Summoner: The Inquisition: Book 2

‘O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in’t.’ (Shakespeare ‘The Tempest” V:1; 182-4) ‘The Inquisition’ is the sequel to ‘The Novice’, Book 1 of ‘The Summoner’ series. The cliff-hanger at the end of Book 1 left Fletcher, after a successful year at Vocans, the school for Demonology, i suddenly confronted by his past flight life which started his adventures. Book 2 starts one year later, when Fletcher has been largely rotting in prison while the world marched on. Indeed, no longer is punishment restricted by the security of a school’s Rule Book: now anything can happen in an adult world containing lifelong enemies.Perhaps, there are two problems with this book, each demanding an immediate in command of language and appreciation of a wider world and its challenges.Firstly, in the nature of the plot changes. Suddenly the subject matter is but a pawn in a political and social system in which, to quote Shakespeare again:’ one may smile, and smile, and be a villain’ ‘Hamlet’ 1:5;128. Riches appear to decide what anyone expects (and gets) in life. Would that explain the scarcely credible rapid rise in social status of Fletcher; however, this transfiguration is essential to move the story on and beyond the restraints of Book 1. So, for the reader it’s a jump perhaps – and, with war being, confrontation with the nastier side of life.Secondly, the circumference of the book expands from backwater Pelt and education at Vocans to that of a vastly extended variety of creatures and lifestyles. In Hominum different kinds of creatures (e.g.213-4) manage to exist together (albeit with hostility - but not as just jibes stemming from ignorance as in Book 1) Differing settings (jungle and pyramid interior to name but two) and a complex combination of demons and spells challenge the reader’s imagination. Contrast the outburst of Miranda quoted as a title above and what sometimes the reader encounters. Must that produce a negative result? Not necessarily: problem solving may lead to failure (the reader abandoning ‘The Summoner’) or add to the richness that awaits any reader in the diversity of world literature.Even so, the highly readable style continues and is punctuated by cliff-hangers (Pages 9 & 407 are but two examples). The language level appears to rise – especially for some of the descriptions as here:‘Fletcher examined the creature. It looked somewhat like a gremlin, for it had the same droopy, triangular ears, elongated nose and bulbous eyes. The fingers were long and nimble like a gremlin’s too, with a similar, if less exaggerated hunch. It even wore a loincloth of the same design’. (130)Is there more to be appreciated in this book? Matharu only occasionally switches between plot-lines; so the reader, comfortably settled into a story-line A-B-C-D-E suddenly finds that it’s really A-B-C-A2-B2-D and so on. Tolkien uses that technique in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Book 3; but the individual storylines are so long that it’s like reading two books. Thriller writers (e.g. Jeffery Deaver) will switch storylines after about a dozen pages – and often BEFORE the cliff-hanger appears. Matharu’s ‘concentrated’ plot-line helps a reader already facing an overload of detail. Here the author doesn’t rise / fall to the technique of teasing the reader by introducing MISLEADING plot lines or - does he do that regarding the ‘traitor’ trying to murder Fletcher?Inevitably, there are similarities with other works of Fantasy – so is the Inquisition like the Magisterium in ‘His Dark Materials’? Not quite. The Magisterium ‘protects’ the world from any knowledge of other worlds which would undermine essential belief. Strangely, the Medieval Inquisition persecuted heresy as undermining the SOCIAL order as well as religious belief: but the Inquisition here convicts Fletcher of TREASON, an offence against the POLITICAL government. Is the rivalry among the nobles present here heading for the wars making up ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ by George R.R. Martin (better known as ‘Game of Thrones’)? Perhaps that change is prevented by the continuous struggles against the external threat to ‘civilisation’. The inhabitants of Tolkien’s Middle Earth are more physically separated than the Dwarves, Elves and Humans in this book. The Orcs appear ‘beyond the Pale’ and only the goblins, like Tolkien’s Uruk-hai are an ‘unnatural’ form of life (see the above quotation). Note ‘similar’ doesn’t mean ‘same.One of the major successes of the book is the physical description of demons or just strange species. Here’s one example: The creature looked a lot like a mountain hare, were it not for its slightly extended snout, shorter ears and long, coltish legs. It reminded Fletcher of what a hare might look like if it had the skeleton of an antelope and the hind legs of. a desert kangaroo.’ (285-6) Perhaps that’s more ‘realistic’ than most of the descriptions in the Demonology section forming an appendix.The pace of the adventure inevitably increases. Fletcher is warned that, ‘If you thought spell craft was difficult before, just wait till you have to do it in a dog-fight.’ (219) The book’s latter half is focused on what resembles some of the ‘suicide’ operation beloved by fans of war films (e.g. ‘The Guns of Navarone’ (1961), ‘Too Late the Hero’ (1970). ‘The Eagle has Landed’ (1975)). Just like them success against overwhelming odds is exaggerated, luck / coincidence is important and ‘the enemy’ appear as somewhat stupid. Perhaps that criticism is unfair because this merely follows the whole nature of the genre.However, the pace is slowed by occasional detail: ‘… these hieroglyphs are in an essentially different language. Whichever civilisation built this place, they died out long ago. That would explain the difference in size and architecture of the ziggurats that surround the pyramid. No wonder it’s so important to the orcs, I bet they think this place was built by their ancestor-gods’. (333) That prefaces a lengthy description of ritual sacrifice (334-336) but doesn’t explain the proximity of ziggurats (found in modern Iraq) and a pyramid (found in Egypt and Mexico), perhaps such a distortion can be explained as of ‘gilding the gingerbread’.To conclude: ‘The Inquisition’ continues the high standard of its predecessor but, owing to the above criticisms, I award it only 4 stars.

