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2.9 AVERAGE
2.9 AVERAGE
DNF'ed at 68%
What time period was this? Who knows.
What is a Seeker? Who knows.
Why is no one explaining things to me? Who knows.
I got over halfway through the book. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I was so pissed off about things. The writing is excellent. Don't get me wrong there. It really is good. If it wasn't, I would have quit before this. Also, the characters are good. They are engaging and I wanted to learn more about them. But, then it comes to the storytelling/worldbuilding. Oh, there was worldbuilding. I just couldn't tell you where the fuck we were or what time period. At some points, it was medieval. Then it was modern. Then it was fucking dystopian. There was one mention to time there. Maud, the Young Dread, said it was 1570 or thereabout. So, I looked up about opium bars since Shinobu started going to them. Well... those were only popular really in Victorian times.
I didn't understand what anything was anymore. Like, it was to the point where I knew I couldn't do this anymore. Couldn't read it or try to piece together. Before reading this, or even requesting it, I read a few reviews about it. And everyone basically said the same thing I did. There is no explanation. It's as if the author just said: "Follow what's in my head when I wrote this." And, I can't do that. Because I don't see the connections you're making whatsoever that made you to create this cult/club/assassin squad that is a Seeker.
What time period was this? Who knows.
What is a Seeker? Who knows.
Why is no one explaining things to me? Who knows.
I got over halfway through the book. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I was so pissed off about things. The writing is excellent. Don't get me wrong there. It really is good. If it wasn't, I would have quit before this. Also, the characters are good. They are engaging and I wanted to learn more about them. But, then it comes to the storytelling/worldbuilding. Oh, there was worldbuilding. I just couldn't tell you where the fuck we were or what time period. At some points, it was medieval. Then it was modern. Then it was fucking dystopian. There was one mention to time there. Maud, the Young Dread, said it was 1570 or thereabout. So, I looked up about opium bars since Shinobu started going to them. Well... those were only popular really in Victorian times.
I didn't understand what anything was anymore. Like, it was to the point where I knew I couldn't do this anymore. Couldn't read it or try to piece together. Before reading this, or even requesting it, I read a few reviews about it. And everyone basically said the same thing I did. There is no explanation. It's as if the author just said: "Follow what's in my head when I wrote this." And, I can't do that. Because I don't see the connections you're making whatsoever that made you to create this cult/club/assassin squad that is a Seeker.
I saw an ad for this book that described it as Game of Thrones for teens, which made me want to read it immediately. However, it is NOTHING like Game of Thrones! I don't even know how to describe it...the first few pages makes it feel old, ancient oaths and all that, but then high tech weaponry and aircars are suddenly thrown in and it's kind of jolting. So it takes place in a futuristic Scotland and Hong Kong. I liked it enough to keep wanting to read to the end, but I didn't find any of the characters all that likeable and the love triangle was so cliche and tiresome. Of course it's a trilogy but I don't know if I'll be picking up #2 or not.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is going to be That One Review Where Christina Was So Conflicted She Talked to Herself. (TORWCWSCSTtH. That’s a bit unwieldy, huh?)
No, really. Critical Christina wanted to rate this one star, and Forgiving Christina wanted to rate it three stars, so the two of them had a (mostly) civilized discussion and came to the two-star compromise.
THE PREMISE (BEFORE READING)
CC: Okay, this sounds awfully clichéd.
FC: Fine, I have to agree with you there. But hey, diverse settings and moral ambiguity! Seems promising enough.
CC: It sounds like just your average run-of-the-mill fantasy to me, but do as you like.
THE HEROINE
FC: Well, she was all right. A little on the bland side, maybe, but she shaped up more later in the book.
CC: In my opinion, it was too little, too late, and Quin Kincaid was kind of a lot on the bland side. There isn’t much to say—she follows the same sort of template as many, many, MANY other YA heroines, with no really notable deviations, and she has an extremely questionable thought process that involves insisting to herself that the villain LOVES her despite his creepy behavior (e.g., watching her sleep/unbuttoning her shirt while she is sleeping) for almost the entire book. I found it impossible to like her despite the lengths the book was evidently going to in order to endear her to the reader.
FC: She did some development-ish stuff near the end. Give her some credit.
CC: Fine, that did happen. But not as much as I would have liked.
THE LOVE TRIANGLE
FC: On the bright side, it wasn’t annoying or quite as pervasive as it is in all too many novels. Also, it didn’t really fall into the insta-love trap, which was a relief.
