The Novice (summoner, #1)

The first book in the Summoner series is set in the Hominum Empire, a kingdom at war with orcs. Rare individuals called summoners can channel magical energy known as mana to control demons, creatures from a parallel dimension called the ether. Summoners serve as battlemages, elite military officers whose demons and spellcraft are essential to Hominum's defense.

Fletcher, a 15-year-old orphan and blacksmith's apprentice, lives in the remote mountain village of Pelt. Abandoned as an infant in the snow, he was taken in by Berdon, a kind blacksmith. After a successful elk hunt, Fletcher is extorted by Didric Cavell, the bullying son of Pelt's wealthiest moneylender, Caspar Cavell, who tricks Fletcher into surrendering his kill and humiliates him.

On trading day, a grizzled soldier named Rotherham sells orc war souvenirs, including a journal taken from a dead battlemage named James Baker. Didric tries to buy the book cheaply, and that evening Rotherham tells Fletcher about the deteriorating war and an albino orc chieftain uniting the tribes. When Didric confronts them demanding the book, a brawl erupts; Didric slashes Fletcher with a hidden dagger before Rotherham drives him off. The next morning, Rotherham departs, leaving the journal as a gift.

Inside, Fletcher finds a summoning scroll, an incantation carved into human skin. That night, he sneaks to the village graveyard and reads the scroll aloud. A blinding orb of light appears, and a small, ferret-sized demon with burgundy skin and amber eyes materializes: a Salamander. The creature wraps around Fletcher's neck, and he senses a mental connection to it.

Didric and two guards track Fletcher to a mausoleum. Didric reveals his father's plan to convert Pelt into a prison while securing weapons contracts that will ruin Berdon. When Didric orders his companions to kill Fletcher, the demon claws Didric's face and breathes liquid fire that sets his hair ablaze. Fletcher escapes and rushes to Berdon, who declares Fletcher his son, gives him a bow and over 1,000 shillings in savings, arms him with a khopesh, a curved sickle sword, and instructs him to flee south to the capital, Corcillum.

After three days evading pursuers and two weeks hidden in a sheep wagon, Fletcher reaches Corcillum. Cornered in an alley by thieves, he kills their leader with an arrow, but the man's pistol fires simultaneously. A shield spell cast by Captain Arcturus, a watching officer, blocks the bullet. Arcturus identifies Fletcher's demon as a rare Salamander and arranges his transport to Vocans Academy, the battlemage training school housed in an enormous castle called the Citadel.

At Vocans, Fletcher befriends commoner students including Rory Cooper, Genevieve Leatherby, Atlas, and Seraph Pasha. He bonds with Othello, a dwarf and the first of his kind to train as a battlemage, who carries a Golem demon named Solomon. Fletcher names his own demon Ignatius. The noble students arrive, led by the arrogant Forsyth twins, Tarquin and Isadora, heirs to the Forsyth dukedom. The nobles also include Malik Saladin, a skilled swordsman. Sylva Arkenia, an elf chieftain's daughter and the first elven summoner in 1,000 years, attends as a diplomatic envoy. Provost Scipio, who runs the school, announces a year-end tournament: The winner receives a captaincy and a council seat.

Lessons begin. Fletcher shows unusual aptitude and masters infusion, the technique of absorbing a demon into one's body for healing and protection, on his first attempt. During a demonstration, Captain Lovett suffers ethershock, complete paralysis from breathing the ether's toxic air, when a dangerous demon attacks. Inquisitor Rook, a vindictive man, replaces Lovett, restricting commoners' training and favoring nobles. Arcturus privately reveals that many orphaned adepts, people with innate summoner potential, are illegitimate children of nobles. Arcturus himself is an illegitimate son of Lord Faversham, whose lands surround Pelt, and suspects Fletcher may be another Faversham child.

On a trip to Corcillum, corrupt Pinkertons, government lawmen, assault Othello for carrying a traditional dwarven weapon. Fletcher meets Othello's family, including his twin brother Atilla, who harbors intense hatred for humans. Fletcher and Othello later rescue Sylva from a public execution staged by anti-elf extremists led by a demagogue named Grindle, who works for Lord Zacharias Forsyth.

Fletcher experiences an infusion flashback, a memory seen through Ignatius's perspective, revealing the demon is over 2,000 years old. The memory depicts the Battle of Corcillum, the decisive battle of the First Orc War, in which allied humans and elves killed an albino orc leader, raising questions about the current albino chieftain.

When Sylva follows a mysterious figure from the Citadel, she and Fletcher discover Othello attending a secret dwarven war council debating rebellion. Fletcher sends Ignatius into the cave to observe. Othello argues against war, and the elders agree. Grindle then arrives with soldiers loyal to Lord Forsyth. Fletcher alerts the dwarves, and the group fights free. Atilla is shot in the leg; Fletcher carries him to safety, guided by Lovett's Mite demon Valens, which the paralyzed captain directs through the rare ability to see through her demon's mind.

The group pieces together the Forsyth conspiracy: The family orchestrated Sylva's kidnapping to incite war between elves and Hominum, and attacked the dwarven council to provoke civil war, all to boost weapons sales. Seraph reveals that his family's partnership with the dwarves gives them a monopoly on gunpowder, and the king plans to elevate the Pashas to nobility, threatening Forsyth dominance. The four friends resolve to win the tournament.

They train for months in secret. Atlas betrays their preparations to the Forsyths in exchange for a promised military commission, and Rory and Genevieve, feeling deceived by their exclusion, turn against Fletcher's group after Tarquin exploits the rift. On the eve of the tournament, Fletcher has battle spell symbols tattooed on his fingertips and a pentacle on his palm, inspired by his flashback of the albino orc's tattooed hands. The tattoos allow him to cast spells instantly without etching symbols in the air. Atilla crafts Fletcher's scrying stone, a crystal used to see through a demon's eyes, into an eyeglass.

Lord Zacharias Forsyth arrives at the tournament with Lord and Lady Faversham, whom he has told about Fletcher's alleged parentage. Arcturus has been sent away. In Round 1, Fletcher uses his tattooed fingers to win but seriously injures Rory's demon with a kinetic blast, leaving Fletcher wracked with guilt. In Round 2, he defeats Malik Saladin in a fierce swordfight. Sylva defeats Isadora but is then overwhelmed by Tarquin, who leaves her unconscious with broken bones. Othello, nursing a broken leg, forfeits to Fletcher in the semifinal.

In the final, Fletcher feigns Ignatius's defeat. He then infuses the demon through his tattooed palm and fires a combined blast of lightning, fire, and kinetic energy from three fingers simultaneously. The attack shatters Tarquin's shield and sends him crashing into the ceiling. Fletcher collapses and wakes in the infirmary, where Scipio confirms his victory and awards him a captaincy and council seat, praising the tattooed spells and scrying eyeglass as breakthroughs.

The triumph is short-lived. Rook enters with Pinkertons who snap manacles onto Fletcher's wrists, announcing he is under arrest for the attempted murder of Didric Cavell. When Othello tries to intervene, he is struck to the ground. Rook tells Fletcher he is being sent back to Pelt.