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Mood: Shocked ]
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Currently: Listening to CBC ]
I love high fantasy. As a teenager I practically memorized the Belgariad and was always looking for the next great story of questing and wizardry. Modern high fantasy has taken a very gritty, but delicious, turn with the likes George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie. But I sometimes still long for a nice, old fashion "young man’s journey into adulthood" high fantasy. So imagine how happy I was to find The Summoner.
Being the Spare is not all it’s cracked up to be, especially when the Heir is a psychotic jerk. This is Tris’s world. He is the second son from the second marriage of the king of Margolan. His older brother, Jared, is bully who is jealous of his brother’s popularity with the people. So when Jared kills their father, the king, Tris knows he needs to flee.
This sets up a breakneck race across the country as Tris tries to make it to a neighbouring kingdom where his uncle is king. Add to this the problem of Tris’s burgeoning necromancy powers. It appears that more than just being able to see dead people, he is actually the magical heir of his late Grandmother, Bava K’aa. This would mean he is a summoner, a mage who is able to ease the transition of the dead to the other side and summon them to do his bidding.
Author Gail Martin has created a solid high fantasy novel that is a bit of a throwback to the works of the 80s, but with just enough grittiness and inventive world building to give it a freshness. Despite it’s size, this novel is a very easy read that will leave you satisfied.