Customer Reviews

The Summoner (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Book 1)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

There is a lack of polish, and definitely the run-on sentences and comma splices are distracting, but not necessarily the author's fault (no copy editor?).

The plot is formulaic, but interesting enough that it kept me reading until the end. It had the potential to be very good. However, I felt that it read a bit like a roleplaying game: Here is your mage, a prince on a quest. Here are your warriors, your rogue, your bard, your cleric.

When Kiara makes her first appearance, you get a nearly-MarySue description of her hair color, the length of the hair, the way her hair moves when released from its bonds, etc. Many of the characters were undeveloped, especially the villians. I did not feel I knew any more about the bad guys by the end of the book than at the beginning. Tris' companions were so secondary and shallow that at times I forgot their names and/or roles.

The vampire element was surprising. As in, it was a complete surprise how they popped up suddenly and unexpectedly.

The first half of the book does not seem so much Tris' adventure as it does completing quests for experience points in something like World of Warcraft. "Collect X amount of stones for a cairn and deliver a silver piece to the farm at the edge of town. Speak to the innkeeper for your reward!"

It struck me as being more on par with a very good fanfiction rather than a published novel. If there had been an already-established backstory, world, enemies, allies, and main characters, the minimalist descriptions and actions of the characters would have been acceptable. I felt the author could have fleshed it out into two or three more books.

Don't get me wrong, I like paint by numbers fantasy. A paperback novel telling the tale of a young hero who must right wrongs and save the kingdom is a great way to kill time on an airplane, commute, or relaxing on the beach. But only if the author is good at it.

The author of 'The Summoner,' Gail Martin, is not very good at it.

Given that this is PbNF, I didn't expect much when I picked it up on a whim recently. I expected the cardstock characters (evil usurper, dark wizard adviser, plucky princess, bardly bard, etc) and Hero's Journey plot checklist. I just didn't expect it to be so... inept.

The book is too long, first of all. We all know where stories like this are going, so why spend so much time messing around? It's not like there's any character development or anything, so it feels like the author's just yanking our chains for a few hundred pages.

Hint: If you're telling a paint by the numbers fantasy story, your page cap is 400. 300 would be better. 600 is fail. I mean, this is a series, right? Save some for book 2.

The characters are cardboard cutouts of cardboard cutouts. If you have seen one fantasy movie, read one fantasy book, or played one game of D&D, you know them all instantly. The only interesting twist, the main character is like the kid form the Sixth Sense and can see ghosts, is reduced to a chore as he spends most his time whining about it.

Hint: If you spend the more of a fight scene describing how your hero is shocked and aghast at killing a dude instead of describing the actual fight, you're doing it wrong.

Hint: People don't like their characters to be willfully stupid. If the captain of the guard can't do anything about suspicious activity surrounding the king, then perhaps he shouldn't be a captain, huh?

The setting is Standard Fantasy. Again, no problems there, but nobody needs the Geography 101 Info Dump or the Intro to Theology course we get once the quest finally gets underway.

Hint: Don't introduce new cultures/faiths by telling us. Show them so as to make them more real for the reader.

Hint: Of course, if your idea of showing involves long descriptions of boring rituals performed by standard Spunky Princess #2 (Now, with cute animal companion!), maybe you should just skip it all together.

Bottom line is, this book would have been much better for what it is if it were half as long and twice as well written. That way reading 'The Summoner' by Gail Martin would be more rewarding and less like trying to eat a bag of marshmallows - too long, too safe, too sickly sweet.

'The Summoner' by Gail Z. Martin sounded fascinating when reading the cover splash and flipping through the first few pages of the book. The book at first seems like a nice retelling, with a few interesting twists, of the classic story starring a dispossessed young prince seeking to overthrow an evil ruler and reclaim his right to rule. However, clichéd plot arcs, bland characters, overuse of certain literary mechanisms, and weak writing turn what could have been an excellent and thrilling story into a mired mess.
The plot seems so enticing when reading the back cover. A young man turned necromancer trying to free his kingdom from the ruthless rule of his wretched brother really does sound intriguing. Usually such stories involved a knight or at least a mage with a less dubious repertoire of spells than a necromancer. Soon into the book though you find this not to be the case. The story reads more like an adventure module for a pen and paper role-playing game than it does a novel. The dialogue in particular seems incredibly weak and you can go on for pages of what amounts to inane drivel that neither works to move the plot forward or develop the characters in any way. The characters themselves seem bland and flat with many of them having fewer qualities than a cardboard cutout. Some of the characters seem to have so much knowledge and background that in the setting seem ridiculous.
I've never read a book before where I actually became frustrated at the use of several terms or literary mechanisms before reading, `The Summoner'. She paints a really quite nice picture of the religious beliefs of this fantasy world early in the book. From then on though, it seems every other word uttered by a person in the book is, "Goddess" this and, "Goddess" that. By the time you get halfway through the book you start replacing the word with other words just for some flavor. I've also never seen heroes that seem less heroic than the heroes in this book. She uses the Deus Ex Machina approach to solve so many situations that the characters seem more lucky than heroic. Random vampires just show up and dole out information whenever it is needed, slavers take stupid shortcuts through haunted woods (that don't even sound like much in the way of shortcuts), people just happen to know random and weird skills and remember them when opportune. So not only are the characters flat and bland, they aren't really heroic either.
In the end, I give this book a two stars out of five. The story has potential and so I'll probably look at the next book of hers when it arrives in stores. However, there are many major flaws with this book that, at least for me, hampered my ability to enjoy the story. If you enjoy clichéd plots with weak characters then by all means give this book a try, but, otherwise I'd move along and find something else to read.

