Welcome to my tour stop! Check out my review and an audio excerpt below...
Summoned
(The Demon Summoner Trilogy #1)
By McKayla Eaton
Narrated by Becci Martin
YA Fantasy
Audiobook, Paperback & ebook, 6 hrs 17 mins Pages
June 18, 2020
Summary
On an empty baseball diamond in a quiet Toronto suburb, a demon has been summoned. Seventeen-year-old Alton is miles away, just wishing he had a tutor he didn’t outsmart or outmatch. His prayers are answered when Professor Victor Orvius makes an unexpected visit, offering to teach Alton magic without the restrictions.
The only condition is that he follow Orvius’s rules and not ask too many questions. Alton soon discovers he’s not Orvius’s only student.
Reagan is a competitive young witch with a bad attitude and talent for sarcasm. Their personalities clash, causing trouble for both on more than one occasion, until they realize a greater threat than being one-upped. The demon threatens not only their chances at passing their magic finals — it threatens their lives.
If Alton and Reagan can’t learn to get along, they could be facing their deaths…or an eternity together, trapped in another realm.
My Review
SUMMONED is a story about a girl who rebelliously tries to prove herself and mistakenly causes a catastrophe and the boy who partners with her to fix it. There's plenty of teen angst, attraction, and some fun magical elements. A story that begins on the lighter side, but ends with tugging on the reader's heart. Recommended to YA fantasy fans who like alternate worlds and a touch of demons.
I felt like the beginning of this story was really interesting. The author begins with Alton, the boy POV, who is breaking some minor rules in his current tutorship. It felt slightly young YA at first, but then just felt fairly realistic to the age and the way guys think - just simple and straightforward for the most part. Then the story moves to Reagan who is angsty and full of attitude. Nothing is simple with her. Alton and Reagan are at odds from the start, but there's this bit of buzzing attraction too. Definitely a bit of the opposites-attract trope here.
The storybook world is pretty much like our own except that there is magic and demons. I didn't feel it was completely fleshed out, but I also liked the concept. I also liked the idea of portals and how that all worked. The author did an excellent job of not info dumping, which I greatly appreciated, and the world does expand more as the story progresses. The ending definitely leaves some questions about this world and what these characters will face next.
The narrator did a fabulous job in voicing this story! I felt all of Alton's thirst for learning and magic and Reagan angst and sarcasm. Even Orvius was very well done. I'd definitely enjoy listening to her again.
I had just a few criticisms of the story. First off, it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when the world is supposedly going to end, but no one knows about it except two or three people and two teens in particular who will need to save it. I also don't like it when it seems like everything falls out - like Alton has no idea what's going on and Reagan didn't know what would happen, but they're in the middle of this world-ending crisis somehow. I had to just suspend my belief and ignore that part o the story since it just didn't work for me, particularly as all these families are magical and demons being summoned is also a regular occurrence. The other issue was the swearing. It kind of came out of nowhere and then was frequent in a few short bursts and then done. I just would have loved it to be omitted all together. It would have made this book clean.
In the end, was it what I wished for? An overall intriguing story with likable characters. The audio version was very well done. Would recommend to other YA fantasy fans who like their magical elements on the lighter side (think Cassandra Clare but scaled back a lot).
Content: Some swearing (several s-words) and some innuendo.
Source: I received a complimentary copy from through Audiobookworm Promotions, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Audio Excerpt
About the Author
Mckayla Eaton is an author and book-lover living and writing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She writes fantasy and science fiction and aims to build worlds that push the imagination of readers. She was raised on Indiana Jones and Fairy Tales and strongly believes every story ought to be an adventure story. She likes tragedies and happily-ever-afters and refuses to believe the two are mutually exclusive.
Becci Martin has been voice acting professionally since the early twenty-teens, but she's been entertaining smaller audiences of family and friends with her spirited storytelling since she was a little kid. Between projects you can find her traveling with her husband and adventure-loving dogs, boldly puzzling newspaper crosswords in pen, or playing bartender for establishment patrons and houseguests alike. She currently calls Kansas City home.
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