SMOKE AND SUMMONS – Charlie N. Holmberg

Sandis does not have a lot of control over her own life. She can be turned into a horrible monster and forced to the bidding of an ancient entity that controls her. Unlike other ‘vessels’ controlled by spirits, Sandis can be inhabited by different spirits – all of them powerful and all of the evil – and do so could be fatal to Sandis.

She tries to run, but how do you escape a spirit that has already transcended time?Her answer is a new-found friend, Rone, a thief who has an unusual ability device that allows him to be immortal for one minute every day. Rone will need to step up in a big way because Sandis’ spirit master will stop at nothing to get her back.

Honestly, I feel a little bad for Charlie Holmberg. Her Paper Magician series is SO good, it’s got to be difficult to find something new that will live up to that. This certainly does not – not yet at least.

The idea is fine, but it’s the characters who don’t really engage the reader this time around. Sandis … who the heck is she?! When she’s not being controlled by an ancient spirit (and then has incredible power), she’s a bit of a passive wallflower who is still being subservient, only now to her boyfriend.

And then there’s the ending … well, it’s not really an ending. This book feels like a prologue to the story that is yet to come. If you folow my reviews at all, you probably know that I really dislike a book that isn’t actually a book. A book should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This one doesn’t have an end.

I’ve already got the next couple of books in the series on my Kindle, so i will definitely read them. I know what Holmberg’s writing can be like, so I will hope she reaches up and get’s some of that paper magic for this series as well.

Looking for a good book? Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg is the first book in a new series and it doesn’t really engage the reader the way it should, and you will have to go in committing to the series, because it also doesn’t end.