CC: On the darker side, it was definitely unnecessary. This was a story that would have carried itself effectively without any romance at all, much less romantic tension with two love interests. In fact, I think it might have been stronger without any romance at all. Plus, when the story begins, the romantic attractions are already in place and just laid out in the open for us to see, which doesn’t help us connect to them at all. There was zero chemistry and zero shipping potential, and whenever the author wants us to know two characters are in love, it’s very plainly stated in more or less the following format: “Character X and Character Y loved each other”. If you’re going to read this, do not do it for the romance, because quite frankly, I couldn’t feel anything in that area and it was very poorly done.
THE VILLAIN
FC: So the love-interest-turned-villain (not really a spoiler, guys, because it happens pretty early on) approach is really interesting, and I like that Dayton took that angle. That said, it… well…
CC: You mean it didn’t meet its full potential. Sure, the Brooding Male Villain (see, I’d stop using the generic archetype name if his actual name weren’t EVEN MORE GENERIC: JOHN) has his requisite tragic backstory and good looks and twisted motives (“he wanted something from her that was dangerous but no, he wouldn’t hurt her because he ~loved~ her; she could see it in his deep eyes” is actually pretty much a thing that happened multiple times), but everything felt like a cardboard cutout—the makings of an interesting antagonist, sure, but the marrow was painfully absent.
THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
FC: *timidly* There was… a lot of potential?
CC: But these characters went through the same process the villain did. There were lots of quirks and bits of information that should have been intriguing, but the individuals themselves weren’t brought to life effectively enough for me to really connect to any of them. (That said, Shinobu was probably the least aggravating character in the whole book, heroine included.)
THE WRITING
CC: It was all just telling, and from the very beginning, the writing was a clear red flag for me. The character descriptions were almost hilariously dull and flat. We see a prime example of this when one of the love interests is introduced:
He was strong and quick, and Quin had been in love with him for some time.
I just facepalmed so hard that I think I left a bruise. There is no elaboration here, no emotion in that sentence. A robot could have told me that “Quin had been in love with him for a long time” and elicited a similar reaction. I just feel like this kind of sentence shouldn’t have made it into a published book, and yet Seeker is littered with them.
FC: Well, it does read really fast, which is convenient and helps the story go by more quickly, which in turn helps you power through the book, weirdly enough—and the story doesn’t focus on the writing as much as the actual events.
CC: All the same, it’s important for a book to have a strong command of language. I mean, the character descriptions are akin to laundry lists (something that almost every writer is told *not* to do from the get-go):
Quin had dark hair cut chin length and a lovely face with ivory skin and large, dark eyes.
There is nothing unique or evocative about this description. It could describe thousands of other girls. Then we get to characters of different races, and things start to get problematic:
Shinobu’s mother had been Japanese, and his face had taken the best features from the East and the West and combined them into something nearly perfect. He had straight, dark red hair and a wiry body that was already taller than that of the average Japanese male.
It’s difficult for me, as an inexperienced reader and writer, to point out precisely what about this is problematic, but I can immediately tell that something is off. The “best features from the East and the West” part honestly offended me so much—I felt as if Shinobu’s Japanese heritage was only being alienated further by such a description, and I couldn’t get past it for the entire book. In addition, Shinobu’s Japanese mother is described as being doll-like, which is a hugely negative stereotype that Asian women face. That felt like a lazy description to me.
FC: All right, that much I can concede.
CC: Also, the action and the supposedly emotional passages all read as really flat, which didn’t help things at all. I could never truly connect to anything that was happening, and that naturally detracted greatly from my enjoyment of the book.
THE PLOT
FC: You have to admit it was all right, and it got much, much better towards the end.
CC: Only slightly. SLIGHTLY. And everything was incredibly disjointed. I felt like Dayton was trying too hard to achieve a “cinematic” feel that I think should be left to the screen rather than being put on the page. It made POVs and characters jumbled, and entire plot arcs felt rough and messy. Transitions and time jumps were clumsy at best, and everything felt very contrived.
FC: We should still note the improvement. And the pacing wasn’t that bad in certain places.
THE WORLDBUILDING
CC: I don’t even know anymore with this worldbuilding. It was… *pauses, at a loss for words*
FC: Honestly, I didn’t have any idea what was going on either. But the things that were actually clarified were pretty cool! There was an airship, a futuristic Hong Kong, a sweeping Scottish backdrop to the Seeker estate…
CC: But that was the problem. Almost nothing was clarified, leaving me incredibly confused as to a) what genre this book was trying to be and b) where things were taking place. I felt like there was no special reason for why each setting was selected—it was just, “oh! let’s see how exotic/cool we can make each locale”—and I could not for the life of me get a handle on the time period.
