Seeker

Exceptionally well written, gritty and action-packed. I can't explain the DNF reviews, except it seems that the majority of those reviewers were expecting a fantasy novel (blame the jacket blurb). If you read all the way through to the very end, then you know this is sci-fi - set in a universe just a few tics away from our own. It made me think more of Phillip K Dick than George RR Martin, which seems to be what some people were expecting. Picture the Hong Kong-esque settlements in Firefly. In fact, I spent the entire time thinking this would make a fabulous, dark, dirty and bleak TV series. My only complaint is that the characters were too young at the beginning of the novel, but that's resolved quickly. And the audiobook narration is show more top-notch. show less

Pros: realistic characters, interesting plot, interesting background, fast paced

Cons: don’t see the scene the entire book revolves around, Alastair’s accent comes and goes

For Parents: some non-graphic violence, minor sexual content, drug abuse

Fifteen year old Quin is nearing the day when she, her cousin (well, third cousin but one of their relatives remarried so they’re really only half third cousins), and John, the boy she loves, are initiated as Seekers. They’ve been training for this for years, learning how to fight to make the world a better place. But John knows that Quin’s father is more brutal than she understands. And the Seekers are no longer the noble warriors that she’s been taught they are.

The book is split into show more 3 parts. The first segment deals with the teens’ hopes before the initiation and the immediate aftermath of the ceremony. The second segment deals with events some time later, as the protagonists have tried to move on from what’s happened. The third brings the players together again to decide whether their futures will be determined by the choices of their past.

I loved the characters. As events unfold each protagonist makes decisions that deeply affects the rest of their lives. Subsequent decisions aren’t necessarily good ones, even though each does their best to move on. I especially liked learning more about Maud and the history of the Dreads. I hope more of this history will be revealed in future books.

Quin starts off fairly naive, but ended up going in directions I hadn’t expected. At first I thought she was wrong about John and how he would deal with the knowledge he was looking for, but as the book progressed I slowly realized that she was right and that his quest was destroying him. At the same time, I liked John, sympathizing with his plight, as a youth. But time and decisions make him less noble. Shinobu has the most startling transformation between the first and second sections of the book. Here too, his reasons for his actions are completely understandable, even if his decline is not pleasant to read.

This is brought up by a character in the book, but it seemed bizarre that both Quin’s mom and Shinobu’s dad try to warn them away from their initiation but refuse to explain why. It’s impossible to make an informed decision without information and these two know for a fact that their children don’t understand what they’re making an oath to do. Similarly, lightly warning the kids off only made the kids more determined to take their oaths.

Alastair, Shinobu’s father, is a big, red-headed, Scottish man. Sometimes he speaks with a Scottish accent (cannae, etc.), and sometimes he doesn’t. There doesn’t appear to be a reason why his accent comes and goes.

My main complaint with the book is that the pivotal moment of the book, the scene the entire book turns on, the scene where Quin and Shinobu go on their first mission to become Seekers, is never properly described. We’re given a few glimpses, enough to know it was horrible, but not enough to properly understand what Quin and Shinobu actually did on the mission. And this knowledge is essential to understand and sympathize with their following actions. Their despair, depression, Quin’s bout of OCD, their extreme hatred of her father (but not so much Sinobu’s) all come down to what happened in that scene. I think retaining this scene would have increased my emotional attachment to Quin and Shinobu as well as made John’s mission more sympathetic, but I also understand that the scene would have been dark and bloody and the author probably wanted to keep a younger rating for the book.

Ultimately I really enjoyed the book. It’s well written, fast paced and at times thought provoking. It’s got an interesting magic element underlying how the Seekers can do what they do. It’s got some characters who really go through the wringer. Can’t wait for the next book. show less

"If I am a monster," Shinobu thought, "it's because of you. You stood by and let me do it.

I love when I get to the end of the book and I'm pleasantly surprised. It's because...this one is labeled fantasy and *I* am not a big fan of Fantasy. But this story is compelling. It sneaks up and hooks you in. When I started, Seekers and athame and John, Quin and Shinobu were all a little confusing. But I stuck with it, section by section. It gives a little at a time, letting you deeper into the world until you realize you are at the final showdown and you are holding your breath.

