The Novice, by Taran Matharu

I believe that every book has a story behind it. I don't mean the plot (that would be obvious), but the story of how its pages ended up between your fingers, how your finger got to tracing its spine. For The Novice, there was such as story.

The first time I noticed it, it had recently been added to the closest Barnes & Noble store. I didn't have enough money to get it and the other books I wanted, so it was sent back to the shelf. When I came again, I couldn't find it. The next time, I still didn't have enough money.

When I could finally get it, it was a mainly normal day. That is, it was mainly normal for everyone but me. I was driving, with two other high schoolers in the backseat and an instructor in the passenger seat. Yep, driver's ed. We were doing a highway drive, and I had never felt more relieved to park. Then, I noticed that we were in the parking lot of the building complex that had Barnes & Noble. I pointed it out, and the instructor gave me permission to go in while they were getting food and going to the bathroom. I ran as fast as I could, and found The Novice in my hands, as well as a box of chocolate eggs, thanking the lady at the cash register and running back to Wendy's, where the instructor was.

While the others were driving, I began to devour the book. I read more than half of it before I got home, and read another chapter besides. I was completely absorbed, and only realized we had arrived back in my hometown when the student sitting beside me pointed it out.

Now, about the book. The Novice is the first book in the Summoner series, by Taran Matharu. It's about a boy named Fletcher, who's an orphan and a blacksmith's apprentice. He lives in a small town called Pelt, and is severely mistreated by his peers. Then, he summons a demon, and finds himself enrolled in a school for training battlemages to fight the orcs in the South. He soon befriends an elf, a dwarf, and another human, but soon realizes that the only person he can really trust is his demon, Ignatius.

I loved The Novice, and highly recommend reading it if you are an avid fantasy reader. I know that, now that I've finished it, I'm going to get the next book as soon as I can.

-Firinne