The Summoned Ones: Book 1 Flight to Bericea is a 2020 young adult fantasy novel by Darryl A. Woods. It was published in February 2020 by Bresford Ridge Publishing and is the first novel in the series. I was provided with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The novel follows a group of college-aged friends from a small Kentucky town. While exploring Daniel Boone National Forest, they find themselves somehow brought into a strange, chaotic world. To the residents of this magical world, they are the Summoned Ones, prophesized beings who will aid Bericea in its time of greatest need. Over the past 9 years, Zybaro, the leader of a small band of unknowns, has evolved from his days as a minor usurper of a tiny kingdom. Now, almost the entire country of Malabrim is under Zybaro's control, and his army looks to challenge Bericea's army. Still, Bericea continues its raids into Malabrim, hoping to stem Zybaro's methodical progress and thwart his tyrannical means of control. Zybaro has seized village after village, forcing anyone capable of joining his army and enslaving all who remained in deplorable working conditions to supply his army. This latest conflict with Zybaro pushes General Darnon to a decision, one he had resisted making for over a year. Though he still held grave reservations about the Prophecies, he was willing to support the clerics who would attempt the summoning behind enemy lines. On the perilous journey back to Bericea, the Summoned Ones will discover many truths about themselves and experience a world beyond their imaginations.
To start off this review, I want to say that I enjoyed the world of The Summoned Ones. Woods created a dynamic world, which is reminiscent of other fantasy worlds, such as Middle Earth or Narnia, but is unique in and of itself. The prologue alone gives a great deal of information about the basics of Bericea and more detail is shown as the story progresses and as the Summoned Ones start to see more of it. The aspect of the world that I found the most fascinating and the most unique was the magic system. As far as I can remember, this is the first book I've read where the magic system was tied to music, which was refreshing and unexpected. Additionally, the level of detail put into creating the atmosphere of this story is commendable. Without using language that is too flowery or descriptive, Woods created a world that I could picture as I was reading. I was able to get immersed into the story easily and it kept my attention.
Another aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was the ages of the protagonists, which I know might sound a bit odd. I refer to these types of stories as "portal stories", meaning stories in which the main characters end up in another world or time period by falling through a portal of some kind or a similar event happening. In most books I've read with this plot device, the characters are either children, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, or fully-fledged adults. A good deal of fantasy in general has characters that are either high school aged or adults in their late 20s or 30s. There aren't many fantasy novels, at least that I've read, with protagonists who are college-aged. It was refreshing to see characters in that age range, and well-written ones at that. Of the eight Summoned Ones, all eight had one trait or another that reminded me of someone that I knew. Their behavior and the way they responded to this strange new world made sense both in the context of their backstories and the world they left at the beginning of the story. I can't accurately delve into each character without having this review be far too long, but I really enjoyed these characters and their dynamics. The dynamics between the Kentuckian college students and the soldiers they meet along their journey was fascinating as well, since each character develops their own friendships and connections along the way with the citizens of this strange world.
Now, I'm going to dive into some of the less story-oriented, and more structural topics related to The Summoned Ones. First, let's discuss the pacing of the story. Maybe I'm weird, but pacing is very big deal for me in literature. The pacing for this novel is a bit slow at first, as the characters are introduced and the plot is being set into motion. As expected, once the Summoned Ones find themselves in Bericea, the story starts to gain momentum. The pacing of individual scenes is well-executed as well. The fighting scenes are fast-paced and exciting, while scenes that focus more on exposition are more relaxed and less intense. I enjoyed the split perspective as well. The Summoned Ones are separated into three groups shortly after arriving in Bericea, so each group ends up on the different journeys to the same destination. Not only does this allow the reader to see more of the world, but the effects of Bericea's fight against Zybaro's forces can be seen on different levels and to different extents. I feel like this novel ended at the exact right moment. As mentioned above, this is the first novel in a series. The Summoned Ones ends when one stage of the characters' journey is over and another is about to begin, which is perfect from a story-telling perspective and the epilogue made me excited for the next installment.
While I did enjoy the novel as a whole, there were a few things I wasn't a fan of while reading. My biggest complaint would be a frustration at how quickly the Summoned Ones are able to master their abilities. None of them face much of challenge, either when learning the magic system or learning more mundane skills they need. It felt like they went from amateurs to experts after only one or two attempts at something. It felt like things were made to be too easy for them, which irked me a little bit. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the story starts off slowly as characters are being introduced and it did feel like that part of the book was longer than it needed to be.
Overall, I enjoyed The Summoned Ones. It was a refreshing, well-written novel with an interesting and engaging story. The world created in the story reminded me of some of my favorite works. While by no means perfect, the novel is overall pretty great. I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the next book in the series to find out what happens next.
Rating: 3.9 Stars
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