The Battlemage

The Battlemage by Taran Matharu is the third book of the Summoner series.

After the thrilling cliffhanger at the end of book two, we rejoin Fletcher and his friends in the ether, where they must undertake a mortally dangerous quest, all the while avoiding capture by enemies and facing foes more terrifying than anything they have yet encountered.

But this is nothing compared to what truly lies ahead for Fletcher, as his nemesis, albino orc Khan, is on a mission to destroy Hominum and everything and everyone that Fletcher loves.

The Breakdown:
1.  This book fell flat for me. I was expecting something a little more exciting for this book, but Matharu spent a lot of time on the little details but the big action seemed very condensed.  I was looking forward to getting to know Alice Raleigh, but she was just a shell of a person for most of the time when she was present, and the the rest of the book she was hidden away getting treatment.

2.  I seriously felt that Matharu pulled and than this in this book. As in the story went and then this happened and then this happened, and so on and so forth. It made the flow of the story very choppy much of the time.   The lack of flow made it hard for me to really get into the story.

3. I did like that finally Matharu reveals what is so special about Ignatius.  It lead to an interesting confrontation with Fletcher and the Orcs.  I will say that I found Khan an intriguing antagonist, and wished there had been more of him.

4. For me, the ending felt very rushed.  It was almost like Matharu decided the book needed to end in this many pages and had to find a way to wrap it up quickly.

To Read or Not to Read:
Skip it, especially if you haven't started the series.