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Reviewed by Debbie Walker
Prince Martris Drayke sees his entire family murdered by his older brother Jared and barely escapes with is own life with the help of a few trusted friends. Tris has a small talent for seeing ghosts and receives their advice during his escape. On his journey he gathers others to help him and finds his powers are more than he originally thought. In fact, he’s the mage heir to his Grandmother, the Winter Kingdom’s last Summoner, trained as a child and then taught to forget for his own protection. While the new King Jared wreaks havoc on the people of Margolan, Tris meets up with Princess Kiara, escaping her betrothal to that same King. Battling bandits, slavers, and mystical beasts, he and his small band finally reach relative safety at the magically hidden Westmarch Library. It’s here that the entire group continues the training they will need to defeat King Jared and his evil sorcerer Foor Arontala.
Although a bit clunky at times, this book is fairly well written. Even though it is over 600 pages, this book feels more like an appetizer than a stand-alone book within a series. I am interested enough in the adventure to read the next installments when they become available, but I wish I had the whole series at once. The story felt spread too far across so large a book, and will be a little hard to remember all the details until the next book comes out.
Book Two in the series, The Blood King, is due out in February 2008, and there’s a video trailer available for the sequel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BaaGqiXqiE
Debbie Walker
The Summoner, by Gail Z. Martin
Book One of the Chronicles of the Necromancer
Published by: Solaris (January 30, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1844164683
ISBN-13: 978-1844164684
Genre: Fantasy
