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The Summoner (Chronicles of the Necromancer)

Author: Gail Z. Martin
Publisher: Solaris
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł7.99~~
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

22 reviews
Sales Rank: 1553

Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4 x 1.7

ISBN: 1844164683
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781844164684
ASIN: 1844164683

Publication Date: February 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 4 - 5 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

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Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Unoriginal, yet engaging. July 28, 2008
The Summoner has been written before, many times before. Tales of royalty influenced by evil mages are two a penny. That doesn't mean they can't be fun to read though. Although this novel is low on originality it scores in the right places to build an engaging and feel good fantasy novel. A varied group of champions band together to fight a common cause, each with their own interest, be it financial, emotional or just swept up in the events. The story is reminiscent of Terry Brooks fantasy and the characters could be picked straight from Weis and Hickman fantasy novels - blend these together and you have Chronicles of The Necromancer, a fun page-turner.

1 out of 5 stars

Thank God it was a 'buy one get one free' book July 15, 2008
I bought this book because I liked the blurb on the back. Unfortunately that was the only good part about it.
The idea of the 'good' Necromancer could have been really interesting, but the story lurches from one cliche to the next via some bizarre deus ex machina characters (Gabriel for example). If you don't mind that you can tell immediately who'll shack up with whom from the moment the characters meet and that you never really need to worry whether any of the characters will make it to the end of the book, then by all means, go for it. If you want challenging fantasy with fresh ideas then you'd better save your money for something else.

4 out of 5 stars

A Fantasy Doctor Review July 15, 2008
Despite the bad reviews about this book has got I must admit that I really enjoyed it, now if your are expecting a masterpiece of fantasy fiction then you'll be sorely disappointed, this isn't an Erikson or a G RR Martin, what is is a decent but very enjoyable first book from a novice author, the book has likable characters, plenty of magic and some good battles, overall well worth reading

The books starts with the brutal murder of Prince Martris "Tris" Drayke's whole family by his evil and power hungry brother Jared, who with the aid of the dark sorcerer Foor Arontala rests control of the throne, with luck and skill Tris and a couple of his friends manage to escape his brothers clutches. Tris heads to the country of the Principality to buy himself and army to help him destroy his brother and the evil that Foor Arontala is trying to awaken, but first he has to reach the Principality, while traveling he will fight bandits, kill assassins and escape the forces of the beast men.

I hope the review was of some help to you.

1 out of 5 stars

Average at best. June 12, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I bought this book, like many others, on the strength of its blurb and the fact the cover was beautifully done and catches the eye. I was pretty disappointed by the actual content. There is virtually no character build up, so that they appear shallow and lacking personality. There are also questions about why the hell some of them are there in the first place... Harrtuck and Carroway, take a bow.

The plot is unoriginal as already said, but the fact the 'hero' is a Necromancer is a nice idea. Necromancer's usually appear only on the 'dark side' and to have one on the side of good would have been interesting... if it wasn't so boring. How can you take an idea like that and manage to make it boring?! Its a wonderful achievement on the part of the author.

The plot is poorly constructed, the coincidences that spatter the pages are embarrassing at best and the cliche's that seem to bind this book together just made me want to cringe.

All that being said, I read the whole thing. It may seem strange to slate a book like I just did, but to be honest I found it strangely compelling. Whether its clever writing (which i highly doubt), the urge to seek something mildly original among the pages, the desire to see if Harrtuck and Carroway have a purpose other than to flesh out the fight scenes, or the hope that Gail Z Martin may, somehow, manage to rescue the most boring necromancer ever to grace a book, i really don't know.

3 out of 5 stars

An afternoon's distraction... May 8, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Bought this as I thought the plot (from the blurb on the back) had potential. Whilst the prose isn't too bad, the 'coincidences' that other reviewers have alluded to really got in the way of the narrative. Also, the addition of the vampiric subplot and the oh so tired 'dark power trying to rise again' theme left me dissapointed. As stated, I finished the book in an afternoon as most of it was qute readable if not exactly ground-breaking stuff. It would have been much better to simply have Tris learning to use his new powers to remove his usurper brother from the throne, rather than suddenly being confronted with the threat of this dark power which is only introduced in the final third of the book and had me groaning with dissapointment. All in all, whilst the first part is readable (the action could do with slowing down in places), the second dives straight into cliche territory and revisits the old haunts we know only too well. It's a shame because this could have been a wonderful new addition to the genre.