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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this but must read next one because cliffhanger. Will say more when finished all three.
Okay, simply inhaled this fantasy--in so many ways the type I enjoy most.
Melissa McShane states up front that she riffed off the diary format after reading Andrea Höst’s Touchstone. I can see why: There is an immediacy to the idea of a lone protagonist finding herself tossed into another world altogether, where one cannot understand the language, and finding oneself amongst intimidating company of disciplined and powerful people—specifically a fairly inscrutable guy.
But there the similarity ends. Sesskia is in her twenties, having been on her own for years, after escaping what we begin to gather was a fairly dire family situation. She is a mage in a kingdom where mages are feared, shunned—murdered. So she perforce became a thief in order to steal what she needed to learn magic.
She falls in among the mages of Castavir, who are not the least like the elite Setari of Touchstone’s secret organization KOTIS. And finally, Cederic, the mage in charge, has only hardwired discipline and an unreadable affect in common with Ruuel.
So there the comparison ends, as the story progresses and Sesskia’s tale goes off in a totally different direction than Touchstone’s seventeen year old Cass slowly discovering her powers before tackling the scary Ena.
Sesskia’s magic works completely differently from that of the Castiri, who are under time pressure that Sesskia gradually learns about. She slowly makes friends (something a loner has to learn to do) as she begins to comprehend the Castiri situation—and how it threatens her own world. She also has to deal with the enigmatic Cederic, with whom her relationship gets steadily more complex.
Before any of them are remotely ready, they are summoned to the capital, where the impatient God-Empress is awaiting them before taking the action she prefers—wholesale invasion. At first, I was bothered by how Sesskia unquestioningly accepts the judgment of the mages about the empress—until we meet her.
Things suddenly get a whole lot more dangerous as they are all swept toward the event that no one really understands. Clashes of power, personalities, magic, politics, all draw to climactic action. Meanwhile we get an excellent example of one of McShane’s strengths: relationships between intelligent adults who talk to each other. It’s a real pleasure to watch a new relationship unfold with interesting emotional dynamics, striving for communication and compromise, even in the midst of deadly threat.
Beware! Though this is actually a good breaking place for a long-arc story, this particular volume ends on a stunning cliffhanger.
Advanced Reading Copy provided by author.
Melissa McShane states up front that she riffed off the diary format after reading Andrea Höst’s Touchstone. I can see why: There is an immediacy to the idea of a lone protagonist finding herself tossed into another world altogether, where one cannot understand the language, and finding oneself amongst intimidating company of disciplined and powerful people—specifically a fairly inscrutable guy.
But there the similarity ends. Sesskia is in her twenties, having been on her own for years, after escaping what we begin to gather was a fairly dire family situation. She is a mage in a kingdom where mages are feared, shunned—murdered. So she perforce became a thief in order to steal what she needed to learn magic.
She falls in among the mages of Castavir, who are not the least like the elite Setari of Touchstone’s secret organization KOTIS. And finally, Cederic, the mage in charge, has only hardwired discipline and an unreadable affect in common with Ruuel.
So there the comparison ends, as the story progresses and Sesskia’s tale goes off in a totally different direction than Touchstone’s seventeen year old Cass slowly discovering her powers before tackling the scary Ena.
Sesskia’s magic works completely differently from that of the Castiri, who are under time pressure that Sesskia gradually learns about. She slowly makes friends (something a loner has to learn to do) as she begins to comprehend the Castiri situation—and how it threatens her own world. She also has to deal with the enigmatic Cederic, with whom her relationship gets steadily more complex.
Before any of them are remotely ready, they are summoned to the capital, where the impatient God-Empress is awaiting them before taking the action she prefers—wholesale invasion. At first, I was bothered by how Sesskia unquestioningly accepts the judgment of the mages about the empress—until we meet her.
Things suddenly get a whole lot more dangerous as they are all swept toward the event that no one really understands. Clashes of power, personalities, magic, politics, all draw to climactic action. Meanwhile we get an excellent example of one of McShane’s strengths: relationships between intelligent adults who talk to each other. It’s a real pleasure to watch a new relationship unfold with interesting emotional dynamics, striving for communication and compromise, even in the midst of deadly threat.
Beware! Though this is actually a good breaking place for a long-arc story, this particular volume ends on a stunning cliffhanger.
Advanced Reading Copy provided by author.
I read Melissa McShane's Extraordinaries series last year for r/fantasy's Fantasy of Manners Bingo square, and I really enjoyed it - the characters, the magic system, the world building...all of it felt really fresh and well thought out. This book feels like its almost, but not quite, there yet.
