To Summon the Familiar

Familiars of the Phoenix Empire, Book 1

De: Marty Myers

Narrado por: Matt Godfrey

Andrew has one chance to pull himself up from his humble beginnings and make something of himself. He has been found to have a spark of magic deep within himself. To bring it forth, he must first learn to summon the familiar. He must use every drop of his magic to search the Lands of Mist and find the one meant for him. The one he will be bonded to for life. The one who is actually capable and willing to make all his dreams possible. Andrew may be small now, but he has big dreams.

©2019 Marty Myers (P)2019 Tantor

hidden gem

the only thing I'm sad about is the fact that there is no book 2

fantastic!!!

Great story and narration!

A summoner gets an unusual pairing and has his world turned upside down.

I loved this one!!!

The intro and history of the world were outstanding, and the story continued to build on that foundation.

I can't wait for the next one to come out!!!

Great listen

I really enjoyed this book as it had a wonderful story. I found it very easy and enjoyable to follow while I was busy at work which is great. Not all books allow me to do this.

Relaxing and enjoyable.

I really liked the book since it’s one of the few in this type of genre that does not try to rush the plot.

Amazing book

I’ve listened to books with similar over arching themes and magic systems but this one was by far the most interesting and in depth. I’m hoping a book 2 comes out eventually

Good slow book

enjoyed the book, I am hopeful for a 2nd book. so far no luck :(

Great Book , Poor Ending

The book was excellent up to the ending. Their was no clean cut off or final battle. It was like o well all this crazy shit is happening and now I have to leave. I loved the book up to that.

So like I said the book was excellent until we hit the ending. The character development was good and we started to learn about the back story of the nobles and how familiars and magic work in this world.

My only complaint is the ending was super rushed and their are too many unresolved story arcs as we are moving onto one that takes MC away from the school.

It’s worth a credit and I look forward to the next installment. If the story arc falls are fixed in book 2 with a good transition I will continue with the series, if not the book will be put on the average shelf.

A couple issues, but interested in reading more.

Over all, I enjoyed this book. It came across to me as a mix between Pokémon and Harry Potter with its own unique mix thrown in. The world we were shown is interesting and I’ll be looking for future books in this series. With that being said, there were a few issues for me.

There were a few spots where something was explained or part of the story was told and then retold in just as much detail such as the priest telling Andrew about his familiar then right afterwards telling his mom the exact same thing. Another instance was retelling what happened in the first battle against Golden Boy right after the battle had taken place. This should be an easy fix for future books of the author chooses to shoot for a better editor.

The entire story took place over maybe two weeks and the main character developed extremely quickly as well as essentially being a “natural” at everything he did with the exception of the one class he struggled in. Because of this, there was no character growth for the main character in the book at all. He just gained a ton of abilities without having to work for them. I’m hoping to see Andrew overcome some struggles in the future books so he’s forced to grow. I’m hoping to see both internal and external struggles.

Because of the lack of a struggle for Andrew, there wasn’t really a conflict in the story. Yes he had enemies, but there was no resolution or climax.

I personally enjoy a fair bit of detail about the world and how it works. There were a few times though that the info dumps did get a bit lengthy. While the author did try to work these info dumps as part of the story, I do hope they consider altering how the information reaches the reader.

Despite these issues I had with the book, I’ll be looking forward to the rest of the story and hopefully the development of the author as a writer.

Not a bad start.

This was not a bad start for the series. I was kind of worried at the beginning because this look like it was just going to be another one of those go to the school have the bully pick on you, achieve some great things, and be bullied half the year until you get strong enough stories. There are so many stories out there with that same theme that I have grown sick of them, in fact half of all young adult novel seems to have that as it’s based story line. With this novel they haven’t fallen into that trope yet, though it was left open to happen in the next novel unfortunately, but we will have to see.

Largely a good book

The Intro was a little unnecessary. That kind of information should have been revealed through the story. Overall I really enjoyed the book and the narration. I would recommend it.