The Summoned Ones

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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April Wrap-Up

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April was a very good month for me. I was able to get a ton of reading done and discovered the works of plenty of new authors. I've compiled a list of all the books I read throughout the month.

Books I Read and Reviewed

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman- 2.9 Stars

Ubiety by Grzegorz Kunowski- 2.3 Stars

After Alice by Gregory Maguire- 1.7 Stars

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith- 3.7 Stars

Books I Read, Only Reviewed on Goodreads

American Crumble by Lawrence Jay Switzer- 4 Stars (Goodreads review here)

Green Arrow: Year One* by Andy Diggle- 4 Stars

The Girl of Hawthorne and Glass* by Adan Jerreat-Poole- 4 Stars (Goodreads review here)

The Redwood Con by Reagan Keeter- 3 Stars (Goodreads review here)

Wonder Woman Vol 2: Year One* by Greg Rucka- 4 Stars

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman- 4 Stars

Injustice: Gods Among Us, Year One* by Tom Taylor- 4 Stars

Injustice: Gods Among Us, Year Two, Vol* 1 by Tom Taylor- 4 Stars

Injustice: Gods Among Us, Year Two, Vol 2* by Tom Taylor- 4 Stars

Deep Space by Milo James Fowler - 3 Stars (Goodreads review here)

Genres Read

Comic Book/Graphic Novel: 5

Fantasy: 3

Science Fiction: 1

Thriller: 2

Literary Fiction: 2

Mythology: 1

Figures

Number of DNFs: 0

Total Books Read: 14

Pages Read: 2,801

Average Rating: 3.47 Stars

What did you read in April? Any recommendations?

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The Vine Witch

The Vine Witch is a 2019 historical fantasy by Luanne G. Smith. It was published by 47North. The stroy takes place in turn-of-the-century France. I discovered the novel while browsing Kindle Unlimited one day.

The novel tells the story of a woman named Elena who is a vine witch, witches whose spells have created world-renowned wines for centuries. After breaking a spell that she'd been under for years, Elena returns to the vineyards at Château Renard, the only home she's ever known, only to find that it has fallen upon hard time in her absence. While Elena struggles to regain her former life, she plans her revenge on the witch who cursed her and the lover who wronged her.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this novel is the magic system. I initially decided to read this book because I was curious about how the author would entwine magic and wine-making in the narrative. Smith not only explained how magic can be used to improve wine-making, but also how it can be used for sabotaged. One of the reasons Elena's beloved vineyard has fallen upon hard times while she was cursed is because another witch has placed a hex on the vineyard, resulting in a series of bad vintages by the winemakers. Vine witches aren't the only type of witches in this story, either. There are witches who specialize in poisons, witches who are experts in healing arts, and plenty of other magical disciplines. I enjoyed the variety of magical abilities on display in the story.

Smith's writing is very vivid, which works in this story's favor. As I was reading, I could practically see the rural landscape. I could taste the wine being described by the narrative. I also enjoyed the pacing of this novel. It is a little slow in the beginning, but the plot escalates in a way that makes sense but also doesn't feel rushed. The story builds up tension appropriately, and while the conclusion felt a little cliche, I didn't have any major complaints about how the story was resolved. One thing that I was surprised by was the revelation of who cursed Elena and turned her into a toad, the curse she breaks at the beginning of the novel. That revelation was one of the few plot elements that genuinely surprised me.

While I liked Smith's overall writing style, and the magic system she created, there were a few things I didn't enjoy about The Vine Witch. The biggest complaint I have is the lack of characterization. Most of the characters fell flat with me, including some of the main characters. They didn't really have much depth to them. The reader wasn't given enough of a reason to hate Bastien, Elena's former fiance who she believes cursed her, other than the fact that she does. He's a shrewd businessman who wants to grow his business, and that fact, combined with her suspicions of him, is supposed to be enough for the reader to want him to fail and suffer. This book also has quite a bit of filler, which I normally wouldn't have a problem with, but this isn't a long book and having as much filler as it does works against its favor. Lastly, there is the romance, which I wasn't a fan of. There isn't enough shown of the developing relationship between Elena and Jean-Paul, so it felt a bit rushed. I also didn't think they had much chemistry. Overall, the romance felt like it existed to tick off a box on a list and not because it was necessary to the story. 

