The Novice by Taran Matharu

3.5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!

Synopsis:

Fletcher is an orphan taken in by the blacksmith who found him, poor and mistreated living in an outskirts village. Living in a world where magic earns you a spot in the military, he soon discovers that he too has summoner abilities. Needing desperately to leave his home, he travels to a more populated city where he is taken in by the Vocans Adept Military Academy to be trained to be a battlemage. Here he faces not only the difficulties of learning to use his magic and wield his newly summoned demon, Ignatius, but also the discriminatory remarks and obstacles stacked against the "commoners" in the Academy. Students at this Academy literally fight for the top spot and Fletcher must make allies because he cannot defeat the nobles supremacists on his own.

Initial thoughts:

This is the first book the the Summoner series by Taran Matharu. I was pretty surprised by how much I liked this book. I've heard a few people rave about it, but honestly it has not popped up on my radar more than two or three times? That definitely needs to be changed because this is a pretty darn good book and also I great start to what I think will be an enthralling series. The main character has a good heart and does not suffer from special snowflake syndrome thank goodness. His demon, Ignatius, reminds me of a cute lizard-bat-puppy. The magic system is intricate, but not overtly confusing. The groundwork of the magic is laid down in this book and you can tell it will only expand from here on out. The nobles and supremacists are absolutely despicable making for a pretty satisfying ending. I also live for the friendships that Fletcher makes in this book. There's no romance as far as I can tell in book one, but the amazing friendships make up for it! Any YA can improve with a lovely little bromance. Now, there are parts of this book that killed me on the inside. The beginning for instance was not the best intros I have come across and is probably the biggest reason for me docking a star, but i'll explain more of that in my full review. I also overall think the characters were enjoyable to read, but none had any real development. I liked that Fletcher seemed to grow in his magical capabilities, but still. No one seemed to have any particular flaws or obstacles to overcome. The writing could also use some improvement and consistency. I'm still excited to continue on with The Inquisition, book two! Hopefully I can get my hands on it soon.

Plot:

This book, this series, is seriously a cover buy. The books are GOREGEOUS.

The synopsis on the back of the book gives away maybe the first 10% of this book, where nothing super crazy really happens. I think the first part of this book is where this book had lost a star for me since the summoning of Fletcher’s demon was this super quick and seemingly easy thing (but then later on apparently you are not supposed to be able to do this at a young age, but was also not explained why). AND THEN you have this grumby little bully who just pisses you off every single time he appears on a page because he’s a complete and utter dick for no godsdammed reason other than he’s the richest brat in the village. Goodness, the introduction to this book almost lost me, BUT thank the gods I kept going. It does get better people! Don’t give up.

Onto the good stuff!

I got some good vibes throughout this book. There were some Hogwarts feels with the whole school of magic. Not to mention the Fletcher vs. Tarquin enemy pairing was reminiscent of Harry vs. Malfoy. Then you also get some Tolkien feels with the orcs being the main enemy and the trio of lead characters consists of a human, an elf, and a dwarf. The addition of the demons as the “source”-ish of magic for the humans made for an interesting twist, rather than magic being simply innate within the nobility. For once demons are good! Somewhat, at least the domesticated ones are.

I felt blessed when I realized that Fletcher wasn’t going to be a special snowflake. I mean it seems like he will become one for a good amount of the book thinking "omg, he's got a special rare demon, he's going to be super strong and super skilled." But nope! He is pretty strong, but not over-powered, which is an amazing refresher.

Because he’s not OP, he has to find way to be better, fight better. Man does this boy make some dirty and very smart decisions. “Fight dirty, and go for the face. Gentleman’s rules are for gentleman.” And he was not raised as a gentleman, so he need not fight like one. I was rooting for him the whole time, the whole book for each and every one of his confrontations.

Other than a few quotes, like the aforementioned, the writing in this book is pretty… how do you say… rudimentary? I feel like it needs improvement because the dialogue is not consistent. There were phrases that seemed out of place with the era. Also the common folk seemed to have the same form of speech as the nobles meaning they both spoke as if both parties were educated, but we learn early on that they do not receive the same education if the commoners are educated at all. The narration however read easily and quick. The pacing of the story was to my liking, not too fast, not slow either.

There are some underlying political maneuvers going on and we gets hints at them throughout the book, but politics tend to be an adults game and we are in the POV of a child, so we only get so much information. I hope to experience more political intrigue in the books to come because I think that will add some much needed seriousness and depth to the overall plot.

The main plot is pretty predictable, another reason for me docking down a star, BUT that does not mean it wasn’t enjoyable. I had fun with the whole last 20% of the book. It all happened very very fast and you almost don’t realize the book is ending THEN IT JUST DOES. And at a cliffhanger! Ugh that cliffhanger really really got me. I was NOT expecting that aspect of the ending at all. I can’t even predict what’s going to become of Fletcher now. Neeeeeed the next book!

Characters:

FLETCHER is just so… nice. He has this undying acceptance of all kinds of people. Likely because he was raised to be that way. Again, so so so happy he is OP or the so called chosen one. I wish he had some sort of glaring flaw that needs to be overcome, but there wasn’t. He just didn’t have the character arc or growth or development that I like to see in a protagonist.

IGNATIUS is so DARN CUTE. I can’t say I’m a fan of his name. I was hoping for something cuter, but it is befitting of a salamander. I love that he has a very cool and powerful ability, but I wish it was an ability that a summoner already possesses (because they can produce fire on their own). Still, the fact that he sits on Fletcher’s shoulder the whole time and sleeps and is like a tiny puppy is the BEST.

SYLVA the elf is who I thought might be the love interest, but I guess not? At least not at this point. She is strong willed and smart. You can tell, but some of her decisions just make me laugh. Like WHY.

OTHELLO I love. I was hoping he would’ve stayed angry with the humans a little while longer, maybe take some time to win over to add in some much needed conflict to the story, but still. He made an amazing ally to Fletcher and his golem makes me smile because it’s so caring. I like how the dwarven history also remains pretty true to the original material and we get some glimpses of that when we meet his family.

TARQUIN & ISADORA I wish I could just slap in the face for being so godsdammed despicable. Like seriously how can you nurture such hatred for someone else who is literally the same species as you. How can you also nurture the same hatred for species that are different from you. How is it possible to be so freaking full of yourselves that you don’t even realize how unfounded your though process is. I get it, I get it, it is necessary for the plot. But UGH. I hope they get their asses kicked some more. Or like… become ugly. Or something worse. Or maybe even change their minds and bring about a wonderful character arc.

Overall:

I shall continue onto the sequel! I already have a liking towards this series and I imagine the books can only improve from here, or at least I hope! There's so much potential!

#thenovice #taranmatharu #summonerseries