Between his studies at the Varle Academy for Gifted Mages and his duties to the monster response team, Gryff will find himself fighting not just monsters, but bandits, thugs, and a local street gang as well. But hey, no one ever said becoming the world’s greatest summoner while also juggling three hot girlfriends would be easy. Especially when you add a fourth girl to the mix…
This book overall was a lot weaker than the first installment. It has three glaring flaws in core areas, the plot, the characters and the harem.
1. The plot. It pretty much goes nowhere. The entire book is more slice of life than plot driven. There is no overarching goal, no progress made and nothing really happens. It's a string of minor events and scenes where the characters are eating and they eat a lot. Which usually is described in detail.
2. The characters. There's very little to no developement here. There is a small arc concerning Layla, that has some meaningful developement. Beyond that the same as the plot, the entire book feels like one big filler. No progress is made, nothing really happens and even things such as gaining a new essence crystal are never again addressed.
3. The harem. It's still around but now it's pretty much just, casual hook ups. Two of the major characters barely get any attention. It completely lacks any attachement, romantic feelings or substance for that matter. It's more two people casually getting together to get their rocks off. No strings attached and both likely see other people on the side aswell.
In a way this reminds me of J.A Ciprianos writing of romance and relationships. Which is NOT a compliment! It's more a casual everyone sleeps with everyone deal. Which means rather than having some "fixed" girls, he might aswell meet a new one every time. As the relationship never develops beyond that casual hook up and there's zero exclusivity involved either.
This is turning into a really good series. I still think the cover art is a little misleading, it makes it seem like Gryff is surrounded by scantily clad women that can't get enough sex. While there is sex in this book, it is not over the top. Gryff does have sex in this book with multiple women, but it seems more like friends with benefits. He enjoys hanging out with his friends and if an opportunity arises when a female friend wants to have sex with him, that's great. He is not in a different woman's room every night though.
I was a little worried with the direction this book would take after the last book. When he defeated Gawain at the end of book 1, I was worried that it would turn into a payback scenario where Gryff had to go up against the elites. I was afraid that he would spend half the time fighting monsters and the other half dealing with the noble class. I am very glad that didn't happen. I was also a little worried about Gryff's personality. I felt he was a little bit of a dick in the first book. While he had a reason for the way he acted because of how people perceived him as a summoner and an orphan, I never felt he was treated bad enough to react the way he did. He was almost as bad, if not worse with his appraisal of the wealthy.
Things settled done in this book though. He was sort of famous now after his duel and nobody really talked down to him anymore, so at the same time he stopped ragging on the wealthy as well. Gryff was confident, bordering on cocky, but I never felt like he crossed that line which made him likeable. It also made it more believable that women liked him and wanted to sleep with him.
The characters are very well written and have depth, whether rich or poor, each one of his friends have their own unique problems which lead to their unique personalities. There were many more different and wondrous creatures that were summoned and new ways to fight (as well as the old favorites). The fight scenes were well written ( both against monsters and humans). The main aspect of this story was about the relationships of Gryff as his friends with the backdrop of fighting. That gave this story just a little more heart. I am looking forward to the next book. I hope things continue the way they have gone.
I truly enjoy this series. It is fun to read and I like the characters in the book. I find them enjoyable and engaging they continue to grow and develop so that they are not just filler characters.The book was solid and continues to fill out the world and how it works.Overall I would have liked to get more backstory on Nia hopefully we will see more in book three.
“Blood doesn’t make a family, love does”- Gryff As corny as that sounds, it still got me deep. While I’m still not over the dubious premise and other issues I mentioned in my review of the first book but the little things I liked got even more fleshed out in this one. And I loved every bit of it- the character interactions, random banter, their back stories etc. Their uncertainty over their future, mixed feelings of returning home for the summer holidays, moments like those brought back all the bittersweet memories of my school days. And the nostalgia won me over completely.
That aside, this is primarily an action/adventure series and in that regard the plot didn’t have much going on. I myself got into this for those reasons esp. the monster collection aspects, which unfortunately have yet to be delivered. I expected much more and so far the monsters are not even the primary focus of the combat, much less them having personalities and forming bonds, becoming partners with the MC and the like.