Seriously, this book is miserable. The writing is amateurish, the plotting is... well, non existent, the characters are barely even two dimensional, and the whole thing is rife with so many cliches as to make it nearly unreadable.

Gail Martin's understanding of feudal society, and politics for that matter, is so stunted as to make the 'intrigue' of the book play out as ridiculous. Another thing she can't seem to handle with any success is the numerous characters she tosses in, none of which are distinct enough for them to be told apart with any clarity. Hell, at one point she actually splits the party in half with no more mention than "they disappeared after the fight". Those 'missing' characters are not mentioned again, at all, until many chapters later when the group is reunited. Then we are informed how the characters were worried and tormented by their concern for their missing friends.

Gail? Don't TELL us this stuff. SHOW us.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gail Martin at a book signing last summer, at which time I told her I would read and (hopefully) fairly review her book on Amazon.com. It took a while until I actually got around to reading it, but once I did I found the experience very enjoyable.

THE SUMMONER is a promising beginning to a fantasy series that follows some of the formulas of many works in the genre, yet manages to entertain and occasionally surprise even the most jaded reader. The plot in a nutshell follows the experiences of a prince with a gift for magic as he escapes his evil older brother who has seized control of the kingdom through patricide. The Prince is accompanied by faithful companions who help him, train and teach him in the skills of war craft and the use of his magical talents. Ultimately, it seems, it is the destiny of the prince to dethrone his evil brother, but first he must find sanctuary from the forces seeking him and learn control of his powers.

Okay, to this point it's really nothing we haven't read in dozens of similar novels. The characters were for the most part multidimensional and interesting, if somewhat formulaic: Another prince and another princess, another evil wizard serving (or using) another evil king, throw in some medieval sidekicks like a bard, a professional soldier, a healer and a mercenary and you've just about covered the genre. All you were missing were two kooky robots and a meddlesome but well intentioned house elf.

So why did I enjoy the book? Here's a short list of positives:

1) The pace is very good, there are very few or no wasted scenes. The story moves along briskly, builds and gains momentum.
2) The characters are interesting and likable. I'd like to see more attention paid to the bad guys too. Often, the antagonists are more interesting than the protagonists.
3) The interaction between the living and the dead is very interesting and compelling. Almost everybody sees ghosts occasionally, and "The Summoner" has the ability to commune with them at will. I want to learn more about this type of magic and see how far the author will take it.
4) The undead: There is a sub-set of characters that are, for lack of a better word, vampires! They can be deadly adversaries or powerful allies. I really hope Ms. Martin really explores this aspect of her story more in coming novels.

So, while the story is a bit predictable to this point, I'm really hoping this book is just the first act, setting the scene for unforeseen twists and great adventure. The foundation has been laid for what could potentially be a great fantasy series.

One word on the book itself: the cover artwork is absolutely stunning and the map is beautifully rendered. But as I told the Author, I would have been absolutely PISSED at the publisher for printing the map in such low resolution - it is unreadable! The good news is that there is a printable version of the map on the Author's web site. There are a few distracting inconsistencies between the written text and the map which a good editor might have caught. The editor of this book did not do a stellar job, but the problems are not beyond redemption.

So, a good start to the series. Ms. Martin does not yet rise to the level of George R.R. Martin, but she's certainly as entertaining and compelling as any Robin Hobb books I've read, and miles ahead of R.A. Sal'vatore. She has established a solid foundation on which to build.

Gail Z Martin plunges into previously unthinkable depths of monotony and unfathomable stupidity as this book slogs on through chapter after chapter of gray, flavorless storytelling. Imagine Peewee's playhouse, except without anyone laughing. Oh wait, it's exactly like Peewee's playhouse.
There are several fundamental errors in syntax that are simply unbearable. First, Gail never sees fit to begin a new paragraph as the brainless mutterings of its characters shift from one mind-numblingly cliche character to the next, creating a veritable brick of conversation that is about as easy to digest as a tub of lard.
Second, the use of Deus ex machina is reserved for ancient Greek playwrights or writers of great literature. Not for some poor excuse for Days of Our Lives transposed into a vaguely fantastic setting. The intermittent appearances of the fabled "Lady" (who appears at set intervals to instantaneously set aright everything that the characters have managed to muck up in the last one-hundred pages) is both unbearable and confusing. The "Lady" apparently is also in possession of four "dark aspects" which have yet to make an appearance, but so far seem to be working in concert with the "light aspects." This causes the reader to ask, "what's the point?" frequently enough to discourage active reading, and encourage a good, old-fashioned book burning.
In closing, a murky plot, serendipitous salvations, and characters that are more bland than a stale bag of Munchos all work in concert to create the worst meltdown since Chernobyl. People who find this work enjoyable are probably part of the same group who went to see Titanic because they wondered how it ended.

