes men and women to anxiously glance over their shoulders. The Black Shade has heard rumours that the Crystal Spear is very real and has set his sights on obtaining it. Merindel is about to discover that not all legends are myths, but sometimes it is better if they were.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 1 of 2
    Forbidden Weapons Saga
  2. Print length
    490 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    August 31, 2020
  5. File size
    2.9 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now

Shop this series

 See full series
There are 2 books in this series.
This option includes 2 books.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08DM7QQJ4
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 31, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.9 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 490 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Rob Donovan

Rob Donovan

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Born in Essex, I currently reside in Bromley, Kent (UK) where I live with my wife, three sons (no more!) and a King Charles Spaniel called Scout.

After attaining a degree in Ancient History from Kent University in 2000, I held various jobs before joining the Home Office later the same year.

Currently I am a senior manager, heading up a resourcing and security team by day and writer by lunch!

Officially I am also the Lord of Tattingstone - a square metre of grass in a muddy field north of England.

I began writing seriously 10 years ago and have published seven novels so far, which include "Ritual of the Stones," my first novel in the completed series entitled, "The Ballad of Frindoth." I have also released two novels in the "Forbidden Weapon Saga" and am hard at work on book 3. My latest release is "Mirror" a coming of age novel with a supernatural element.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
10 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • a fan of fantasy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
    Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I dove into this one by happenstance. The writing pulled me in and without giving away any spoilers. The story kept me there. Would recommend and looking forward to book 2.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Lu
    3.0 out of 5 stars A solid dark fantasy
    Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021
    3.5/5

    Any warrior wielding the Crystal Spear can demolish entire armies. Some believe it's a myth, others are deadly serious about it. When Prince Horan unleashes its power, all hell breaks loose. And to think he just wanted to impress his dad.

    Tonally, The Crystal Spear is pretty dark, but it also contains moments of humor, camaraderie, and hope (less and less as we get closer to the end). The POV characters are well written and quite compelling. We get the mischievous Klayton, Horan, a prince who is considered a failure by his father, and the infamous pirate known as Black Shade. We get a few more POVs in the book, and that gets problematic.

    While I liked the characters, I felt the author took too much time introducing them and their circumstances. As a result, it was hard to understand what the story was about until about 40 (ish)% of the ebook version. A tad too long, if you ask me.

    Generally, though, Donovan makes it work. The novel contains genuinely exciting action sequences and intriguing character development. These aspects make up for the occasionally overambitious goals of a story.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Anselm
    5.0 out of 5 stars All your favourite shades of fantasy are here
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    In The Crystal Spear, Rob Donovan delivers a healthy and varied diet of all the beloved staple elements of a fantasy story. It's perhaps by chance that I was well disposed to like the story quite early on because on of the first introduced characters, Klayton, has a bit of a Locke Lamora feel about him (one of my favourite fantasy characters ever). The spread of characters from which we hear the story is clever arranged to give us a broad vista of the well-crafted world without ever feeling contrived. It also provides us with a variety of moral perspectives, which gives the story a believable, multifaceted feel. You have Horan, the reluctant prince and the instigator of the pivotal events. There is Kethra, the young queen who sees things without the political blinkers of the other royals. There is Mireya, apprentice to a mysterious and frightening sorcerer, Volgath. And there is "The Black Shade", a savvy and merciless pirate captain.

    The novel is woven with glib humour as found in the writings of Scott Lynch or Patrick Rothfuss, all in the right places. The world feels authentic, with its own colloquialisms (mostly involving creative references to the Kraken - plus my personal favourite, 'Trout's entrails'). The book also comes with a beautifully illustrated world-map which you don't often see in indie fantasy, which was a really great touch.

    I liked the fact that although at the heart of this book is a mythical, magical weapon, it was more complex than interesting that a quest to simply acquire the weapon. Instead, the weapon is secured and owned right from the start, and it is the USE of the weapon which is, in effect, the inciting incident of the story. The different character arcs seem at first to split off in very different directions, but everything gets very exciting in the last act of the book when you see how all the threads begind to converge. It's actually very striking how every character develops differently as the events unfold and as you see them from other characters' points of view. Donovan clearly understands well that the best conflict or confrontation in fiction is one where the reader can somewhat empathise with the parties on BOTH sides of the disagreement. This was truest when it came to Prince Horan and his father, King Ulnor. For a large part of the book, I wasn't sure which of those two were going to end up with the moral high ground...but suffice to say that I had picked a lane by the end.

    But what I enjoyed most of all was that this was a book containing many different shades of fantasy, from high-seas kraken fights to high-court political intrigue. I would perhaps have liked to see a bit more of Klayton and Laurel, but perhaps I can look forward to Book 2 on that count.

    I also think Donovan deserves some sort of award for managing to work the word "pulchritudinous" into a novel - not once, but twice, and only one of those times sardonically.

    But seriously, I really enjoyed it and I'll be showing up for the next one in the series.
    Report
  • Dd
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I'm always unsure about reading first time authors but was proven wrong with this book. Brilliant read, well written and researched. I'm looking forward to working my way through the rest of the series.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report