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Smoke and Summons Numina Charlie N Holmberg Books

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Smoke and Summons Numina Charlie N Holmberg Books

Every once in awhile I get a hankering for a good fantasy/sci-fi. This month, especially, I chose “Smoke and Summons” because none of the other Amazon First Reads beckoned me. So, how did I fare?

Not as delighted as the other more famous reviewers shown on the promotional page, but better than one might expect. What I did most appreciate was the intimate descriptions that helped place me on the scene. A nice touch.

I’m sure my nieces and nephews will find much of themselves in this quest...

BLUSH FACTOR No worries here regarding language or romance.

WRITING & EDITING Professionally edited.

ADVENTURE & SOUL Adventure, yes. Soul, not so much.

CHARACTER & WORLD DEVELOPMENT Excellent.

The brief excerpt will give a hint of all the above.

EXCERPT

‘...Rone’s arm and deep into his ribs.

Rone barely flinched.

He barely flinched . . . and turned around to slam his knuckles into Marek’s cheek. The man fell back, ripping the knife out as he did.

No blood.

There was no blood. No wound. Nothing but a hole in Rone’s shirt.

Sandis’s mouth fell open. But . . . how?

The grafters were skilled—they moved quickly, and Sandis had a hard time keeping track of them. But Rone moved quicker. He twisted limbs. Slammed elbows into noses, feet into guts. Another knife stabbed into his collar, but it left no more of a wound than the first one had. Marek went down, followed by Ravis. Rone was fighting the two unknown grafters when that faint whirring attracted Sandis’s attention again.

Daring to take her eyes off the scene, she lay down on the bench and looked under...’

Taken from “Smoke and Summons, by Charlie N. Holmberg, page 43. Copyright 2019 by Charlie N. Holmberg, LLC.

BOTTOM LINE

Four stars out of five.

I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid. With your help, my improvement will help you and me improve book reviews on Amazon. Together, you and I can build a great customer review process that helps everybody. Will you join me? It is people such as you who have helped me improve over the years. I'm still learning, and I have a great deal yet to learn. With your help, I'll improve every day.

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Smoke and Summons Numina Charlie N Holmberg Books Reviews

I squealed when I saw Holmberg is a First Reads this month. I have enjoyed her previous books and this was no exception. After the sounds of the fireworks died down, I started in. What a great start to the New Year. I finished this in one sitting.

Dark, imaginative, and full of twists, this one will stay with me. Well done, Charlie. I already preordered book two. My only wish is that some of the setting had been unfolded slower and with more explanation so I could better grasp this industrialized city. Otherwise, perfection.
Pros
Great grammar and punctuation. Maybe it's only in Unlimited that this problem happens, but so much of what I read needs more technical proofreading. Very well done!

Neutral
Worldbuilding is neither good nor bad.
The main religion makes no sense. I'm not subtracting points from that because almost all books have poorly designed religions.
The city quickly comes across as a mid-industrial era Agrabah. (The Disney Aladdin city)

Cons
The characters. They're flat. Generic thief with heart of gold. Generic super sweet girl. Generic insane evil wizard.
The plot. I won't give spoilers, but there weren't any surprise twists. Everything happened pretty much exactly as I was expecting.
The ending. Not only did it feel like it got written that way just to push sales on book #2, it also was too convenient.

1 star rating because I had to force myself to finish.
What there is of this book is good. It's engaging and different from others I've read by the same author. However, leaving a book with no ending -- only a tease for the next -- is reader betrayal of the highest order.
So I can only give it three stars.
A good book should stand in its own. Readers should anxiously await the next book in a series because they have been engaged and entertained by the characters and their world and have enjoyed the authors craft and style. This book’s characters and premise were interesting enough, but the abrupt ending seems poorly crafted. It comes across to me as a money grubbing ploy to hook the reader into the next purchase. I’ll pass.
Having read this Author's Paper Magician book, I expected a good read from this one. And I'm pleased to say that I (mainly) got it. But be aware that it doesn't have an ending, being only the first book in a series.

This was a YA appropriate story--no strong language, no sexual scenes (other than a brief breast squeeze 'punishment'). There was some bloody violence, which was to be expected, since the Villain was summoning Demons into young people ('vessels').

This was an intriguing World. It was Low Tech, with not much for advancements beyond guns. This was a dirty, poverty stricken World of Magic and Evil. And the detailed descriptions took the reader from the City's rooftops to its sewers. The suspense grew from the beginning, with emotions ranging from evil to human compassion and betrayal.

This is the first book in a series, which was unfortunately apparent at the ending. In addition, it gave an unexpected twist just in case the reader wasn't engrossed enough in the characters and the plot to want to continue to the next book. Since I hate books that don't resolve things to my satisfaction, I normally would not continue the series. But I must admit that the World, the main characters, and the plot has hooked me enough that I'll probably go on to Book 2 when it's released.
Every once in awhile I get a hankering for a good fantasy/sci-fi. This month, especially, I chose “Smoke and Summons” because none of the other First Reads beckoned me. So, how did I fare?

Not as delighted as the other more famous reviewers shown on the promotional page, but better than one might expect. What I did most appreciate was the intimate descriptions that helped place me on the scene. A nice touch.

I’m sure my nieces and nephews will find much of themselves in this quest...

BLUSH FACTOR No worries here regarding language or romance.

WRITING & EDITING Professionally edited.

ADVENTURE & SOUL Adventure, yes. Soul, not so much.

CHARACTER & WORLD DEVELOPMENT Excellent.

The brief excerpt will give a hint of all the above.

EXCERPT

‘...Rone’s arm and deep into his ribs.

Rone barely flinched.

He barely flinched . . . and turned around to slam his knuckles into Marek’s cheek. The man fell back, ripping the knife out as he did.

No blood.

There was no blood. No wound. Nothing but a hole in Rone’s shirt.

Sandis’s mouth fell open. But . . . how?

The grafters were skilled—they moved quickly, and Sandis had a hard time keeping track of them. But Rone moved quicker. He twisted limbs. Slammed elbows into noses, feet into guts. Another knife stabbed into his collar, but it left no more of a wound than the first one had. Marek went down, followed by Ravis. Rone was fighting the two unknown grafters when that faint whirring attracted Sandis’s attention again.

Daring to take her eyes off the scene, she lay down on the bench and looked under...’

Taken from “Smoke and Summons, by Charlie N. Holmberg, page 43. Copyright 2019 by Charlie N. Holmberg, LLC.

BOTTOM LINE

Four stars out of five.

I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid. With your help, my improvement will help you and me improve book reviews on . Together, you and I can build a great customer review process that helps everybody. Will you join me? It is people such as you who have helped me improve over the years. I'm still learning, and I have a great deal yet to learn. With your help, I'll improve every day.

One request Be respectful and courteous in your comments and emails to me. I will do likewise with you.

Thank you so much for indicating if this review helped you, or for your comment. for indicating if this review helped you, or for your comment.