Prince Martris "Tris" Drayke of Margolan learns what hell really is when his brother, Jared, murders their entire family and seizes the throne. Tris barely escapes and flees with a handful of loyal colleagues. The shock triggers the awakening of memories that his grandmother, the legendary sorceress Bava K'aa, had sealed closed from his conscious mind. Tris has always been able to see and communicate with the ghosts of Margolan year round, even though others could only see them during the annual Feast of the Departed. However, Tris has no idea of the years Bava K'aa had spent training him on the use of his power; power he had no idea he could wield.

Jared's new ruling over Margolan is mainly through fear. To increase his land and power, he is forcing Princess Kiara Sharsequin of Isencroft to wed him. With the years of ruined crops and her father under some sort of wasting spell, Kiara fears she may not be able to stall the ceremony for much longer. After creating one last excuse, Kiara goes upon a Journey by the Sisterhood in hopes of finding a way to cure her father and save her people.

Foor Arontala, a Fireclan mage, is Jared's chief advisor and dark sorcerer. He may be helping Jared claim the throne, but Arontala has his own evil agenda. During the Mage Wars, the Obsidian King's soul had been banished into a Soulcatcher orb by Bava K'aa, due to the major threat he caused to Margolan and the Winter Kingdoms. Arontala intends to release the Obsidian King's soul from the Soulcatcher. But there is more to fear about Arontala than simply the fact that he is a powerful mage, much more.

Tris and his small group trek for a hidden place that may have the vital knowledge he seeks to help him understand and control his newly awakened power. As the group travels for a place that may not even exist, Tris must learn to call on a different set of allies: the ranks of the dead.

***** This is a THICK book, but I never grew bored, not once. Hand-to-hand combat, necromancy, goddesses, good and bad spirits, magical combat, betrayal... I cannot begin to describe all the different elements that the author, Gail Z. Martin, has spun together to create this outstanding tapestry. The book ends in, what I believe to be, the perfect place. When I finished reading the last page and closed the book, I sat for several minutes just thinking it all. I am in awe of this author's talents and have to wonder if she may be a sorceress herself. In a word, "PERFECT!" *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I picked up the first two books of this series at a book signing. I am now writing this from the perspective of having read the entire published series thus far, and I am very impressed of the overall quality and reader engagement of the story--especially for a first-time author. Yes, the first book drags a bit on character exposition and world description, but looking down the road, there was so much groundwork to lay for the overall story that it was necessary (much like Robert Jordan did in the Wheel of Time series). The story really gets moving in the next book and most of the main characters become fully developed. Don't let the review trolls keep you from starting the series as Ms. Martin really hits her stride in book 2 and you'll be reading the next books through non-stop and screaming for the January release of the continuation of the epic. No spoilers, but I found myself becoming very emotionally tied to the plight of each of the main characters. Well done! -Brad

This author is quite good at creating the outline of a story. What she needs to learn however is how to not beat readers over the head with the obvious such as repeatedly stating that the main character has not shared with his friends that he sees ghosts. There is no obvious reason for her to be sharing this information in the way she does until much later in the story. At the time it is a simple annoyance. Too often she is giving unwanted or unneeded information - for instance it would be far better to have the geography covered in brief pieces of dialog rather than to feel that you are sitting in on a boring lecture. On the other side of the coin, she badly neglects story background that would explain much about the characters' behavior in life. In many ways the characters are paper cutouts. This is a bad guy. This is a good guy. The one has no flaws other than not having yet learn how to control his power and the other has no redeaming qualities. He simply rapes, kills and tortures with no explanation of how or why he became so socially unfit other than a hint dropped out of context that his mother was not well behaved and that she died when he was still a child (did his stepmother do nothing to mother him, was he abandoned when his father took a new wife?). Still once I got through the first half of the book, I really did start to enjoy it. Much of it is well written and as I said the story is interesting and easy reading. Hopefully she learns to spend more time editting, cutting and fleshing out before publishing. I will go to the next in the series to see where the story goes and I would like to keep her as an author I follow if she develops more skill.

Despite the bad reviews about this book has got I must admit that I really enjoyed it, now if your are expecting a masterpiece of fantasy fiction then you'll be sorely disappointed, this isn't an Erikson or a G RR Martin, what is is a decent but very enjoyable first book from a novice author, the book has likable characters, plenty of magic and some good battles, overall well worth reading

The books starts with the brutal murder of Prince Martris "Tris" Drayke's whole family by his evil and power hungry brother Jared, who with the aid of the dark sorcerer Foor Arontala rests control of the throne, with luck and skill Tris and a couple of his friends manage to escape his brothers clutches. Tris heads to the country of the Principality to buy himself and army to help him destroy his brother and the evil that Foor Arontala is trying to awaken, but first he has to reach the Principality, while traveling he will fight bandits, kill assassins and escape the forces of the beast men.