I truly had no idea how this would all play out and I LOVE how it did.
I will read book 2. I must know how this continues.

Interesting premise, decent execution, and a story that is fairly well-written will keep people reading, although it is a story easily forgotten, and there is not enough of a cliffhanger to draw people into the rest of the series.

When I requested this book from NetGalley, this was in the description: “For readers of A Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games comes an epic new series.” I realize similar claims get thrown around a lot. Still, even in cases where I don’t agree, most of the time I can at least understand why a comparison to ______ might be made.

When it comes to this book though, I’m mystified. This is nothing like Game of Thrones OR The Hunger Games. Not even a little bit. I knew an ambitious declaration like that should have immediately put me on my guard, and I guess I really should have trusted my instincts. “Epic” is also debatable. While we have a story spanning the globe, from the highlands of rural Scotland to the bustling streets of show more Hong Kong, the scope of the narrative is actually quite limited. Most of what we get is personal drama revolving around just a handful of characters.

Needless to say, Seeker wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. It always pains me to write a negative review, so rather than expound on all the things I didn’t work for me, I’ll just list and briefly talk about them.

- First, I’m not in the habit of DNFing. I read this whole book from beginning to end, but even now I would be hard-pressed to tell you what a Seeker is or what they do, beyond the fact that they should be “fighting evil”. Just seems like a gross oversight, when most of the characters are Seekers, and the actual title of the book is Seeker. There is very little to no “Seeking” going on, or whatever it is that Seekers do. All I got was a whole lot of infighting between all the Seeker characters.

- What exactly are the Dreads? I know they’re supposed to be witnesses, mediators or judges (Judge Dreads?) but how do they fit into this whole context? Where do they come from and what is their history? How did they get involved with the Seekers? I have no idea!

- Unsurprisingly, I found world-building to be sorely lacking, practically non-existent. You have to understand, I’m not asking for info-dumps or to have my hand being held through the whole book, but I do need a starting point, SOMETHING to anchor me. I felt like I was thrown into this world and the author just expects me to know everything and doesn’t see the need to provide any background information.

- The writing is simplistic and contrived. There are a couple chapters where things aren’t so bad, but most of the prose feels clumsy. The dialogue feels forced. There’s a lot of telling, and not enough showing. Many strange quirks in the writing, like poorly executed time jumps (I actually thought I missed a few pages) which probably relates back to the lack of world-building.

- The characters are pretty bland and unengaging. Quin is a far cry from the kickass heroine she’s meant to be; instead, it feels like her whole purpose is to be a trophy for the two boys who are in love with her. The plot thread that involves her losing her memory makes me understand now why some readers hate amnesia storylines. All the “brutal training” she supposedly received seems pretty pointless.

- The romantic side plot is unimaginative and I wasn’t convinced of any of the relationships. I think this is partly due to the awkward writing style, and unnatural dialogue (especially when the characters were discussing their feelings for each other, I couldn’t help but cringe).

- For most of the book, I felt like I had NO IDEA what was going on. More than a few times, I wondered to myself if my ARC was missing huge chunks of the story, as so much of it made no sense. I’m sure there’s a good overall premise in here somewhere, but it was not well executed. Instead, we are left with a whole lot of confusion.

In general I don’t like to DNF, and not only because I’m a completionist. Sometimes a book can be weak in the beginning, but then redeem itself with a strong conclusion. There have been times where I almost put down a book, only to end up absolutely loving it when I finish. I admit it doesn’t happen often, but now I’ve developed a habit where when book that don’t blow me away at first, I always hold out in the hopes that it will get better. But unfortunately, this just didn’t happen with Seeker.

I did hear that there is talk of a movie adaptation for the book. Thing is, I actually think the book would work better as a live action film with its exotic settings, bombastic action sequences, and young attract protagonists. It would make a great cinematic experience, but to achieve a similar awe-inspiring feeling, I’m afraid large swaths of the book would have to be more rigorously edited and perhaps rewritten. There are lots of interesting ideas in here, with an intriguing mix of science fiction and fantasy, and it’s really just a shame that the book falls short of its full potential. show less

Seeker is quite the thrill-ride. It's an action packed fantasy with some steampunk-ish elements and a touch of mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it but there were a couple of issues that kept this from being a 5 star read for me.

