Reviews

The Outcast: Prequel to the Summoner Trilogy by Taran Matharu

emilyrose080923's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A

3.0

quolwy's review against another edition

3.0

I was really hoping I would like this as much as the original, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. :(

emiann2023's review against another edition

4.0

This was an interesting story, but much of the earlier chapters felt like a repeat from The Summoner. Overall I really liked seeing more of Edmund and Alice and Elaine. It was a good story, just not my favorite in the series.

taryn_hale's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

caitlyn0407's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

mary_r_m's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed getting to know the characters that play smaller roles in the "Summoner" series.

leandre_de_jager's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sorahershelf's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

corkykat's review against another edition

4.0

I have a lot of appreciation for this series. It may not be up there with Harry Potter, but it is a solid YA fantasy. And I will say, I found Fletcher and Arcturus consistently less annoying than Harry. The series doesn’t really have a factor that makes it pop, but it has all the baselines of a great fantasy. Awesome world building that hints at the Tolkien factor- more to it than we get in the books. Interesting characters (sometimes a little two dimensional, though). Cool spellwork, cool magical creatures, cool creepy wizarding school (maybe a little derivative, but still fun to read). One thing that I want to say about this series is that it never set off my pet peeve of fantasy- breaking its own rules. The author of The Summoner series sets clear rules about the magic he’s described (👍) and once the rules are set they are not broken (👏👏👏). This makes me so happy I’m breaking my rule about not putting emojis in a review. The author finds ways around his rules (@Fletcher’s cool innovations) but doesn’t inherently violate the rule, even when it would be easier to do so. Props.
In summary, good fantasy, good worldbuilding/rules. All around good read, and definitely worth keeping track of the author.

jessywolf's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0