I understand the importance of laying a solid foundation and getting the readers attached to the characters. And the author is definitely nailing it with that. But I feel there needs to be more of the main promised elements, basically the summoning stuff. There should’ve been a balance between that and the groundwork for the characters. But well, if I had to choose one, I’ll still have chosen the characters over some epic plot progression. Coz in my case atleast I can do without everything else but I need characters and interactions solid. The rest will matter only once I start caring for the characters first.
Having said that, I hope the next book finally gets into the meat of it. Afterall as much as I love slice of life elements, I didn’t sign up for this series with that in mind. I saw the cover arts of some gorgeous monster summons and I can hardly wait for the MC to get into breathtaking battles with them in his arsenal. Let’s hope there are some epic war scenes here and ofcourse some spicy time with those monster ladies ;)
Great follow-up to the first novel. The only reason that I gave it less stars than the first was because I felt the publication was rushed and it didn't have a proper editing done. There were also editing errors in the first book, but not as severe as in this one. For example, there were a lot of times in this book where the prose style went from past tense to present tense for a single paragraph and then back again or even just a single sentence. Keeping the same tense throughout a story is one of the most basic things that authors are taught about the craft and it confuses readers when the tense suddenly shifts. At these parts, I had to reread the section, changing the tense in my mind as I read it, to allow for easier understanding of what the text was supposed to read.
It's a great story and a great series, but as it is being self-published I would highly recommend the author get someone to edit the work after he's completed it to catch these sorts of errors. An author doesn't always catch these errors when self-editing because the author knows what the text is supposed to say and his/her mind replaces the errors it sees with the text it knows is supposed to be there, causing these errors to get overlooked.
I was rather intrigued by how the author decided to go with the title "Summoner 2."
The bold move won brownie points with me as a reader, and I may have given the author too much credit.
Now this is the part where I'm going to be brutally honest, although I encourage the author to keep his work up. Pressure makes diamonds. The flirtatious dialogue became cheesy at a point, and the repetitive things Gryff said to his female companions weren't as witty as I'd hoped they'd be. I saw this book as a large opportunity to expand on this world of magic and its political intricacies, but I found a lot of missed opportunities. I learned a little more about summoners, mages, etc. but the magic system started becoming one dimensional. This second book seems to be more centered on becoming a harem king than anything else. And while it may be rewarding in the short-term, this detour from the immersive world of the last book is causing the series to suffer.
Best of luck. I'm really hoping for success on the next installment of this series, but I'm concerned coming out of this book, and I wasn't with the last.
Theres some action throughout, not much but enough to keep things interesting. Book was mostly slice of life. Romance is done well with most of the women. Author glossed over the lead up to the threesome, which is a shame, would have been amusing to see cyras reaction to layla being keen on it. Didn't get too smutty with the sex scenes which was good, was right in the middle. We finally see our MC use a new monster summon instead of his usual staple of summons. But he only uses it once and we don't see him or hear of him buying it until he uses it, which is a mistake on the authors part. We do see him finally find a crystal from a defeated monster, but he never tries it out for us, so the power progression is still lacking in the book, doesn't feel like our MC is getting stronger.
Enjoyable but the small inconsistencies wear on me.
Let me get this out of the way it's an enjoyable story with unique action. The sex scene are explicit but not graphic (think Cinemax not porno) which makes it satisfying but isn't long enough to be off putting to those who don't enjoy that sort of thing. My issue with the series is small but annoying, any story has the inconstancies but they feel like they add up more in this series. Saying it's been a week when it's been 2 or 3 days, saying they stayed at an inn every night when they didn't, stuff like this doesn't affect the story but it still bothers me.
The Summoner story is growing into an epic tale as Gryff grows in ability and adds more notches on his belt with the ladies. Not sure if you can call this a harem tale as most of the ladies are not aware of the others at this stage anyway. I keep wondering if any of the girls will end up pregnant as there never seems to be any protections used or mentioned. It’s not all about sex as this is an action adventure tale with plenty of bad guys and monsters to fight.
The previous instalment was lacking when it came to the development of the protagonist, this sequel has definetly improved on the character and brought in some other interesting characters to boot.
The over-arching story in the series doesn’t progress very far in this instalment, but there are some interesting and enjoyable events. The books are well written, and i find my self becoming more invested in the primary cast as the story progresses.
