Guardian of Honor (The Summoning, Book 1)

wow what a book, I really like her approach to the magical with *spoiler* the wands. I also like that the evil guy I didn't like got what he deserved that made me feel so much better for the main character.

Again, that feeling of a large, gentle whirlwind at the end of the book. Not quite as good as HeartMate but excellent. I'd read part of this one and the next one, and about half of the third, before - so some of the stuff was not as much of a surprise as it was supposed to be. The world is

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interesting, the forms of magic are good. Reynardus is just stupid, and the other Marshalls are stupid too for putting up with him. He seriously needed to be slapped down - they started to and then pulled back. I found the 'chasm' at the end rather contrived - the earlier conflict between the hero and heroine was far more realistic. Still, an excellent book and a great intro to Lladrana.

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Superb worldbuilding, realistic characters, imaginative stories, exciting action, satisfying romance--is it any wonder Robin D. Owens is one of my absolute favorites?

Lawyer Alexa Fitzwalter is all alone in the world after the death of her best friend. Now she's also having strange dreams and

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hearing chanting and music and a gong, and she feels compelled to follow the song in the mountains at night. Then the hallucinations become visual as well, and when she hears the plea "we need you," she steps through the arch into another world.

The world of Lladrana has been protected from the evil beyond its borders by a magical fence, but the fence posts are failing and more and more monsters are getting in, and soon they'll overwhelm the Marshalls' and Chevaliers' ability to fight them. The Marshalls know that only an Exotique (human from Earth) will be able to restore the fence posts, and so they're summoning one: Alexa.

Alexa's immediately confronted with a monster, then finds herself in a circle of what appears to be sorcerers, who apparently want something from her, but who also seem bent on tormenting her. She endures test after test, and finally learns some of what's going on when she's befriended by Sinafin, the little shapeshifting feycoocu.

Among the demands of the Marshalls is the demand that she take a mate, which will make it more likely that she'll stay in Lladrana when the time comes for her to choose.

I think I'd better stop there before I give away the entire story. I loved Guardian of Honor so much that I guess I just want to relive it while I'm writing this.

Alexa's character is one you can really root for, and identify with (at least with wishful thinking). She's strong and intelligent, and she needs to be needed. When she meets Bastien, the Chevalier who's an outcast because he's a black-and-white (meaning his hair is striped black and white, a sign that his magic is wild and uncontrolled), their mutual outsiderness (I was going to change this, but I discovered it is a real word after all) draws them believably together.

I thoroughly enjoyed the political machinations of the Marshalls--some of them genuinely trying to help, others trying only to further their own agendas, but all of them arrogant to one degree or another. And I loved how Alexa shook them up. They wanted a tool, and they ended up with something much, much different. I cheered (aloud, even, if nobody was around) several times, and just thinking about it is making me grin.

The world of Lladrana was wonderfully complex and unique. I loved how everything was tied together with song, and especially how the Lladranans' personalities were shaped by their world, just as Alexa's was by being human. It's something I've come to expect from Robin's work, but I appreciate it even though it's not surprising.

I can't be too sorry that I waited so long to read this, even though I bought it the month it was released, because I've already read the second book (I'm a few weeks behind in writing reviews), and don't have to wait for the third. I just have to dig around the TBR pile to make sure it's there.

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Rather than posting a review of each book in the series, here's the summation of them all!

The series started out strong, with a nice balance between the fantasy world and the romantic aspect Owens brings in to most of her work. My enjoyment faded with each subsequent book. This isn't to say I

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didn't enjoy the writing and move quickly through each book, but I think I liked the characters less as the series progressed. For example, the heroine of book 2 seemed strong and smart in her book, but comes across as pushy and arrogant in subsequent books when she isn't the focus.

The final book moved a bit too quickly when it could have helped to slow down and bring the urgency across in a different way, almost as though the author just wanted to get it finished. It is possible I would have enjoyed this series more if I had spaced out each installment rather than reading them all in a row.

I do feel as though there should be a follow-up book or short story focused on the judge and his wife; there seemed to be a little something missing there.

I would definitely read more set in this world. As critical as I could be about this series, I do enjoy this author's work and will certainly look for more by her.

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This book was surprisingly nice. Ok, it's nothing earth shattering, and perhaps because of that 4 stars are too much. On the other hand, I really enjoyed it and I'm going to let that count for more than how good the book is.

The story is about Alexa, who gets Summoned to another world. There she

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finds she has magic and is needed to fight evil. She also finds her soulmate. As you can see, a simple story, nice and unpretentious. It has fantasy, it had romance, and, what I really liked, it is unprejudiced. The highest magic-users, the Marshalls, form up in Pairs, and these Pairs are not necessarily same-sex pairs. One of them is the Shield, and one the Sword, for defensive and offensive fighting. Alexa turns out to be the Sword and her lover to be the Shield. There is some mention about how it is usually the woman who is the Shield, but it is minimal, and most of the comments are made by the most reprehensible person in the book. Although Mr. Soulmate makes some stupid mistakes, the amount of misunderstandings are kept to a minimum, and in the end they have a true partnership. I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series!

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I really enjoy Owens' Celta series, and thought this might grab me the same way. While it was enjoyable, it isn't as compelling as her other series.

The novel started out really slow. 50 pages in I was still having a hard time falling into the story. There were parts that drew me in, but I didn't

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find myself eager to get back to the book if I set it down.

I may try the second book to see if the world captures me more, but I'm not in a hurry to grab it.

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Guardian of Honor was an enjoyable way of spending an evening and I will probably go ahead and look for the next Summoning book although I do prefer the Celta stories. For those times when a fun adventure story is just right.

Alexa Fitzwalter is mourning the death of her best friend and partner in

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their fledgling law firm. One cold night she goes hiking near the mountains outside Denver where she is drawn by chanting to an archway. Passing through it, she finds herself in a chamber in Lladrana where she is Tested. In this new place Alexa must learn magic and swordsmanship and figure out how to fit in. But first she must learn the language and find out why she was summoned. Not a super original plot but I did enjoy the book.

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