[.ca] Long Hot Summoning (ISBN 0756401364)

if you REALLY liked the first two:
otherwise a whole lot less. I thought that SUMMON THE KEEPER was one of the funniest, most original books I had ever read, I enjoyed the sequel, THE SECOND SUMMONING, although, like many sequels, it was not quite as good as the first. This third entry into the series has much of the off-the-wall humor of the first two but just isn't as good as the earlier books. The action picks up a few weeks after THE SECOND SUMMONING, Claire and Dean (and Austin) are back at the Elysian Fields Guest House while younger sister Diana is finishing her last few hours of high school. Her first summoning arrives immediately after the last bell rings and takes her to a mall. It sems as though the mundane and magical worlds are overlapping here and need to be separated. Claire also arrives at the mall, the two set out to sort out the mess, meeting King Arthur along the way. Meanwhile back at the guest house Dean and Austin are dealing with their own problems. The action is split among the two sisters and Dean which gives the book a lot of plot to deal with, maybe too much. At times it is difficult to keep the various threads straight, particularly between Claire and Diana. If there is another in the series I hope that it returns to the standards of the first book. It is possible that this is the end of the series, and if so it was fun while it lasted. In any case, if you have read and enjoyed the first books by all means read this one. If the series sounds interesting to you start with SUMMON THE KEEPER. I will be looking for additional books by this author either in this series or one of her others.

SADLY---not as good as its predecessors:
Don't take me wrong. It's not a bad book. It's certainly worth reading if you really enjoyed the first two, but..... Maybe it's the lack of novelty. The book lacks a certain *something* The first book was charming in its novelty. The cutting insight of Austin....Hell talking to itself...It felt fresh and fascinating. In The Long Hot Summoning, the narrative seemed more forced, less natural. Unfortunately for fans of the series, Tanya said publicly at a conference that it is likely this is the last of The Keeper books. This makes me sad since this book is not of the same quality as the first two.

Interesting, but not as good as 2nd Summoning:
Most of this story deals with the adventures of the younger sister from the first two "Summon" novels. Diverting, but the dialog is somewhat predictable and shallow, compared to the first two. I think if she writes a 4th "Summon" novel, this will improve.

Disappointing.. definitely disappointing:
I loved the first 2 books. I loved only part of one sub-plot of this book- Dean, Austin and the mummy, and that isn't enough to love the whole book. Claire's ok in parts, but I didn't really see why she had to do the beach thing and the Egyptian otherworld thing. Lance was over-done and I didn't catch the Australian jokes. I didn't mind the lesbian thingy - at least I understood that part. Most of the time I just couldn't figure out what was going on, especially since Sam and Austin were separated from Claire and Diana so there were 5 threads to follow, none of which seemed to converge much. Things made a twisted kind of sense in the 1st 2 books, maybe because the plots were simpler. Some of those rules are also found in this book, but somehow I couldn't follow out how the mall(s) worked in this story. And while it's Diana's story, she doesn't come across as the heroine. I was hoping that Diana would find her feet as a keeper. She still comes across as a nasty immature and (sigh) impotent person. I need heroines I can like. Ms Huff is definitely capable of better. I'd buy the next book in the series if it's about Claire. Even if it's a better Diana in a sequel, I shudder to think of wading through all that teen-speak. It's hard enough to follow as it is, and it'll only become dated.

A LULL IN THE SERIES:
LONG HOT SUMMONING is # 3 in the Keeper's Chronicles series and while I won't go so far as to say it is a letdown it certainly doesn't have the same oomph as the first two. The humor is still there, but it just doesn't have the same bite or spontaneity we found in its predecessors. The characters seem to be taking a bit of a sabbatical here unlike SUMMON THE KEEPER and especially THE SECOND SUMMONING. The story focuses more on Diana, now a full fledged Keeper and on her first real assignment, and while she plays well as supporting foil for her sister Claire she doesn't have the interesting character quirks needed as the main protagonist. Sure she's a bundle of unpredictable hormonal insanity, but she's a teenager, that's not fiction that's real life! Her budding romance with a mall elf comes off more as teenage lust and experimentation than the love/fear/lust/need/lust/companionship/lust...well you get the picture, relationship that has developed between Dean and Claire. Also Diana's angel turned cat Sam just doesn't have the same cat-like qualities that dear old Austin has, nor does he have his razor sharp sense of humor. I was also disappointed to find that Hell, one of the funniest characters ever created, has only a cameo role and just isn't his old schizoid self. However it's not bad and there are some really interesting parts although one of the best is really a subplot centering around the male bonding between Dean and Austin, ok a neuter/wuss bonding, but it's good none the less. We even get to see Dean move past his boy toy/Felix Unger persona into a true support base for his Keeper mate. The gender role reversal that so helped the romance/friction of the first two volumes is still there and doesn't seem to be adversely impacted by this change. Good but not great, still I RECOMMEND it and will be looking forward to future episodes.