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Tuesday 14 February 2017

THE NOVICE (SUMMONER Book 1)


The Novice by Taran Matharu
Book 1 of the Summoner series
Read by Dominic Thorburn
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobookAudiobook


About The Novice:
When blacksmith apprentice Fletcher discovers that he has the ability to summon demons from another world, he travels to Adept Military Academy. There the gifted are trained in the art of summoning. Fletcher is put through grueling training as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire’s war against orcs. He must tread carefully while training alongside children of powerful nobles. The power hungry, those seeking alliances, and the fear of betrayal surround him. Fletcher finds himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with only his demon Ignatius for help.

As the pieces on the board maneuver for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands. The Novice is the first in a trilogy about Fletcher, his demon Ignatius, and the war against the Orcs.
Source: Info in the About The Novice was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22297138-the-novice on 13/02/2017.

Ignatius
My Thoughts:
This book is a very slow start for me. I wanted to read this book because I like the premise. I also like the cover art, it entices me to read, however, once I start reading it I find myself needing breaks from it so I put it down and then pick it up again on a later date. Another contributing factor for this book being a slow start is reading about the bully. I just get so angry that I just have to have a break from it. If I was Fletcher, I would have shot Didric a long time ago... several times... However, once it got going it went relatively quick for me.

This is the first Dominic Thorburn book I've ever listened to and I like the way he reads. I specially like his interpretation of the Orc incantation! However, I don't know why he would give the Dwarves a Scottish accent though...

Ignatius quickly became my favouritest sidekick right from the start. He is the red Salamander with the arrowhead-tipped tail!

I like the story telling quality of this book. Although the genre is very congested with "coming of age" epic fantasies which is what this book is, the author still managed to stand out from the crowd. Kudos to Taran Matharu!

But here is the kicker, it ended with a huge cliffhanger which did not endear this series to me at all!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 2
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 3
Plot = 4
Narration = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Summoner Series
Summoner 0.5: ORIGINSSummoner 0.6: A FINE WELCOME: OTHELLO'S JOURNEYSummoner 1: THE NOVICESummoner 2: THE INQUISITIONSummoner 3: THE BATTLEMAGE

The Author
Taran Matharu
Taran Matharu is a New York Times bestselling author. He was born in London in 1990 and found a passion for reading at a very early age. His love for stories developed into a desire to create his own during early adolescence, beginning his first book at 9 years old.

Straight after graduating with a First Class degree in Business Administration, Taran was keen to explore a new avenue and get inside the publishing world, landing an internship in Digital Sales at Penguin Random House, from June to September 2013.

Thereafter, while taking time off to travel, Taran began to write ‘Summoner’ in November 2013 at the age of 22, taking part in ‘Nanowrimo 2013’.

Thanks to Wattpad.com and updating daily, its popularity dramatically increased, reaching over 3 million reads in less than six months.

After being featured by NBC News, Taran decided to launch his professional writing career and has never looked back.

His SUMMONER series is published by Hodder Children’s (Hachette) in the UK, Australia and Commonwealth, Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan) in the US and Canada, Hachette Jeunesse in France, Heyne in Germany, Planeta in Spain, Crown in Taiwan, Record in Brazil, EKSMO in Russia, Jaguar in Poland, Ecliptic in Bulgaria, Alpress in the Czech Republic, Ithaki in Turkey and Unieboek in the Netherlands.



FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

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