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story identification - Book where wizards learn magic by bonding with crystals that imbue them with powers


I read this book a long time ago, but I'm guessing it was written sometime in either the 80's or early 90's. It was a rather long/large book.



Plot summary: Set in a fantasy land of wizards and magic, some kids (maybe) are recruited to learn magic. In the process they find out that wizards are created by being placed in a crashed spaceship that bonds them with crystals that imbue the powers. One of them is able to bond with many/multiple crystals to become very powerful.



Answer



The books are part of a series written by Janny Wurtz called the Cycle of Fire (a trilogy that contains the novels Stormwarden, Keeper of the Keys and Shadowfane). This was one of the earliest works of hers I ever read and it is also still one of my favorites.




  • It is not technically a fantasy book thought it has the trappings of the fantasy genre. You get this impression because of the iron-age technological level of the human locals and their feudal lifestyles.




  • There are Humans with latent psionic abilities which are synergistically bonded with a local but barely understood alien Sathid crystals which amplify their latent abilities a thousand-fold.





  • These psionic abilities resemble magical powers, so much so, no one in the world remembers how or why these powerful beings came to utilize their abilities or why they exist at all.




  • Adding to the mix are mysterious psychic alien creatures who, if you were a low-tech human, might mistake for magical beasts of incredible ferocity who are slowly taking over the planet.




  • The psychic aliens would have done so except for the efforts of the Stormwarden, who has powers over wind, weather and ice.






- The hidden truth is the humans are survivors of a starship seeking a means of repelling the aliens in a war taking place thousands of light year away who were originally looking for a weapon which would allow humans to resist the alien incursion into Human space.



This series is well worth the effort to find and read.


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