Niki’s Review: Summoner by J. Thompson

The Summoner is the first in a series. I really enjoyed it and I decided before I started the newest, I’d brush up on this one and give it a good old review.

Dahlin is a great warrior cursed with immortality and he is oh-so-over-it. His immortality is fun. He can be killed and feels all the pain, but his body just keeps coming back to life. Injure him, and he's got that injury until he dies and his body heals. There is a catch to his immortality though, it's got a purpose and once he completes his goal, he'll get to die for real. Only, he doesn't know what that purpose is. He just kinda fumbles around doing whatever he wants for a long long time. Which made me laugh because it might be one of the most realistic portrayals of what immortality would be like.

He gets kidnapped by the King who's been pretty reclusive and traps Dahlin in a magical castle until he agrees to travel with the Princess and keep her safe.

You see, the Princess, Marlana, has her own secret. She can talk to animals She's under threat which is why the King and her hide in their magical castle. But the enemy is closer than they realize.

The Pillars is the only place that can train Marlana and give the kingdom any hope of peace. And Dahlin the Undying is the only one that can get her there.

The quest nature of the book is fun to read and the way the characters interact is a lot of fun. Dahlin is a great reluctant hero and Marlana really learns to hold her own.

There is no romance between Dahlin and Marlana which I found refreshing. You see that a lot in this type of book and since there is always a massive age gap (you know, a few hundred years) that can be a bit weird.

Overall, this was a very fun book that kept me interested and I rather enjoyed the ending. It's a self-published novel and it's actually quite hard to find on Amazon for whatever reason so if this review interests you, I’ve included links. I had to search it by the ISBN to leave a review after I bought it. Anyway, if you're looking for a fun romp that easily stands alone but will soon be a fun series if you need more, I suggest Summoner by J. Thompson.

***Spoilers Below***

For simplicity, I’m not going to use all the names. Just their titles. Lots of moving parts and it’s a lot to keep track of if you’re not reading. Plus, I have to leave some secrets for when you read this yourself.

Dahlin isn’t a man that can’t be killed. He dies all the time. He’s just a man that won’t stay dead.

We start the book with him waking up from one such death. So many times he’s died, he can’t keep count. But he keeps coming back from the dead. He tasks himself with jobs to net him enough gold to hide until he has to come out and find more. He’s not a hero, he doesn’t want to be famous. Still, people know who he is. One of those people is the King who offers unlimited gold for an unnamed task. Dahlin isn’t interested.

The aftermath of the battle Dahlin wakes in is gruesome, but he’s mostly unfazed. He’s seen death. He’s felt it. He’s not numb to it, but, he just doesn’t feel the same about it as most do. Until he finds a woman he’d struck up a short relationship with. She died in battle and he feels a pang of sadness at her passing. Knowing no one will care for the dead, Dahlin spends time burying her. As he’s finishing up the task, two men find him. One recognizes him as a man that died in battle and they know it’s him: Dahlin the Undying. After a short struggle, the men knock him unconscious-instead of killing him-and take him captive.

During his unconsciousness he relives his last 300 years and how he finds his inability to die as a curse. He wakes and finds a maid tending to his room and food waiting for him. He eats everything available and then heads out into the palace-like building to find who’d gone through the trouble of taking him in.

He finds a man and a girl he suspects is about seven or eight. Turns out the man is the King and the young girl is the princess. They are wizards and Marlana (the princess) has very strong powers and needs help and protection. The King wants her safely transported to ‘The Pillars’ for safety. The King wants someone who doesn’t fear dying and is willing to take arrow after arrow and lose life after life for his daughter. Dahlin assures him that he’s not the man. He fears death like all others and feels all the pain of dying. Also, we learn that if he’s injured and doesn’t die, it takes him just as long to heal as anyone and the only time he’s ever fully healed is when he dies and comes back to life.

The King gives him a month to decide. Either he will do the task asked of him or Dahlin will be held in a room of stone to die over and over again of thirst or hunger forever or until he stops coming back to life.

Dahlin is ‘free’ in his captivity to roam the castle. There is no fear of his escape as the walls are magical and move and reshape and change so that he can never leave. He’s not the only one trapped. Marlana, because she’s under such threat, is also a prisoner. Dahlin learns that her gift is the ability to speak to animals, and apparently it’s a very strong and unique gift.

