Smoke and Summons (Numina Book 1) Free Pdf

ISBN: B07C96XW1D
Title: Smoke and Summons (Numina Book 1) Pdf

A captivating world of monsters and magic from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician Series.

As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down…

A darkly rewarding start 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.Boring, had to force myself to finish Pros:Great grammar and punctuation. Maybe it's only in Kindle 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.Well written, original and captivating fantasy I wanted to start a New Year with a spirit-uplifting and optimistic book and none of January First Reads choices met these criteria. So I choose fantasy. A blurb sounded a bit gloomy to me but at least it should have nothing to do with a real word troubles. I was a little afraid that I will end up reading long and cliché accounts of possession by demons but nothing of this sort happened. Instead I got a very well written, original and captivating fantasy book with great word building and very likable two main protagonists. Of course there are also demons and dark forces at play (and there is blood and deaths) but they are different than I expected.I liked the way the book was written and how the story was spun. There was just enough of new information about the word itself and about people in each chapter to keep me interested and intrigued. I never felt overwhelmed with new characters, places and situations; they were all introduced gradually. There were also no cliffhangers, answers to which readers finds only after reading next 200+ pages. Whatever irked my curiosity was usually answered in the next chapter. But each chapter brought also the new mystery making the book almost impossible to put down.Unfortunately the last chapter also ends with cliffhanger the answer to which will be most likely provided in the first chapter of the second book. I felt a little cheated and it is the main reason why I did not give this book five stars. If you liked “The Fifth Season” by N.K Jemisin (as I did) there is a chance that you may also like “Smoke and Summons”. I think they belong to similar category but the current book is much lighter, simpler and more innocent.Bottom line: It is a very enjoyable and surprisingly optimistic read, highly recommended to fans of fantasy, starting at age 14 and going all the way up.