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Three young, and slightly desperate people perform a summoning for help. This is something that is a known idea in this world, and especially at Hettua Shrine, which will bring you the person most capable of getting you exactly what you ask for.

We don’t get any other examples, or full explanations, but it seems like this is generally someone already in this fantasy world. The rushed ceremony performed by our three produces three people from… elsewhere. Earth, actually. And while you might expect some sort of action hero, they get a trio of ladies from about 50-70 years old, who had just been sitting down to a book club.

I’ll point out here, that Lindskold is indulging a in a bit of self-insert here, and I’m sure Meg, Peg, and Teg are all directly expressing facets of her own life, as well as people she knows. At any rate, it’s well done, and the three of them are our viewpoint characters for a portal fantasy adventure. And, yes, their learning and life experiences are indeed what is needed by our three summoners, despite their unusual nature.

For this is world of… well, near-furries. Most of them are more in the Egyptian god model of a human with an animal head, though the ‘animal’ traits carry beyond just the heads in some cases. Humans are entirely unknown to them, and a big shock.

We get a couple chapters of both sides getting over the initial shock and introductions… and our three ladies accepting the call to adventure. It’s hard to keep something like this from dragging out a bit, but Lindskold keeps it all moving, and even at those points where there’s a feeling of “okay, I get it already,” things are moving fast enough that you know it won’t drag out.

The adventure itself is well done, and there’s plenty going on for external and internal issues, especially once the main leg is done, and we get the major twist of the story. However, this is part one, and while some major things get sorted, instead of things ending at that point, we pick up the next major thread, and get a “to be continued” as that gets going. I don’t mind a series, but the break is at an odd place.

At any rate, it’s a fun book, I’m more than happy with it, and I need to get to book two.