THE NOVICE Review
- Taran Matharu
- May 8, 2016
- 3 min read
The Novice (Summoner #1)
By: Taran Matharu
Published: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Length: 365 pages
ISBN: 125006712X
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Summary (Goodreads):
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.
My Thoughts:
The Novice, is a high-fantasy novel that reminds me of aspects from Harry Potter, Pokemon, and Lord of the Rings, making it a very relatable and captivating story to dive into. I would love to commend Matharu's character development in this story, for its these characters that kept me engaged in the story from start to finish. Our main protagonist Fletcher, was refreshing and enjoyable, for he was admirable in his actions to protect his friends and courageous in his battle for equality. We saw Fletcher's growth from a lowly, unconfident village boy, to a powerful summoner, worthy of a high-ranking official. His relationship with his Salamander demon, Ignatius, was adorable and relatable.
Fletcher's friends such as Othello and Sylva were very interesting, for their circumstances were both very similar and very different from Fletcher's. I enjoyed learning about what it's like to be a dwarf and elf in a place like the academy. However, I wish there was more development on their worlds and their lives before coming to the academy. More insight on Sylva's life and her background would've made her motivations and reasons for being at the academy more clear from the start.
The world building in general needed some improvement, for it felt rushed at times. This world is huge and epic, yet there was so much of the story developing Fletcher (which was very well-done), that the world building was very lacking. At times, I was confused on what certain fantastical terms were referring to. For instance, it took me until the situation with Captain Lovett to figure out what the "ether" was, even though it was mentioned throughout the story. There wasn't very much information on the King and on the history of the wars. The book was pretty short for a high-fantasy novel, so I think a lot more world-building could've made it easier to understand and engage into earlier on in the story.
The demons were perceived as pets, to me, which was a very creative and unique twist. While I liked all the relationships between the demons and their summoners, I had a hard time imagining what these creatures looked like. Even though Marathu had descriptions of them, these are such different and unique characters, that I felt that maybe illustrations or pictures of the demons would've made it easier for me to visualize them. The demonology index at the end of the book was a great reference though!
Overall, the characters were great, and the world building lacked a bit, but it was still a very enjoyable book! I wish the end scenes with the tournament was longer and more intense, for it could've been way more epic. The cliffhanger at the end had me at the edge of my seat wanting more!
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