What happens when you throw together a human vessel for a dangerous fire spirit and a thief with a talisman that allows him to be immortal for a minute a day? They attract trouble. A lot of trouble.
In the forthcoming Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg, Sandis is a slave who has somewhat convinced herself that her current situation isn’t all that bad if you ignore all the times when her master Kazen uses her body to unleash a fire horse spirit named Ireth that shouldn’t even exist on the mortal plane. Or at least she’s able to until she witnesses him murder her friend by trying to summon an even stronger spirit and failing. She escapes and runs headlong into Rone, a thief who’s doing his best to survive and take care of his mother. With Kazen hell bent on hunting down Sandis and Rone in a boat-load of trouble of his own, their flight through the city takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined.
The book is at its best when Sandis stands up for herself and takes control of her life. She goes back and forth between those moments and trying to hide so Kazen won’t find her. While female characters don’t have to be Action Girls to count as strong, the parts where she would metaphorically plant her feet and assert herself were always refreshing and welcome. Her strange relationship with Ireth is another highlight and one that would be neat to see explored further, if possible. They’re equally enslaved to the whims of Kazen and, at times, all the other one has.
Interestingly enough, Rone is possibly an even better developed, more well rounded character than Sandis despite having the more mundane back-story. Sure he’s got a very special magical device that lets him be immortal for one minute every day but other than that, he’s just like any other person. He has a definite character arc throughout the book that, while somewhat predictable, felt satisfying and well earned by the final page.
The world building within the book felt like it was simultaneously a strength and a weakness. While Holmberg did an excellent job with creating this society and describing the world to the point where I could close my eyes and easily see the streets, I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t better utilized. The set up for a trip to a religious tower made me think the story might dive into the implications of vessels being seen as blasphemy or perhaps give us more of a look into what these spirits are. Instead, we got a far more mundane revelation about Rone which felt a little disappointing. That said, a fictional world with too much potential is far better than a flat and boring one so I’ll take what Smoke & Summons gave us any day of the week.
The other place where the book fell flat for me was at very end. Smoke & Summons is the first book in an intended trilogy but this ended on just too big of a cliffhanger and might have been better served had it stopped a few pages prior. This felt like a cliffhanger far better suited to the second book in a trilogy than the first but that may just be a personal quibble.
Smoke & Summons sets up an intriguing world in the first book of the Numina Series, creating a well developed setting with tons of potential even if it doesn’t feel fully realized yet. The characters and the right touches of magic are there but it still needs just one more spark to be something truly special.
Smoke & Summons will be available for purchase on February 1st. An advanced copy of the book was provided for review purposes.