The idea for the story is good and most of it is well written, though the adaults scenes feel forced and add nothing to the story. They also come across as completely unnatural. This on top of the fact that the protagonists claim to fame it that he coordinates his summons instead of acting as a powerhouse with them.... He is also the first and only one to know how to do this...
Yes, it's true! Summoner are a lot more powerful than they are given credit for. If you need to take out an evil monster, sure you can freeze it or light it aflame, but summon another monster that can be made of metal and deflects electricity, now that's a great fight! Again I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next book. Yes there is some sex, but it's not the focus of some of the harem stories.
Éric Vall has an interesting imagination for summoning. I really enjoy the dark and gruesome descriptions of the monsters within this series! Character building is still growing strong within the second book of the series, relations between the characters as well. This is exactly what i like to look for within a fantasy style novel; adventure, character building , intelligent fighting/tactics and a unique outlook on magic(summoning).
I like this world. I like Braden better. Rich, big & burly, the quiet type that smolders quietly then explodes. That said, the storyline is good, the action is definitely fast paced and the drinks flow freely. Summoner 2, straight and to the point. I liked it. On to book three t see what's going on with Gryft & his buddies. You'll like it, well, I did.
Nothing earth-shattering here: just a nice easy, interesting read. The characters work as previously defined, and we get to know more about them. We get good action, drama, and a little romance. A good read, and likely a lull before some serious action. (No, the other kind of action, with monsters and stabby metal tools.) Recommended.
Gryff’s adventures continue, which is a good thing. In Summoner 2 Gryff and his friends continue to maneuver themselves through their first year at the academy. A little more character development is provided for Layla and Nia finally starts to thaw towards our hero. If you enjoyed the first book, the second will not disappoint.
Eric Vall doesn't dissapoint in the second book of the series. Gryf helps Layla with her family issues and challanges brought on by her POS brother and takes out the gang trash. The trio go visit Maelor during their holiday break. They have some great adventures, and his reunion with Nia is quite memorable! I really recommend this series!
As with the first, the action and characters are well written. The "recap exposition" at the beginning of the book is a little heavy handed, but not too bad. Most unusually, there isn't much of an overarching plot. It's fun to read, but lacks cohesion as a single story. It's best read like a magazine serial.
I loved this book! The action just keeps ramping up in this book! Vall really keeps us on our toes in this book and the ice Queen really starts to thaw! I love how the relationships develop, blossom and bloom! Superb world building and all I can say is bravo! Such a great job and I’m excited for the next book!
It has a great balance of action (both types if you get my drift), but it's not overly focused on. The mc builds a relationship and you can tell the feelings that were put into it. He shows compassion and empathy and isn't afraid of his emotions. I'm excited for the next book in the series. Good job Eric.
The story is still well done, and worth the read. It is certainly an interim type of book where different elements are brought together and a bit of foreshadowing. I like it, and look forward to the next in the series.
This series is excellent, full of action, engaging characters, and a entertaining plot. Looking forward to further books from this amazing author. Keep up the great work!
A fun light novel, kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop though. A good fun read if you're looking for something that doesn't take too much thinking and has it's fair share of shagging.
It was good but a plot is needed for me to continue
The characters are great. I saw a few spelling and phrase mistakes. Some of the action is good but it needs a plot now that can suck me in the next book
I’ve read the first 2 books in 2 days now. Really enjoyed them. I’m going to look for the third now (don’t know if it’s out yet) but if not I’ll definitely read it when it comes out. Great work
From the first chapter of the first book, I've been in love with these books. The characters are rich, connections built and expanded upon, and a great writing style. My only complaint is the abundance of grammatical errors almost make it unreadable.
I enjoyed it. This one felt like it was more about the main character's romantic exploits than any real progress in his abilities or the story. But it was a fun distraction for a few hours.
The action in this one felt rather hollow. Our mc flips from killing fine to it not being his thing in a few weeks. And I get that it's a harem story but the amount of vagina flying at this guy is ridiculous. I hope the next book has substance.
Hero is too busy dipping his wick into all moving girls to progress the story much. Even that NFSW content is not fleshed out. Makes one wonder the authors target audience. Anyways an okay read if you don't have much on your reading list.
Gryph takes a spring break vacation with his friends Branden and Layla. Heading to the last known place where his adopted father was working. Aside from the excitement of the trip on horseback, they enjoyed the companionship and beauty of the wilderness. A good read.