Divine Summons – The Wind Rider Saga – Book One – Rebecca P. Minor

 

Divine Summons is a well-written fantasy that follows Vinyanel, an Elven Captain in the elven cavalry, a half-elven prophetess, and a silver dragon. The book opens with Vinyanel fleeing a reconnaissance mission gone wrong, so wrong that everyone but him is killed. Even his horse dies. He does manage to steal a demonic device and delivers it to his king in an effort to stave off the hordes of dragon-kin intent on slaughtering every elf in the kingdom.

With his old unit gone, Vinyanel is surprised when the king orders him to form the first airborne unit of elves riding dragons. He is also assigned a prophetess who chants thinly disguised Scripture for the magic that comes from the strength of God. She irritates him to distraction. He doesn’t want training in the Scripture of his people, especially by her. He wants action. He wants to kill dragon-kin.

A subversive plot returns the device to the demonic hordes. Vinyanel must decipher the plot and peoples undermining the safety of his kingdom while learning how to ride a dragon and fighting evil magic.

The prophetess tells him he must rely on the strength of God, but Vinyanel knows that only his strength will save his kingdom. Can he learn otherwise?

The novel is full of interesting characters, though the prophetess annoyed me for much the same reasons she annoyed the elven captain. There is evil magic that is portrayed as ugly and nasty. A lot of people and animals die violently in this nobledark tale. The good magic is not so much magic as it is recitation of Scripture and praying. The difference between good and evil is well marked and clear, though who of the people are good and evil is a puzzle Vinyanel struggles to discover.

The pace is quick and exciting. The writing is stellar. The plot is easy to follow even if the mystery is hard to solve.

I recommend the book to adults and teenagers who love epic fantasy and can handle some images of horror. Young children might find some of the dark imagery disturbing.

Divine Summons is available on Amazon

Content Ratings:

Heat: None

Profanity: Fantasy words

Violence: Quite a bit. People and animals die. There is a lot of blood.

Genre: Christian High Fantasy