The Novice

Story

A humble blacksmith’s apprentice, Fletcher has a chance encounter that leads him to discover he has the ability to summon demons from another world. When he’s forced to leave his village because of a crime he didn’t commit, he travels to Vocans Academy with his demon to be trained in the art of summoning.

Through his gruelling training to fight in the war against the savage orcs, Fletcher must also tread carefully around the power hungry nobles. He must decide where is loyalties lie, with the fate of an empire in his hands.

Why we chose it

The Novice has been a huge international success and is particularly popular with reluctant boy readers.

Where it came from

When looking for more diversity in books as a child, Taran Matharu came across fantasy books, table top games, and video games, from Tolkien to Warhammer to Skyrim. Inspired by the tensions between dwarves, elves, orcs, he began to understand the tensions in his own world, which inspired him to write The Novice.

He describes the writing process as like a choose your own adventure story, writing the story he wished he could read.

Where it went next

The book was a New York Times bestseller and led to two more books to complete the trilogy: The Inquisition and The Battlemage, as well as a prequel called The Outcast. The series has a huge online following.

Associated stories

Taran is now writing a new YA trilogy, with the first book The Chosen published in 2019.