From the start, Seeker is exciting. There are great fight scenes and there's always something happening. We jump right from one event to the next at a fast pace which definitely kept me reading. I had to see what would happen next. There's nothing overly graphic, but there's quite a bit of violence.

I loved these characters! I think it's refreshing to see characters who react to crazy situations in realistic ways. Without giving anything away, these characters all find out some horrible things about their families show more and about what being a Seeker really means. As a result, they each turn to various forms of self-destructive behavior to cope. They're all strong characters but are still vulnerable teens trying to figure out what it is they want and how to deal with what their reality is.

The book is split into three parts. The first is about Quin, Shinobu and John training and testing to become Seekers and the direct aftermath. The second is an "Interlude" in which we are shown flashbacks that fill in some of the back story. The third is set a year and a half after the first part. Many reviews I've read have had a problem with this. For many readers, it felt disjointed and hurt the flow of the book. While I can see their point, I would encourage readers to give it a chance and push through it. While it does slow the pace a little bit, by the end of the book you'll realize that you have all the pieces you need to get to that "Aha!" moment when everything fits together.

My biggest problem with this book is in the world-building. It really needed so much more to flesh it out and make it seem completely real. If asked when this book was set, I don't know that I could give you a good answer. Maybe sometime in the future? Maybe an alternate present-day? I'm not really sure. I wanted to know so much more about the history of the Seekers and why they were started to begin with. We're told it's such an honor and about these special families who are Seekers, but we don't really know anything else. We're shown hints here and there about the history but nothing is explained enough for me to be satisfied. I'm holding out hope that these hints were just seeds and that they'll grow into more as this series continues.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. Tons of action, realistic characters that I loved and an interesting plot that kept me guessing. I wish there was more detail in the history and general world-building but it didn't bother me enough to take away from my general enjoyment of the book and I suspect we'll learn more in the next book. I do not agree with the comparisons to The Hunger Games and A Game of Thrones, but I still think it's worth a read if you're looking for some adventure with family drama and fantasy elements.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. show less

...interesting!

Ok at first I admit I thought, 'Ho Hum, whipswords that reform themselves to be daggers or even claymores and disrupters that unmake.' Then I was caught up in the melee of the harsh lives of the trainees, in their ambitions. No time to think, just act. It's all cold and calculated, lightening directed chaos, programmed survival. It's about trying to stay alive even if your practice partner is your father. It's about attaining the goal. Quin Kincaid has been training since she was eight years old to be a Seeker.
A Seeker, a guardian of truth and justice. All that Quin has dreamed of. When the dream turns to ashes one can choose to retreat or advance, to go with the status quo or to turn aside. You may try to escape, but can show more you?
Three young people training to be Seekers; Quin, John and Shinobu. What theses three choose is core to all. As the action continues our understandings mutate. We are cognizant of families vying for power, families regrouping to strike again, of justice becoming muddied by greed, where avarice, ambition and revenge can lead.
Secrets are many and deep. Secrets that gradually unfold. The greatest just maybe the secret of the athame, it's purpose and use, or misuse.
When the action shifts to Hong Kong in the 'here and now' I found that completely believable. I could see the action being played out in the parkland behind Victoria Peak and along Victoria Harbour, down crowded lanes and alleyways. That's when the story came alive for me. I didn't really become 'hooked' until about here. That being said, once hooked I found myself wanting more.
And then there's the Dreads! Young Dread, Maud, must also choose. A character of interest. Indeed, I'd go as far as to say that there's a touch (just a touch, not a comparison!) of Mazalan about her. Obviously she's more than first observed. In fact Maud fascinated me right from the beginning. Way more than our trainee seekers.
Betrayal--of love, of secrets, of oaths, of sacred trusts are central.
And really (as others have said), enough already with the Hunger Games etc. comparisons! This is a very different work.

A NetGalley ARC show less