As Dahlin spends time in the castle, he grows to like the King and princess and agrees to the task before him. In preparation for his journey, the King and Dahlin head to meet the Court Wizard, the man in charge of the enchantment on the castle. He’s created a tracking ring for Dahlin to wear that will let the King know where they are. The ring can’t be taken off his finger without the Court Wizard taking it off. Which seems a little strange to me…Can’t Dahlin just cut his finger off? But no matter. Not now anyway. Something is fishy with the King or this Court Wizard dude, but Dahlin doesn’t know what and I don’t either.

Dahlin and Marlana prepare horses to leave. Marlana talks to his and as they head out, a hawk named Helo joins them. Helo is Marlana’s friend. They sneak out with a caravan to hopefully go unnoticed. Right away, Helo is put to good use. Marlana uses him to scope how many enemies are following, and according to the bird, it’s ‘many’. Marlana’s powers are put to the test. She has to scatter all the animals and cause a distraction so she and Dahlin can evade their followers. It works and Dahlin only has to kill one man.

After, Dahlin reflects on his past while Marlana sleeps. He thinks of his lost wife, his life, his happier times. But, he can’t dwell for long. As he wipes a tear from his eye, the goddess who ‘blessed’ him with his continuous rebirth appears and they chat about the reason she gave him the ability he really doesn’t enjoy.

Marlana’s powers give them the upper hand when Helo warns them that ‘they are coming’ and it’s time to run again. Their pursuers don’t let up and can’t be lost and Dahlin realizes why.

THE RING. I hate to say I told you so, but…I mean…

And he does exactly what I suggested. He cuts his finger off. He has Marlana call Helo down from the sky and take the finger, with ring still attached, away so the scent of their trail is lost. Then he passes out.

When he wakes, the pursuers are right on top of them. Luckily, the horse is smart enough (skilled enough?) to crouch in the tall grass and they hide and overhear a conversation that confirms that it is the ring they were tracking. The Baddies wonder why Dahlin and crew have abruptly changed directions and discuss their next move. It’s super convenient. The Baddies leave and Dahlin and Marlana are safe for now.

We check back in with the King who notices Dahlin and his daughter are suddenly off track. As he goes to find the Court Wizard who made the ring, the crazy moving castle starts acting a bit weird. The King finds the Court Wizard who is studying his own version of the map. The King starts to question the Court Wizard. Why did he have a secret copy of the map? Why had Dahlin and Marlana gone off track? Why was the castle acting odd?

The Court Wizard explains that he failed and pleads to go after Marlana and help. The King, who mostly seems like a bumbling idiot, suddenly doesn’t trust his long-time friend. The Court Wizard smears his own blood on the walls and says that ‘blood magic will only answer to itself, only to other blood magic.’ The wall where he smeared his blood explodes and the Court Wizard basically cartoonishly cackles and says farewell.

The King thinks back and realizes the Court Wizard has pretty much always been a shady dude and wonders how much of what he told The King was a lie. He calls the Castle Guard and tells him he thinks Dahlin ditched the ring and he needs to head out and find his daughter and make sure she’s okay. How the King figured out Dahlin tossed the ring but the Court Wizard couldn’t put that together is a bit surprising, but we’ll go with it.

Checking back in with Marlana and Dahlin. They come into a new town and when checking in for a place to crash for the night, Dahlin realizes the boy he talks to is too excited and must have been asked by the Baddies to keep an eye out for them. Thinking quickly, Dahlin distracts them into thinking they’ve run away and when they fall for the bit, he tosses Marlana onto the roof and then walks into the inn pretending he’s a late comer to the Baddies group. He rents a room near theirs and pulls Marlana in through the window. He tries to break into the Baddies’ rooms, but to no avail. Instead, he goes back to the innkeeper and asks for supplies for the road. The innkeeper being no fool says he knows Dahlin isn’t with the Baddies and he can have the supplies but would appreciate Dahlin leaving before the Baddies are back. Dahlin agrees.

The plan falls apart though when the Baddies return and a fight breaks out. Dahlin gets the crap kicked out of him and eventually, Marlana stands up and proclaims herself the princess and demands the Baddies be arrested. Dahlin passes out. He wakes up and the Castle Guard finds him. Dahlin convinces him to take Marlana and head to the Pillars while he takes care of the Baddies.