Having loved the beginning of Fletcher's journey in THE NOVICE, I couldn't wait for this second installment! And as someone finishing off their own Book 2 of a trilogy, I was keen to see how Matharu both expanded and deepened his world - a boy, was there a lot to appreciate.My favourite aspect of THE INQUISITION was the marvellous secondary world introduced: from Hominem, the human world, we are plunged deep into the orc jungles. It drips with atmosphere - espeially in the culminating scenes. Matharu has plainly researched Aztecs culture to paint the orc realm, and the result is so spot-on you wonder why you've not seen it done that way before. It's one more example of the way these books take familiar tropes and elements, but shake them up so creatively that what you're reading feels fresh and original.So the world widens ... but the relationships also deepen. A winning cast of secondary characters is introduced - like Cress the female dwarf warrior. Imagine the love-child of Brienne of Tarth and Tyrion Lannister. No, really do. A personal favourite is Verity Faversham, who is not quite what readers of Book 1 may be expecting, given her family background.Matharu really excels at the bonds between Flether and his demon, Ignatius, and in this book Fletcher acquires two more non-human helpers. To say more would be so giveaway, much spoilers, wow. And then at the end: loyalty, treachery, and a shocking revelation. In all, the perfect cocktail to leave you wanting more... Shame it's another year till the final SUMMONER installment!

I loved Summoner: The Novice, however this sequel is nowhere near as good. The book feels very drawn out, slow paced and, quite frankly, boring.I was expecting this to be the exciting sequel that would dive into the world of the Orcs and battlemages. However I was very disapointed as I had to read over half of the book before anything of interest started to happen! I would even say it feels like a chore to read. I will think carefully about buying the next one as this did not live up to my expectations. Disapointing

This is simply an amazing read! I don't normally write reviews but after reading this book, I just had to!!Now I will not give much away but it has the perfect balance of excitement, adrenaline, magic, curiosity/wonder and courage. These books will relate to you (no matter who you are) and really does relate to differences in culture and beliefs that are relevant in our current and (very) real world. It is fresh and fast moving but the way in which it is written enables you to pick up where you left off and is easily digestible making this fun and enjoyable to ready to lose yourself in.However, I could not imagine having to wait for the next book in the series to come out... if your going to buy this book, buy the first three at the same time because the suspense of where the book ends will drive you mad. The cliffhangers are that good!! To my understanding there will be six books in this series, I have written this review at the end of book three (The Battlemage) which doesn't end on a cliffhanger, still I cannot wait for the fourth book (The Outcast) to be released next year! All three books are brilliant. Truly fantastic!!!

I'm two books in to the currently published trilogy. I believe there is another book coming next year!The books are a great read, easy to pick up yet difficult to put down. It's always "one more chapter then I'll stop".The series is a great addition to any fantasy lovers collection. If you've played World of Warcraft at any point and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy these books too!