Seen at Bookish Antics 
 With over 6 millions reads, The Novice is a Wattpad sensation and so, I was eager to see what all the hype was all about. The world definitely wasn't wrong about this one and Matharu's debut is easily one of the best high fantasy books I've read in ages. With a surplus of demons, elves, orcs and more, The Novice is a novel that is epic in scope and is just so compulsively readable. I had so much fun reading this novel and following Fletcher's adventure to the point where I wished for my own personal demon several times over. 
 Fletcher is a poor peasant who gets himself into trouble one night at the graveyard, which subsequently leads him to becoming a fugitive. When Fletcher discovers that he is a Summoner, a person with the ability to summon demons, he is recruited to an academy. At the academy he discovers a world full of intrigue and political tensions between the different races (elves, humans, orcs, etc). In the war against the orcs, few will survive and Fletcher will need to take a side on the warfront. 
 In the past I've read about plenty of academies for "special kids," but The Novice is still an extremely original novel that separates itself from other books in the fantasy genre. Matharu has developed a novel with such in-depth lore and back history about the academy, that the story extends beyond the page. There's just so much first-class world-building and intricacies in this novel that it feels like a trilogy might not be enough to explore everything Matharu has to offer. 
 I found myself having so much reading The Novice with all of the humor, action and awesome uses of magic. Fletcher is such a great hero, one that is especially easy to root for and is extremely likeable to the point where readers will likely be obsessed with him. Taran Matharu is truly a gifted author and it's no surprise why millions have enjoyed The Summoner series, it's simply irresistible. 
 I'm so excited to see where Matharu takes readers in the following installments in this series and it's going to be a painful wait until book two. Fantasy fans will find so much to love in The Novice and it's supremely awesome. If I can't have book two right now, the universe should totally give me my own Ignatius.