Author: Todd Herzman
Blurb (for book one): How do you kill an Immortal?
Huon is weak. A surgecaller who escaped into the wilds, his only goal was to survive.
Now he is Oathbound, forced to fight in an arena, forced to become stronger than he’d thought possible.
As he realises he can become strong, the need for revenge fills his heart, and a new goal forms in his mind.
But his goal is impossible: kill the dragon rider, the Immortal of Fire.
To succeed, he’ll have to do more than just survive—he’ll have to advance beyond anything the realm has ever seen.
My Rating: 4/5 (for the series so far)
Amazon Rating (for book one): 4.4
Link: Amazon
I’ve read up to book six so far, but I’ll be reading through the rest of them in the coming couple weeks—or days, as it was for Legendary (Surgecaller 5).
Anyways, without further ado, here’s my review:
The Surgecaller series is very good—seriously. If you’re looking for your next progression fantasy binge (because you’ve finished Cradle), this is the series for you. It doesn’t have as complex of a magic system, but it throws in a touch of elemental magic that sets it apart.
Hopefully the blurb gave you a taste of the plot for the first book. If not, then I’ll simply say: Huon’s main motivation is revenge, and the story revolves around his search for it. But there are also brutal gladiator battles, a quest to achieve personal freedom from an all-powerful king, a tournament arc, and of course, lots of magical progression.
Magic System:
You should definitely get Cradle vibes from this book, albeit with a little less emphasis on the cultivation side of things. Perhaps “cultivation-lite” would be a good way to put it. But the author adds a bit more of an elemental twist (think Avatar: The Last Airbender) to the magic system, which keeps it from just feeling like a copy-paste.
Huon also takes some time to progress (for example, by the end of the first book, he has only achieved the first rank), but that doesn’t mean the story is slow-paced. You’ll find action or tension in pretty much every chapter, and it makes you want to keep reading at a breakneck pace (and it’s probably a good thing that the books are on sale right now, because you’ll be tearing through them so fast). Also… probably a good thing that there are so many books in the series.
Characters:
This isn’t the type of series where the main character wins all the time. Huon doesn’t. There are lots of situations where he is bested and has to become more powerful so he can come back later to defeat an opponent, which ultimately makes his victories more satisfying and makes the progression dopamine hit a lot stronger.
When it comes to the characters, you might find that, early on, Huon is a little one-dimensional. I’d say it’s reasonable—he’s young, and his quest is to get revenge—but if you’re looking for incredibly complex and perfectly-written characters right from the start, this isn’t the book for you. However, I will suggest that you keep reading (“Does Surgecaller get good?”—yes, yes it does, if this is why you were asking), because as the series progresses, Huon gets a lot more depth. The side characters, of course, tend to also be less-developed early on. Again, as you read, they get more depth to them (as you’d expect). That being said, the heroes are likable when they need to be, and villains are perfectly despicable when they need to be. Yes, I said heroes and villains. This is that type of story.
Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear, there’s only one perspective (until the fifth book): Huon.
Style:
All of the Surgecaller books are well written and easy to read. I didn’t find many spelling or grammar errors, and most of it flowed very well. Awkward sentences are not a common occurrence in the author’s prose.
Overview:
If you’re looking for a series to binge, I highly recommend Surgecaller. It’s got interesting magic, solid progression, and likeable characters that grow more and more interesting as you read on.
Update:
Now that the series is done and I’m caught up, I figured, I’d talk about it a little more.
I think the best way I can describe it is: it feels like if Brandon Sanderson wrote Cradle (but not in a bad way). It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s definitely worth your time, and you’ll get more than a bit of enjoyment out of it. The magic system is interesting, and the characters are likeable with clear goals.
Plus, with how many series in this genre are just constant, ongoing, never ending series, I appreciate that this author actually ends his stories. (He also wrote a litrpg trilogy that actually ended, but I haven’t read it yet.) That being said, I know not everyone likes series that end. If you do, I recommend this one.
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