The Summoned Mage is the story of Sessika and her summoning to a parallel world. It is written in the form of her diary, a detailed account of her experiences in this new world. The format works well given the premise - we are just as lost as Sessika in this new world she's been pulled into, and the format allows the reader to get into her head and figure things out as she does. I liked Sessika, she's pretty badass, strong, independent and very capable, with enough of a sense of humour to lighten the tale. She makes new friends, falls in love, and learns about magic and scholarship in this new world, and finally finds a place she belongs. My only quibble with her character is that we don't learn enough of her non magical life (although that makes sense given that it's her personal diary). But it left me feeling like her character was half drawn - I'd feel more connected to her if I got a better sense of who she is outside of her experiences with and around magic. For instance, she writes that she didn't have any friends in her home world, but nothing in her early interactions with people in the new world shows us her underdeveloped social skills.
On the other hand, most of the secondary characters, Teleral (sp?) and the God-Empress in particular, are well developed. McShane gives us a good villain in the God-Empress, one who is insane, intelligent and unpredictable. For around half the book, she pops in and out of the narrative, terrifying Sessika, who is never certain what to expect. The diary format works well in capturing how scary the God-Empress is in her insanity, and I'm looking forward to see more of her shenanigans in the rest of the series.
The hero, Ceadric, is not a bad character exactly, but he isn't anything new - you know he's going to be the hero the minute Sessika starts calling him Smug Git, and the whole stoic, mysterious, self contained thing is over done in pretty much every genre I've read. However, I appreciate the fact that the romance isn't front-and-centre right from the start of the book, and Sessika's diary isn't filled with Ceadric from the very beginning (although I worry that neither of these is going to be true of the sequels!).
The magic system is one of the strongest elements in this book. 'Pouvrin' from her home world is unknown in Castavir, and 'Th'an / Ma'than' from Castavir are completely new to Sessika. We get a pretty good introduction to both as she describes understanding one system, and her experiences with the other. However, (I should probably stop comparing, but it's difficult not to!) the magic system descriptions are not as...scientific as those in the Extraordinaries. Again, it felt a bit unfinished, but not to a point where it hurts the story in any way. I'm hoping there's more discussion on what the magic is and how it works in the next two books.
My only real problem with this book is that the world building feels unfinished. Unlike the Extraordinaries, which is set in our world (but with magic) during the Napoleonic wars, the Convergence series is set in an all new world, and I think McShane handled the integration of magic in 19th century Europe / India far better than she did the creation of a whole new world. The world didn't feel as fully realised as it should have, and that takes away a bit from the excellent magic system and premise. While the next two books promise more exploration of the world, world building is not the kind of thing that one should have to wait for book two, y'know? Maybe one of the problems was that most of Sessika's experiences are limited to two settings - the academy and the palace, so we don't get enough of an idea of what makes this place unique. Ugh I'm doing a really terrible job of explaining why I think the world building is lacking...
McShane's writing style, or Sessika's, is very clear, to-the-point and simple. The format by necessity gives us only one person's viewpoint, but Sessika is engaging enough that it doesn't detract from how entertaining the story is at all. Overall, The Summoned Mage is a very readable novel, with quick pacing, especially in the second half. The magic system and premise of the book are intriguing, and the cliffhanger ending makes me eager to read more. So while this wasn't as good as the Extraordinaries, I'm looking forward to book two.
The Summoned Mage is the story of Sessika and her summoning to a parallel world. It is written in the form of her diary, a detailed account of her experiences in this new world. The format works well given the premise - we are just as lost as Sessika in this new world she's been pulled into, and the format allows the reader to get into her head and figure things out as she does. I liked Sessika, she's pretty badass, strong, independent and very capable, with enough of a sense of humour to lighten the tale. She makes new friends, falls in love, and learns about magic and scholarship in this new world, and finally finds a place she belongs. My only quibble with her character is that we don't learn enough of her non magical life (although that makes sense given that it's her personal diary). But it left me feeling like her character was half drawn - I'd feel more connected to her if I got a better sense of who she is outside of her experiences with and around magic. For instance, she writes that she didn't have any friends in her home world, but nothing in her early interactions with people in the new world shows us her underdeveloped social skills.
On the other hand, most of the secondary characters, Teleral (sp?) and the God-Empress in particular, are well developed. McShane gives us a good villain in the God-Empress, one who is insane, intelligent and unpredictable. For around half the book, she pops in and out of the narrative, terrifying Sessika, who is never certain what to expect. The diary format works well in capturing how scary the God-Empress is in her insanity, and I'm looking forward to see more of her shenanigans in the rest of the series.
The hero, Ceadric, is not a bad character exactly, but he isn't anything new - you know he's going to be the hero the minute Sessika starts calling him Smug Git, and the whole stoic, mysterious, self contained thing is over done in pretty much every genre I've read. However, I appreciate the fact that the romance isn't front-and-centre right from the start of the book, and Sessika's diary isn't filled with Ceadric from the very beginning (although I worry that neither of these is going to be true of the sequels!).
