"Truly heartwarming tale of love, betrayal and magic!"
Marian Harasta doesn't have many people in her life she
truly cares about, but her brother Andrew is one of them.
Eventually moving to California to get away from their
domineering mother, Andrew and Marian are still very
close. With Andrew having a wicked case of MS, Marian has
been searching for some way to help him. Marian is a
student of religions and when her mentor shows up at her
house and tells Marian she will find her teacher during a
ritual, Marian knows she must perform it. So gathering up
her hamster, Tuck, in his little plastic ball, Marian gets
in the center of her pentagram and performs the ritual and
finds herself being pulled into some sort of tunnel.
Naturally, she loses her grip on Tuck and ends up in the
middle of a pentagram surrounded by people speaking a
language she's never heard before. When one man comes up
to her and attempts to claim her, Marian has a vision that
he will cause her destruction. So when an old man steps up
and their songs mesh, she goes with him to learn. The old
man turns out to be Bossgond, a Master Circlet Sorcerer
and he bonds with Marian when he takes her on as an
apprentice. Through that bond, Marian can understand the
language and the written word. It turns out Marian has
ended up on the planet Amee and she has been summoned to
help the Lladranans battle the dark. And so Marian the
Exotique begins her Circlet training and learning the ways
of Amee. Jaquar lost his parents to the forces of the dark. Because
of his blue eyes, Jaquar was never really accepted among
the Lladranans and finally ended up with foster parents,
who loved him and nurtured him. So when they were killed,
his grief was all-consuming. The only thing on his mind
now is vengeance. He comes up with a way to battle the
dark. He decides the Circlets need to summon an Exotique
of their own and use her to infiltrate the dark's nest and
ultimately destroy them. And then Marian comes into the
picture and he feels an immediate attraction to her. When
Marian's affinity turns out to be weather, Jaquar's
specialty, she ends up learning from him. Will Jaquar be able to go through with his plan to
sacrifice Marian to the forces of the dark? Will Marian be
able to get back to Earth and Andrew? Will the two of them
bond, or will Jaquar be Marian's destruction? And what of
Tuck? THE SUMMONING—SORCERESS OF FAITH is truly a fantastic
read! Robin Owens has once again proven her talent with
the written word. We take two wounded people—one with a
quest to help her ill brother; the other whose only
thought is of vengeance—add in a talking hamster, throw in
some really horrid monsters, and we come up with pure
magic! So far, we have two out of the six Exotiques, I
can't wait to see what the next four do! Robin Owens is a
must-buy for me and with good reason.
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted May 9, 2007
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**2006 PEARL WINNER - BEST SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY** With the world of Llandrana threatened by encroaching evil, the Sorcerers must do the unthinkable--Summon an outsider to stop the insidious Darkness slowly taking control of their land and poisoning the Sorcerers themselves. Arriving in Lladrana, grad student Marian Harasta is stunned to find herself the center of a dispute among Sorcerers who want to augment their Power with her own. She must quickly learn her new magical Powers - and decide who she can trust in this strange land. She has prayed for a miracle to save her brother - could Lladrana offer that knowledge, and can she somehow return to Earth with it? She knows she must offer the Sorcerers something in exchange, and ridding them of the Evil Sorcerer is what they want, but how will she fare in her first magical duel? With unexpected help - and unexpected betrayal - Marian must determine where her true fate lies.
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