Summons

by Johnny Eaton

SUMMONS
Book One of The Panachrest
Johnny Eaton's debut epic fantasy series

A loyal knight and three mercenaries - a wizard, a martial artist, and a berserker barbarian - are sent from Leon Palace by the Lord of Lectica to summon specific citizens for a service to the realm.

It should be an easy enough task, but the group quickly discovers that each island of Lectica brings its own complications:

House spites aren't always free to leave the home.
Warring clans have little interest in peace.
Creatures in the woods can seduce - or worse - kill.
Not all fairies are filled with stardust and kindness.
Whole islands are overrun by quick-witted outlaws.
There are witches in the woods and pirates on the seas.
There are killer birds, sexy horses, con-wizards, and mermaids.
Almost everyone is corrupt, and everyone's got problems.

Some people simply don't have the time or interest for a service to the realm, especially when they can't even get an answer to a simple question:

What is the service that the Lord of Lectica wants from them?

Genres: Fantasy

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2013

About the author

Born on April 13th, 1978 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Johnny Eaton has been creative from an early age. He had a ‘black’ painting period in pre-school. He rearranged the rocks in his childhood neighbour's garden. He was removed from class for drawing a clown face in crayon over the entire surface of his desk in grade two. He wrote a serial story called “The Gang” for his grade four classmates. He built and painted a tipi for a grade seven history project. He helped orchestrate the erection of a picnic table pyramid in Stewart Park, Perth. When his jeans developed holes, he patched them, and then patched the patches. He wrote a Christmas play for his high school drama class called “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rejected” and despite the vagrants and prostitutes included in the script got to see it performed in the cafeteria. He wrote over a hundred songs and toured across Canada as a solo musician for three years. He acted professionally in six different provinces. He published two poems. He painted his rooms with psychedelic murals.

These days, Johnny's producing an album for his band, The Chanteclers, in which he sings and shares duties on guitar and bass. He's shaving his facial hair in ridiculous ways. And — oh yeah — he's writing novels and really hopes you like the first one.

Johnny tends to live wherever whimsy takes him, preferably with a cat, or a similarly awesome and independent animal.

Reviews

[Matt Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very good for a debut fantasy novel. I liked it overall but had a few issues.
What I liked: Excellent pacing, good world building and most of all, dialogue! The relationships between the characters were great and I love the playful, flippant voice that emerges when they interact (reminded me of David Eddings to keep it in the fantasy vein). I hope that Mr Eaton can develop this style further because I can see a real potential for it to humanize his characters in epic situations. Combine this with his obvious knack for crafting settings and we'll have quite the emerging talent on our hands. No spoilers, but I consider the setting of my favorite island in this book worthy of Piers Anthony.

What I didn't like: I found myself wanting more demonstrative and less expository character development. Don't tell me again and again that a character is sneaky, show me by having her infiltrate a fortress. I wanted to see the characters use their talents more and talk about them less. Too many of the few action scenes end in one blow or in near defeat, and characters never really live up to the hype when they need to. I found this really lowered the stakes and had me thinking "Well, here's a collection of some of the most elite warriors in the land about to get their asses handed to them again".

What puzzled me: Yup, the sex. I have seen the same vein of eroticism Eaton weaves into his work in other books (again, Piers Anthony). I didn't get it then and I don't get it now. This isn't so much a criticism as perhaps a shortcoming of mine as a reader, because I know some people who would probably think this was the best part of the book. It seemed that nearly every challenge the characters face had some sort of sexual overtone and it got a little tired after a while. Some of it is hilarious and adds to the irreverent voice that I loved in the dialogue, but in a narrative that is already pretty starved for action I thought it took more away than it added. This is a highly subjective point however and I could see another person really enjoying it.

Overall: I liked this book and am looking forward to the next in the series. I am excited to see Mr Eaton's voice develop as an author and will most certainly be buying the next book.

[Towerbabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A motley and endearing set of characters makes this a fun read

Eaton gives life to a large population of characters, even for the epic fantasy genre, and transforms his narrator to emote and observe as he attempts to follow them all. He gives us access to both their innermost thoughts and a more birds-eye view as they traverse the seas and shores of Lectica. This is a difficult task done well. By the end, I feel intimate with the group and its dynamics, the thoughts of the key figures, and I have a pretty clear image of the world they all belong to. That world is full, extensive and Eaton is often ready with details that realize it for the reader, details like the description of Tollak, a berserker (as in Old Norse legend) as he follows female martial artist Yu Kwan, which reads: “He ate like a starved street rat. And sometimes when she ran in front of him, she felt hunted.” This kind of human observation is canny, and causes the reader to not only visualize these mythical figures but empathize with them.

Testament to the fullness of Eaton’s world is how like a home it feels. For several of the principal characters, being summoned by the Lord of Lectica means leaving home behind and traveling, often for the first time, to foreign islands; homesickness and loyalty to one’s native people are important themes of the book and each place is well characterized, so that when Orran the house sprite talks of missing home, the sentiment is believable and touching rather than trite...

Read the full review here: http://www.towerbabel.com/library/113...

[Johnny Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you hold your cursor over those stars, you'll find phrases are linked to each one: 'did not like it,' 'it was ok,' 'liked it,' 'really liked it,' and 'it was amazing.' I think those are perfect phrases for rating a book, mostly because the emphasis is on the positive, and through such emphasis there is an either purposeful or inadvertant recognition of the immense amount of effort and imagination required for a person to write a book.

All of the author reviews I've seen on here have been five-star reviews and I find that either dishonest, distasteful, egocentric, or some combination of those three. Maybe I'm the first author not to give his own book five stars, though I hope not.

I've given my book three stars. I like it. Some of the scenes I wrote came out of the ether to create really cool characters or situations. But here's the truth: I like to think I've got better stories up my sleeve, that I can do better, and I know that I'm not 'king shit' of fantasy mountain. I've got learning and growing to do. I know my strengths--dialogue, world-building, raw imagination--but I also know my weaknesses. My plotting, character development, and descriptions have room for improvement. Trust that I'll have this in mind while writing Book Two.

[Blake Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway and I was pretty excited to finally receive the book. I read through a few reviews before reading this book and I would agree with most of them.

This book has great characters and I enjoyed the comrade of the group. I did feel, however, that it jumped around from character to character. I felt like this did not give me the chance to connect with a specific character. I also think the book lacked major issues and resolutions, but the next book will be great.

Overall, I would recommend reading this book.

[Todd Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting characters and a large world filled with creatures, cultures, and people. the writing is very good for a debut self published novel. I didn't really feel like the story had a climax though. it read more as a series of interconnected short stories than a novel. If the author continues the series I'm definitely interested in seeing where the story goes. especially, a potential parallel plot line that seems more interesting than the main plot thread of book 2.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the book had a good story and some solid potential, but it lacks polish. The narrative jumps around so much that it is hard to figure out who's point of view you are reading. I'll agree with another review that this books lacks a climax but it does set up the next book for an interesting story. Some story points were rushed and it felt like it broke up the narrative to some degree. I think it's a good first novel and I do look forward to reading more from Johnny.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive

This was a long read for me, though overall I enjoyed it. Grammatical I don't recall a single error, and as far as world building goes I loved it. The multitudes of races and environments were lovely and exciting. My only gripe were the slightly awkward sex scenes/references.
Overall, an impressive first in the series! I look forward to picking up the second.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I found it to be only okay. It was more like a series of interconnected character sketches than a complete plot in a book. The book was difficult for me to read because I never found the stories interesting, and the characters were only slightly interesting. Several of the characters are poorly fleshed out and seem to be in the book, just because the author decided he needed them later. Overall, this book just wasn't worth the time it took me to read it.
I received a copy of this book for free for GoodReads First Reads program.