The Vine Witch is a book that I would call average. I don't think it's a groundbreaking, amazing novel, but it isn't terrible either. It lags in places, and is a little boring, but the story overall is sound and well-crafted. It fits into a category that I call "beach reads", which are books that are quick, easy reads that keeps the reader engaged without being overly deep or memorable. The book is enjoyable, but it wasn't a favorite of mine.

Rating: 3.7 Stars

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Info Dump Bookish Tag

I was tagged by Books And Chocoholic to do this tag last week, which she created. Her original video can be found here. It took me longer than I expected to be able to sit down and The purpose of this tag is to just info dump all of your reading preferences. Anyway, now let's get into the tag.

1) How many books on average do you read per month?

I normally read around 10 books for month. April is turning out to be a very good month, as I've already read 13 books so far. In all fairness, some of those books are short or graphic novels.

2) How many books are on your TBR?

Around 40 books are on my TBR, but I don't know the exact number because I add books and remove books almost daily. I also don't like thinking about how long that list is getting.

3) How are your books organized on your shelves?

I don't. I keep series together and my comic books/graphic novels are together, but beyond that, I don't have a rhyme or reason in how books are placed on the shelves. I know some people organize by author or by genre, but I'm not that organized, so books end up wherever there's space on the shelf.

4) Which genres do you read the most from?

I read a lot of fantasy, especially epic fantasy. I also read a great deal of science fiction. Surprisingly, there are also a lot of general/literary fiction books I've read so far in 2020, or at least more than I thought I'd read. I'm hoping to read a little bit more non-fiction this year, as well as try to get back into thrillers

5) Which genres do you own the most of?

Fantasy and science fiction, definitely.

6) What is your preferred form of reading (physical books, e-books, etc)?

I read mostly physical books, but I've started reading more e-books recently. Audiobooks are just not really my thing, unfortunately.

7) Who is your most owned author?

Tolkien, hands down. There are so many Lord of the Rings-related books in my house, it's not even funny. The runner-up would be Kiersten White.

8) Describe your favorite writing style.

I like writing that is appropriately descriptive, which may sound weird at first glance, but let me explain. If the author is describing another planet or a different dimension or magical realm, they should be using more detail than if they're describing something more mundane, like anything in "our" world. I prefer 3rd person, but I don't have a problem with writing in 1st person. I'm not a big fan of flowery dialogue or when an author uses overly complicated words to "enhance" the writing.  I don't know if this fits under here, but pacing is a big thing for me as well. I dislike it when a book spends 300 pages building to a confrontation that lasts half a page.

9) Which literary devices do you like/dislike?

I love well-executed instances of foreshadowing. My favorite books tend to be the ones where I'm surprised by a turn of events, but it doesn't seem to be coming out of nowhere. I'm a big fan of symbolism as well, especially in fantasy. I'm not a huge fan of split timelines. I also have issues with stream of consciousness writing.

10) Which character archetypes do you enjoy?

This probably isn't groundbreaking or unique, but I loved flawed characters. Snarky characters, anti-heroes, characters that are complicated. I'm also a huge fan of pure evil villains. Someone who just wants to take over the world, or whatever. I don't need a tragic backstory, and depending on the genre, I don't want a backstory, or a villain who is evil only because they oppose the heroes or may have a point.

11) Which are your favorite book settings?

I like books that take place in other worlds or on other planets, pretty much as far from reality as possible. Historical settings for fantasy are also a big hit with me. I don't have anything against modern settings or urban fantasy, but they're just not my favorite.

12) Which are your favorite romantic and plot tropes?

I don't really have a favorite romantic trope, just a few that I heavily dislike, such as instalove, love triangles and couples that keep getting together and breaking up. If I had to pick one, I'd say my favorites tropes are strangers-to-lovers or second-loves. It honestly takes a lot for me to care about romance in the books that I read. As for plot tropes, I love the "found family" trope. I'm a sucker for strong friendships/the power of friendship. Also, I don't know the agreed-upon term for this trope, but I love it when there is a prophecy and it's fulfilled in an unexpected way, usually involving either vague wording or "the chosen one" not actually being the chosen one.