The magic system is one of the strongest elements in this book. 'Pouvrin' from her home world is unknown in Castavir, and 'Th'an / Ma'than' from Castavir are completely new to Sessika. We get a pretty good introduction to both as she describes understanding one system, and her experiences with the other. However, (I should probably stop comparing, but it's difficult not to!) the magic system descriptions are not as...scientific as those in the Extraordinaries. Again, it felt a bit unfinished, but not to a point where it hurts the story in any way. I'm hoping there's more discussion on what the magic is and how it works in the next two books.
My only real problem with this book is that the world building feels unfinished. Unlike the Extraordinaries, which is set in our world (but with magic) during the Napoleonic wars, the Convergence series is set in an all new world, and I think McShane handled the integration of magic in 19th century Europe / India far better than she did the creation of a whole new world. The world didn't feel as fully realised as it should have, and that takes away a bit from the excellent magic system and premise. While the next two books promise more exploration of the world, world building is not the kind of thing that one should have to wait for book two, y'know? Maybe one of the problems was that most of Sessika's experiences are limited to two settings - the academy and the palace, so we don't get enough of an idea of what makes this place unique. Ugh I'm doing a really terrible job of explaining why I think the world building is lacking...
McShane's writing style, or Sessika's, is very clear, to-the-point and simple. The format by necessity gives us only one person's viewpoint, but Sessika is engaging enough that it doesn't detract from how entertaining the story is at all. Overall, The Summoned Mage is a very readable novel, with quick pacing, especially in the second half. The magic system and premise of the book are intriguing, and the cliffhanger ending makes me eager to read more. So while this wasn't as good as the Extraordinaries, I'm looking forward to book two.
Spoiler
not super into the "we've known each other two months and been together 2hr but yeah I'm cool marrying you because I know I'll love you forever thingOtherwise, loved it. Great worldbuilding, the magic was a little confusing (or maybe it was just me, reading it at 10pm every night right before bed), loved the characters and relationships, and can't wait to read the next in the series :D
This book is by the same author as Burning Bright, which I loved. And this one was really good, too. I enjoyed how real the narrator’s journal entries sounded, and enjoyed the honesty of the main characters with each other (good communication, no silly jumping to conclusions), but... the cliffhanger ending was very abrupt, and I needed a few more details to be tied up to feel like I really had just finished a complete book.
I read Melissa McShane's Extraordinaries series last year for r/fantasy's Fantasy of Manners Bingo square, and I really enjoyed it - the characters, the magic system, the world building...all of it felt really fresh and well thought out. This book feels like its almost, but not quite, there yet.
The Summoned Mage is the story of Sessika and her summoning to a parallel world. It is written in the form of her diary, a detailed account of her experiences in this new world. The format works well given the premise - we are just as lost as Sessika in this new world she's been pulled into, and the format allows the reader to get into her head and figure things out as she does. I liked Sessika, she's pretty badass, strong, independent and very capable, with enough of a sense of humour to lighten the tale. She makes new friends, falls in love, and learns about magic and scholarship in this new world, and finally finds a place she belongs. My only quibble with her character is that we don't learn enough of her non magical life (although that makes sense given that it's her personal diary). But it left me feeling like her character was half drawn - I'd feel more connected to her if I got a better sense of who she is outside of her experiences with and around magic. For instance, she writes that she didn't have any friends in her home world, but nothing in her early interactions with people in the new world shows us her underdeveloped social skills.
On the other hand, most of the secondary characters, Teleral (sp?) and the God-Empress in particular, are well developed. McShane gives us a good villain in the God-Empress, one who is insane, intelligent and unpredictable. For around half the book, she pops in and out of the narrative, terrifying Sessika, who is never certain what to expect. The diary format works well in capturing how scary the God-Empress is in her insanity, and I'm looking forward to see more of her shenanigans in the rest of the series.
The hero, Ceadric, is not a bad character exactly, but he isn't anything new - you know he's going to be the hero the minute Sessika starts calling him Smug Git, and the whole stoic, mysterious, self contained thing is over done in pretty much every genre I've read. However, I appreciate the fact that the romance isn't front-and-centre right from the start of the book, and Sessika's diary isn't filled with Ceadric from the very beginning (although I worry that neither of these is going to be true of the sequels!).
The magic system is one of the strongest elements in this book. 'Pouvrin' from her home world is unknown in Castavir, and 'Th'an / Ma'than' from Castavir are completely new to Sessika. We get a pretty good introduction to both as she describes understanding one system, and her experiences with the other. However, (I should probably stop comparing, but it's difficult not to!) the magic system descriptions are not as...scientific as those in the Extraordinaries. Again, it felt a bit unfinished, but not to a point where it hurts the story in any way. I'm hoping there's more discussion on what the magic is and how it works in the next two books.
