Waking amid battle, the warrior Bayne has no recollection of his past, of his life, of himself. Believing the mad emperor-mage Verkanus holds the keys to his past, Bayne pursues the wizard across years and unto a mountain. Here, Bayne must climb to find Verkanus and to find himself, and among the crags are oddities and dangers never witnessed by lesser men.
In part an allegorical tale, the short novel Bayne’s Climb is the first part of The Sword of Bayne trilogy.
It has taken me much longer than I had planned to read through this book but unfortunately, life got in the way of my reading schedule. Nevertheless, I must say that Bayne’s Climb is a fantastic read and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. For all my little gamer friends out there – if you enjoyed the feel of the God of War series (brutal, raw, sword-on-sword combat), Bayne’s Climb would be right up your alley! It’s action-packed and full of blood! Bayne is a force to be reckoned with, he’s on a mission and NOTHING will get in his way! (Ummm, does anyone else hear evil laughter?……)
Bayne’s Climb brings you midway into Bayne’s journey of trying to find out who – or what – he is. Usually what I find when brought into a story at the midway point is that I get frustrated trying to play the “catch-up” game. I have mentioned this in the past in regards to Dean Koontz and how much his writing style irritates me. I can honestly say that I did not experience one iota of that with Mr. Johnston’s writing. Although you are “dropped in” mid-way, there is virtually no catch up time. You don’t feel left behind or confused by the story line. You spend more time in the character’s head than trying to decipher dialogue with other characters and that helps the flow of this particular story.
I was highly impressed with Ty Johnston’s ability to describe a harsh landscape in such a way that even though you know the main character is a genuine monster of a man, you feel horrible for him and what he has to go through to achieve his goal. You also end up feeling a deep sense of compassion for Bayne because although he’s ruthless and fully capable of taking care of himself, there is an undeniable feeling in his head of being lost and alone and I, for one, spent the entire book cheering him on in hopes that after all he’s been through, he would get to unleash his wrath upon Verkanus and make him feel the void that Bayne was left with.
Bayne’s Climb was definitely not my normal style of reading but I loved it. Two big thumbs up and 5 stars! Now, here’s hoping someone in the gaming industry or the movie industry catches wind of this book and brings the page to life!!! I would LOVE to see this on the big screen!! I’m thinking Jason Mamoa in the role of Bayne. *smiles*
Click here to hop over to Amazon and get your copy of Bayne’s Climb by Ty Johnston.
You can also follow the author, Ty Johnston on Twitter @jharmonwriter
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