And that's the tag! Now, it's time for me to do some tagging of my own. I tag:

Leah's Books & Cooks

Caffeinated Fae

Behind the Pages

And anyone else who wants to give this tag a try!

After Alice

After Alice is a 2015 fantasy novel by Gregory Maguire. It was published by William Morrow in October 2015. The novel is a retelling of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The novel follows Ada, Alice's friend, who arrives a moment too late to prevent Alice from going down the rabbit hole and ends up taking a trip to Wonderland herself. Ada traverses Wonderland to try and bring her friend home. Meanwhile, Ada's governess Miss and Alice's sister Lydia search for the missing girls.

While I wanted to enjoy this story, I feel like Maguire chose to put the wrong amount of emphasis on certain parts of this novel. I can't speak for anyone else, but when I read the blurb on the back of this book, I was expecting a story about a new character traveling through Wonderland and getting to experience it for the first time. Perhaps the reader would get to see new parts of Wonderland that weren't mention, or were barely touched upon, in Carroll's original story. Unfortunately, that isn't what happens in this novel. Over half of the novel focuses on events happening in Victorian England as opposed to Wonderland itself. Ada's governess Miss Armstrong searches for Ada while Lydia is more concerned with learning about the visitor, Mr. Winter, than her missing sister. There is also a section of Lydia's story where discussions about slavery and evolution occur. While slavery was still happening in America when Alice in Wonderland is set, and Charles Darwin is a character in this story, around the time he released The Origin of Species, these topics felt out of place with the rest of the story. The commentary on those topics were almost completely unnecessary and distracted from the story Maguire set out to tell. While some may have wondered what happened in England while Alice was in Wonderland, the chapters taking place in Victorian England really slowed the story down and distracted from the parts of the story I wanted to read most.

The chapters of the story that did not focus on life in Victorian London took place in Wonderland. Sadly, Ada's adventure through Wonderland was far less entertaining and exciting as Alice's. For the majority of Ada's adventure in Wonderland, she's simply trying to find Alice and has no adventures for herself. She often arrives just after an iconic scene from Alice in Wonderland has ended, missing all of the excitement and most of the wonder. For example, she arrives at the Mad Hatter's tea party after Alice has already left. Ada could've had her own adventure, but instead spends page after page chasing after Alice and not being able to truly experience Wonderland. Due to a combination of too much emphasis on Victorian England, and no excitement in the Wonderland chapters, I found After Alice to be rather boring.

I chose to read this book because I loved Maguire's more famous work, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I was amazed by the character work and character development he created in that story.He turned a character who was seen as pure evil, the Wicked Witch, and gave her personality and complex motivations. I was expecting the same to happen in After Alice, but sadly we don't get that. While there are a plethora of characters, none are fully-fleshed out. Lydia is a stereotypical self-involved teenager and Ada's most notable character trait is a dislike for her governess and the fact that she's awkward. The characters aren't really characters, and thus there's no character growth or real character arcs that take place. It's difficult for me to read a novel where I don't connect, or even like, a single character, and that's what happened here.

While I wasn't a fan of this book overall, there were some things that I enjoyed. Maguire's writing style has always enraptured me. He excels at writing his descriptions and creating a clear, vivid picture of the world for the reader. In the case of After Alice, he took great pains to try and replicate Lewis Carroll's clever writing, and in places, he achieves that goal. He gets closer than most Alice-inspired works do at capturing Carroll's voice, and while I didn't enjoy the plot overall, his ability to imitate the original work kept me closing the book and giving up.

Overall, I have to say that After Alice simply wasn't the novel for me. The writing is amazing, but the plot and character-work left me feeling unfulfilled. My main issues with the novel stem from one factor: the story is incredibly boring. There's no wonder in Wonderland and while the blurb promises a new story, the promise goes unfulfilled.

Rating: 1.7 Stars

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