Help! I've Been Summoned By A Witch To Another World!

by Tim Elcombe

Alistair McNash desperately wants to be an author, and has worked tirelessly at this goal while working a dead-end office job. Then one day everything finally turns around - only for him to be summoned to another world by a witch's spell!

Now in the fantastical land of Ostium, Alistair and the witch responsible search for a way to get him back home. But they soon learn that Ostium is facing its own problems...

182 pages, ebook

Published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Nessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Help! I've Been Summoned by a Witch to Another World! Is a book with a lot of good ideas. The book follows the main character Alistair as he is wizzed away to a different plane of existence in an isekai kind of fashion. In this world he meets a set of interesting characters who become his companions and they defend the kingdom against the strife on their way. On paper, this sounds like it could have been amazing. There are plenty of story hooks and the characters are engaging... but it feels like the author is in a hurry to get the entire story told before he runs out of pages. Problems are presented and then immediately resolved before any gravitas can land, with quick fights and immediate solutions that seem to always work. This takes away from the impact these situations could have had, which is frustrating because I really do want to care. The same is true for worldbuilding and character development...it would be great if we could see more interaction between the characters other than motivational speeches so perhaps certain turns and relationships feel like like they are falling out of the sky without forshadowing. on top of that, the way the story builds up to a moral choice only to remove it at the last minute creates a disappointing anticlimax.

Again, this is not a bad book. It just could have been so much better, I wanted it to be so much more, because the concept is a lot of fun and appealing. I don't regret reading it, I've had a good time! Alistair was a friendly and likeable character, and the people he encountered each seemed like they were unique figures with their own lives, motivations and choices to make. And the way all the aspects tie up at least partly together is appealing as well.

A nice quick read, not without flaws but worth your time.

Thank you Reedsy Discovery for the ARC

[Aerilaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. If more details were added this could have been nicer possibly spanning three volumes.