My only real problem with this book is that the world building feels unfinished. Unlike the Extraordinaries, which is set in our world (but with magic) during the Napoleonic wars, the Convergence series is set in an all new world, and I think McShane handled the integration of magic in 19th century Europe / India far better than she did the creation of a whole new world. The world didn't feel as fully realised as it should have, and that takes away a bit from the excellent magic system and premise. While the next two books promise more exploration of the world, world building is not the kind of thing that one should have to wait for book two, y'know? Maybe one of the problems was that most of Sessika's experiences are limited to two settings - the academy and the palace, so we don't get enough of an idea of what makes this place unique. Ugh I'm doing a really terrible job of explaining why I think the world building is lacking...
McShane's writing style, or Sessika's, is very clear, to-the-point and simple. The format by necessity gives us only one person's viewpoint, but Sessika is engaging enough that it doesn't detract from how entertaining the story is at all. Overall, The Summoned Mage is a very readable novel, with quick pacing, especially in the second half. The magic system and premise of the book are intriguing, and the cliffhanger ending makes me eager to read more. So while this wasn't as good as the Extraordinaries, I'm looking forward to book two.
The Summoned Mage is the story of Sessika and her summoning to a parallel world. It is written in the form of her diary, a detailed account of her experiences in this new world. The format works well given the premise - we are just as lost as Sessika in this new world she's been pulled into, and the format allows the reader to get into her head and figure things out as she does. I liked Sessika, she's pretty badass, strong, independent and very capable, with enough of a sense of humour to lighten the tale. She makes new friends, falls in love, and learns about magic and scholarship in this new world, and finally finds a place she belongs. My only quibble with her character is that we don't learn enough of her non magical life (although that makes sense given that it's her personal diary). But it left me feeling like her character was half drawn - I'd feel more connected to her if I got a better sense of who she is outside of her experiences with and around magic. For instance, she writes that she didn't have any friends in her home world, but nothing in her early interactions with people in the new world shows us her underdeveloped social skills.
On the other hand, most of the secondary characters, Teleral (sp?) and the God-Empress in particular, are well developed. McShane gives us a good villain in the God-Empress, one who is insane, intelligent and unpredictable. For around half the book, she pops in and out of the narrative, terrifying Sessika, who is never certain what to expect. The diary format works well in capturing how scary the God-Empress is in her insanity, and I'm looking forward to see more of her shenanigans in the rest of the series.
The hero, Ceadric, is not a bad character exactly, but he isn't anything new - you know he's going to be the hero the minute Sessika starts calling him Smug Git, and the whole stoic, mysterious, self contained thing is over done in pretty much every genre I've read. However, I appreciate the fact that the romance isn't front-and-centre right from the start of the book, and Sessika's diary isn't filled with Ceadric from the very beginning (although I worry that neither of these is going to be true of the sequels!).
The magic system is one of the strongest elements in this book. 'Pouvrin' from her home world is unknown in Castavir, and 'Th'an / Ma'than' from Castavir are completely new to Sessika. We get a pretty good introduction to both as she describes understanding one system, and her experiences with the other. However, (I should probably stop comparing, but it's difficult not to!) the magic system descriptions are not as...scientific as those in the Extraordinaries. Again, it felt a bit unfinished, but not to a point where it hurts the story in any way. I'm hoping there's more discussion on what the magic is and how it works in the next two books.
My only real problem with this book is that the world building feels unfinished. Unlike the Extraordinaries, which is set in our world (but with magic) during the Napoleonic wars, the Convergence series is set in an all new world, and I think McShane handled the integration of magic in 19th century Europe / India far better than she did the creation of a whole new world. The world didn't feel as fully realised as it should have, and that takes away a bit from the excellent magic system and premise. While the next two books promise more exploration of the world, world building is not the kind of thing that one should have to wait for book two, y'know? Maybe one of the problems was that most of Sessika's experiences are limited to two settings - the academy and the palace, so we don't get enough of an idea of what makes this place unique. Ugh I'm doing a really terrible job of explaining why I think the world building is lacking...
McShane's writing style, or Sessika's, is very clear, to-the-point and simple. The format by necessity gives us only one person's viewpoint, but Sessika is engaging enough that it doesn't detract from how entertaining the story is at all. Overall, The Summoned Mage is a very readable novel, with quick pacing, especially in the second half. The magic system and premise of the book are intriguing, and the cliffhanger ending makes me eager to read more. So while this wasn't as good as the Extraordinaries, I'm looking forward to book two.