Dahlin fights with a guy named Mallick. He ends up killing the man and right before his eyes, Mallick comes back to life. Dun Dun Dun…Dahlin isn’t the only undying! Mallick gets wind that Marlana is off and chases after her while Dahlin is injured and unable to follow. The innkeeper comes over, confirms that Dahlin comes back from death and then slits his throat.

In death, he meets the Goddess again and she shows him that she takes all his injuries and pleads that he complete his task quickly because she’s not sure she can take much more. Stupidly, she still doesn’t explain what that task is and sends Dahlin back to life with no idea what he should be doing. It’s a really great idea, Goddess.

Back to Marlana. She is with Castle Guard and Helo, the hawk, has returned. Helo tells her he misses Dahlin because he liked the snack-meaning Helo ate the finger. Hopefully, he didn’t also eat the ring or the Baddies will be able to track them again now that the bird is back with Marlana. She sends him to find Dahlin and lead him back to her and uses her powers to reach out to other animals in the forest. She finds something. Something old and she’s not sure what it is. It calls itself Balastat and it scares her. No time to rest, the Baddies are on their trail. She and Castle Guard have to make a break for it.

Dahlin and the innkeeper head after Marlana and Dahlin wonders what to do with Mallick since he can’t die. Somehow, he doesn’t know how to deal with someone in a condition just like his. Something like weighing him down in a deep river or keeping him somewhere where he’s close to death but can’t die…I mean, surely Dahlin has thought of these things before, but it would seem no. He’s stumped.

Dahlin catches up to Marlana just in time to watch Castle Guard get killed (though later, they find he isn’t actually dead, so that’s good) and Marlana being dragged out of the bushes. Dahlin and the innkeeper hide and watch the Baddies attack Marlana’s horse, but instead of panicking, she summons Balastat and he comes tearing in and just destroyed the Baddies. Balastat even seemed to enjoy killing Mallick over and over again. So, yay. Dahlin doesn’t have to think anymore. Convenient.

Diving into the moral implications here might have been fun or revealing. But we are spared any of that because a monster takes care of it. I get it, on one hand. This is a fast, fun book and this issue might be a little deep or dark for the tone. Still, it would give us some insight into Dahlin that might be useful, especially since this will be a series. Alas, twas not meant to be. And I suppose we need him for the rest of the book and how long can it be fun to read about to immortals forever engaged in battles to the death?

They move on and stop in a ravaged town to get help with the injured in the group. They are almost out of money and the town is in such bad shape, Dahlin is on high alert. The healer explains that the town is in shambles and when Marlana asks why the king hasn’t stopped it, the healer explains that the king is basically useless. In a nice way though.

I thought this was going to spark some kind of fire in her. Like, she’d want to become a better leader than her dad or decide to tell him to pull his head out of his butt and start ruling like he should. But it doesn’t really do anything. She doesn’t even react to the guy’s words. Not what I expected.

The next morning Dahlin goes to the docs to try to secure passage out of the weird little town. The ship captains tell him no. No ships come or go and they will not take him or anyone else anywhere for any amount of money. Fortunately, he runs into an old friend who promises a ride out of town in exchange for Dahlin’s help killing someone. Eventually, with some persuading (by the ‘friend’ kidnapping Marlana) he agrees.

The path to kill the guy leads Dahlin through some tunnels that are flooding and he is almost killed. He tracks down his target and things get complicated.

Does Dahlin kill the man? Do he and Marlana find each other and a way out of town and finish her quest? Does Marlana master her powers? Does the king shape up? Does Marlana take over for him since he’s such a wimp?

To find out, you’re going to have to read Summoner yourself. It’s a very enjoyable read and it’s on its way to becoming a series. I’m not sure how many books it will have when it’s finished, but the sequel is currently out.

I really did enjoy this book and I have picked up the next one. This is a self-published novel and I know many people are wary of such things, but let me assure you, this one is properly edited and isn’t riddled with grammatical errors. The only consistent issue in this novel is the way dialog is punctuated. But that kind of thing doesn’t bother me and it’s not usually anywhere in conversations I hear about things wrong with self-published novels. This one is fun. It’s a good little adventure and I enjoy the characters. I absolutely recommend this one. It’s well done, and I like Marlana and her powers. I’ve read the whole “can talk to animals” thing in other books and I usually enjoy it. This is a fresh take, for me at least, on it. If you’re looking for your next read, consider this one!