Wizardry: The League of the Crimson Cresent is fine. It is a run-of-the-mill fantasy story where the hero is transported to another world and becomes the prophesized chosen one. The story is fun, but it left me with a handful of questions, some about the plot and one about the branding.
I’ll get into this more later on, but I was confused by this being a Wizardry book. I looked to see if it ties into one of the games but couldn’t find anything. Even looking up the book doesn’t turn up much, which means I’ll have to keep digging.
It is a fun fantasy story that feels like it could’ve led into a series of books but doesn’t. This is a stand-alone novel in the world of the Wizardry games, maybe. Let’s go over the story and talk about some of the questions I have about it.
Story
We start with our main character waking up naked in a cave. His name is Bill, and he has lived a very coddled life in New York. It sounds like he works in New York City, and his parents are dead. None of that matters.
Bill stumbles around the cave for a bit, finds a sword, and is attacked by an Orc when he exits the cave. He realizes he isn’t in his world anymore when he saves a group of Cat People (Felpurs) from a group of Orcs. They lead him to the town, where he learns that Humans are slaves.
At some point in this world, a revolution brought the Unnamed One to power. A Regent rules the city that they’re in. The story takes part in this city.
Bill quickly gets used to the world he is in. He seems driven to do something about what is happening in the city. He frees some human slaves, saves a gladiator from a match, and frees his companions from a torture chamber. Then, he stops being necessary to the story.
It is a little odd, but we switched to the mage Zynaryxx. He seems to be the main character for the book’s last third. He gets more character development than the other people we’ve met in the book.
All of our heroes are from the different races of this world. It ties into a prophecy that a chosen one will appear from a cave and kill the Unnamed One. It turns out that the Regent summoned the Unnamed One, and Zynaryxx was engaged to the Regent at some point.
The Regent also lies about bringing Bill to this world. We don’t know if it is a lie yet, but it gets explained later. This is used as a reason why Bill can’t kill the Regent because creatures summoned from one plane of existence to another cannot kill the person who summoned them. This is why the Unnamed One can’t kill the Regent. It feels a little dumb.
Bill jumps into a black orb to fight the Unnamed One while the rest of the party deals with the Regent. At some point, the city’s citizens breach the castle and join the fight. Bill kills the Unnamed One, and the party kills the Regent. This causes all of the creatures that were summoned to disappear. Because Bill doesn’t disappear, this means the Regent didn’t summon him.
A month went by, and we learned about what was happening in the city. They’ve given up on being able to send Bill home, or that is what I think is said. Bill decides that he wants to stay in this world.
Do we need Bill?
The author tries to explain why Bill is needed in this story. The sword seems to have a mind of its own, giving Bill superpowers. It is said that Bill knows how to use a sword. It is explained that fencing was the only sport he was allowed to participate in.
While explaining that, the reader is also told that Bill has handled other swords. However, the magic sword he finds in a cave sometimes takes over his body. It also seems like it is alive.
For most of the book, Bill isn’t involved with what is happening or listening to boring conversations. He does everything in the first half of the book. But I wonder if anyone could use the sword he found.
It does get explained that he is part of a prophecy. He is the chosen one who is going to defeat the Unnamed One. It has to be a human who kills the Unnamed One, but I’m not sure why it has to be Bill. It sounds like it could’ve been any random human.
Bill quickly adapts to the world he finds himself in. Oddly, he doesn’t question what is going on that much. He quickly becomes a badass but then hides while other parts of the plot take priority.
Bill does two things in this book. He saves some slaves and Corban from a fixed gladiator match. This is all he does on his own. Then, he starts a jailbreak, and Bill participates in what is happening for the rest of the book. He goes from being the main character to being one of the minor characters. We learn more about Zynrayxx than we do about the other characters in the book.
Does Bill need to be from Earth?
No, he doesn’t need to be from Earth. He could’ve been an escaped slave or a traveler from another kingdom. Him being from Earth is a way to explain this world to the reader, but it could’ve been done differently.
Bill, being from Earth, stops mattering after the first few chapters. There is no language barrier for him. He quickly adapts to the world around him and seems happy about not going back home. It makes me wonder about his life on Earth.
We get told about it, but I’m confused about why he isn’t concerned about how people will feel about him being gone. I guess he doesn’t have friends there and must hate his family. His parents are dead, but he has other family members.
I’m probably overthinking all of this, but oddly, he stops being necessary to the story. The character and where he is from stop being important as other characters are given more attention and have more interesting stories. Bill quickly gives up on who he used to be.
Why Wizardry?
I figured this was a novelization of one of the video games. The publisher of this book would release a novel based on an upcoming game, but that isn’t what happened here. I looked up the timeline of Wizardry releases, and this game doesn’t align with them.
This book was released in 1995, Wizardry VII was released in 1992, and Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure was released in 1996. This made me think the book might have something to do with Nemesis.
No, it doesn’t. It has nothing to do with that game. So, I thought, maybe it has something to do with Wizardry VII.
No, it doesn’t. This book doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the mainline Wizardry games. It isn’t a retelling of the first game, either.
So, why is this a Wizardry book? What does it have to do with this series? I shouldn’t be asking these questions about a book that I thought was a fun little story.
The story plays out like the Shadowkeep novel. You have an unlikely hero who rallies the races of a fantasy world to defeat some evil force. Thankfully, there were no Kangaroo people in the Wizardry book.
The answer to this section’s question looks to be lost to time. The publisher, Proteus, was a subsidiary of Prima. They made strategy guides for a while before briefly closing down. Proteus seems to have only lasted a few years under Prima.
After almost 30 years, I’m sure people have forgotten all about the books that Prima published. Maybe I’ll be able to look into the publisher at some point. It is another mystery I can add to the long list of things I want to look into at some point.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun story. It didn’t go in any exciting direction and was a paint-by-numbers, fish-out-of-water fantasy story. It didn’t need to be a Wizardry book, as the connections to the series are tenuous.
It is comparable to the Shadowkeep novel. Both are fun fantasy stories that are easy to read. They are also one-off stories that feel like they could’ve been part of a series of books.
I could only recommend this book if you’re into high fantasy. It doesn’t tie into the Wizardry games and is a generic fantasy tale.