Smoke and Summons

Numina, Book 1

By: Charlie N. Holmberg

Narrated by: Scott Merriman, Lauren Ezzo

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A captivating world of monsters and magic from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician Series.

As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon - a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day - a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down....

©2019 Charlie N Holmberg LLC. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Fun story with likeable characters.

Really enjoyed the narrators. I tend to prefer male voices, however I found that I loved Lauren Ezzo's tone and voice more than her male counterpart. So much so, that I felt she was the character. I also felt the story premise was intriguing even if the story ended as expected. The main characters were really loveable. The one thing that did annoy me was that I felt the villians felt too competent. Every single time the main characters moved around the city (they move a lot), the villians were right there. It seems unbelievable that they we're always discovered so quickly, and that the villians were that efficient with being on top of their every move in a massive city.

This performance/story is so addicting!

I loved the narrators and the way they switched between her story and his story. Like a good book I didn't want to put my phone down to listen. I loved the whole experience!

Fascinating

Needless to say the book was as fascinating as it was good. The story was quite interesting and the concept of the Numens was great. You get to see a bond developing between the main characters and some assurance from a friend. Would recommend the series, couldn't stop listening/reading once I started.

Pristinely Amazing

Yes, the story is great.
Yes, the magic & lore is well done.
Yes, I couldn’t figure out the ending at all...

But most impressive... Charlie writes BOTH main characters {Sanis & Rone} SO WELL I could not tell if the author a woman or man. Never once did the characters shift for Charlie’s plot. It was BEAUTIFUL. I can’t WAIT to read everything else they’ve written!!!! Thank you!!!!

action-packed

wall to wall action! I was disappointed to find out that you cannot read this book as a standalone. once you get to the ending you will definitely want to get the second one. I imagine that was on purpose.

Well written

I always enjoy Holmberg's writing. Although this one is not my favorite, it was well written and entertaining. The plot moves at a good pace, and there are not any slow places in the story.

Okay beginning

This is an okay start. I’m curious where the story is going. The characters are engaging. It is a bit to continuously struggling. It gets repetitive and boring when the characters go from one struggle to another.

Most Excellent!!

Great writing and two excellent readers . I can’t wait to read or listen to the next book.

Didn't Find the Ending as Offensive as some

I expected some awful cliff-hanger that would leave everything up-ended and terribly frustrating after I read the reviews for this book, but I hate to say it - I didn't have that reaction to it. I'm a Holmberg fan and have read almost all of her other books. She totally lost me on Veins of Gold and it was one of the few books I have ever just not finished because I didn't care about what happened. So, all that being said, my expectations were super low. But I thought this is a great story. The characters, setting and plot are all such great fantasy and she brings it to life in a way that really lets me feel like a fly on the wall. I did feel like some strings get left untied but I also thought I got some resolution on certain things, with an understanding that there was more to come. Overall, I liked the characters, story, and narration from Audible (the performer did a great job)! If you like Holmberg's other books, give it a try. It's not as good as Paper Magician but definitely still a winner in my book.

Good story, actors lacking

This book has a great, original storyline. My only (pretty glaring) issue was that Sandis' narrator made Sandis seem more pathetic and ingenue-esque than I think was intended by the author. Rhone's narrator would have been perfectly fine doing the parts of both Sandis and Rhone.

Otherwise, I do love the story and will listen to the next one.