THE CRYSTAL SKULLS appears to be the first book in the new Revelations Saga by Jan Visser.  A second book is due out this year.

In the dark of the night, a father, flees to his son’s prison chamber to provide the son with some food.  He arrives to find his son dying and eventually succumbs to handing his son a magical crystal, only to have his son show his wickedness—he wasn’t dying at all.  The father falls into a pit, to his death; and the son flees.  The Arrannacks immediately realize that they are in serious danger, as the son/beast has access to the crystals he needs to continue his evil.  Only one of the Arrannacks can stop him, and to do so, he needs the third Crystal Skull.

In the woods, Olik watches a hideous man-beast brutally batter two Kuhndar warriors.  Fearing for his own life, Olik is able to breathe a sigh of relief when the beast flees into the woods.  However, this is only the beginning.  Olik goes to help the warriors, only to find them crushed and lifeless, but he also finds a mysterious glass skull on the ground.  When he picks it up, the glass seems to come alive in his hands.  Olik isn’t sure what to make of the object, but he does know he must tell King Borkas about the creature in the woods.  What Olik doesn’t know is that the crystal he is holding is about to lead him into a fierce quest.  To save his people, he must triumph over evil.

THE CRYSTAL SKULLS is Jan Visser’s debut novel.  If he can make his follow-up just as intriguing as his freshman effort, I know he will be gaining a huge following.  Characters are strong and mesmerizing; the writing is fluid and pulls you into the story from the start; and the adventure will keep any fantasy lover turning the pages.

 The only thing I have never understood with fantasy, why such unusual names.  I find the odd names to be rather distracting as you try to decide how they would be pronounced.  This is a petty complaint, I know, but something that always pops into my head.  For this reason, I quickly noticed that Jan Visser dishes out names that flow off the tongue relatively easily.   I must thank the author for this!  I spent a good twenty minutes reading Harry Potter trying to figure out if Hermoine was pronounced Herm-oyne or what.  I think that is one reason why I shy away from fantasy novels.  But I still am waiting for that day when fantasy characters named Tom, Dick or Harry hit the pages!  What a change of pace that would be!