THE CONSENSUS
Both Christinas: All in all, Seeker just plain isn’t a very well-written book, and there’s not much to hold your attention. Pick it up if you’re looking for a really fast read, but otherwise I probably wouldn’t recommend it.
No, really. Critical Christina wanted to rate this one star, and Forgiving Christina wanted to rate it three stars, so the two of them had a (mostly) civilized discussion and came to the two-star compromise.
THE PREMISE (BEFORE READING)
CC: Okay, this sounds awfully clichéd.
FC: Fine, I have to agree with you there. But hey, diverse settings and moral ambiguity! Seems promising enough.
CC: It sounds like just your average run-of-the-mill fantasy to me, but do as you like.
THE HEROINE
FC: Well, she was all right. A little on the bland side, maybe, but she shaped up more later in the book.
CC: In my opinion, it was too little, too late, and Quin Kincaid was kind of a lot on the bland side. There isn’t much to say—she follows the same sort of template as many, many, MANY other YA heroines, with no really notable deviations, and she has an extremely questionable thought process that involves insisting to herself that the villain LOVES her despite his creepy behavior (e.g., watching her sleep/unbuttoning her shirt while she is sleeping) for almost the entire book. I found it impossible to like her despite the lengths the book was evidently going to in order to endear her to the reader.
FC: She did some development-ish stuff near the end. Give her some credit.
CC: Fine, that did happen. But not as much as I would have liked.
THE LOVE TRIANGLE
FC: On the bright side, it wasn’t annoying or quite as pervasive as it is in all too many novels. Also, it didn’t really fall into the insta-love trap, which was a relief.
CC: On the darker side, it was definitely unnecessary. This was a story that would have carried itself effectively without any romance at all, much less romantic tension with two love interests. In fact, I think it might have been stronger without any romance at all. Plus, when the story begins, the romantic attractions are already in place and just laid out in the open for us to see, which doesn’t help us connect to them at all. There was zero chemistry and zero shipping potential, and whenever the author wants us to know two characters are in love, it’s very plainly stated in more or less the following format: “Character X and Character Y loved each other”. If you’re going to read this, do not do it for the romance, because quite frankly, I couldn’t feel anything in that area and it was very poorly done.
THE VILLAIN
FC: So the love-interest-turned-villain (not really a spoiler, guys, because it happens pretty early on) approach is really interesting, and I like that Dayton took that angle. That said, it… well…
CC: You mean it didn’t meet its full potential. Sure, the Brooding Male Villain (see, I’d stop using the generic archetype name if his actual name weren’t EVEN MORE GENERIC: JOHN) has his requisite tragic backstory and good looks and twisted motives (“he wanted something from her that was dangerous but no, he wouldn’t hurt her because he ~loved~ her; she could see it in his deep eyes” is actually pretty much a thing that happened multiple times), but everything felt like a cardboard cutout—the makings of an interesting antagonist, sure, but the marrow was painfully absent.
THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
FC: *timidly* There was… a lot of potential?
CC: But these characters went through the same process the villain did. There were lots of quirks and bits of information that should have been intriguing, but the individuals themselves weren’t brought to life effectively enough for me to really connect to any of them. (That said, Shinobu was probably the least aggravating character in the whole book, heroine included.)
THE WRITING
CC: It was all just telling, and from the very beginning, the writing was a clear red flag for me. The character descriptions were almost hilariously dull and flat. We see a prime example of this when one of the love interests is introduced:
He was strong and quick, and Quin had been in love with him for some time.
I just facepalmed so hard that I think I left a bruise. There is no elaboration here, no emotion in that sentence. A robot could have told me that “Quin had been in love with him for a long time” and elicited a similar reaction. I just feel like this kind of sentence shouldn’t have made it into a published book, and yet Seeker is littered with them.
FC: Well, it does read really fast, which is convenient and helps the story go by more quickly, which in turn helps you power through the book, weirdly enough—and the story doesn’t focus on the writing as much as the actual events.
CC: All the same, it’s important for a book to have a strong command of language. I mean, the character descriptions are akin to laundry lists (something that almost every writer is told *not* to do from the get-go):
Quin had dark hair cut chin length and a lovely face with ivory skin and large, dark eyes.
There is nothing unique or evocative about this description. It could describe thousands of other girls. Then we get to characters of different races, and things start to get problematic:
Shinobu’s mother had been Japanese, and his face had taken the best features from the East and the West and combined them into something nearly perfect. He had straight, dark red hair and a wiry body that was already taller than that of the average Japanese male.
It’s difficult for me, as an inexperienced reader and writer, to point out precisely what about this is problematic, but I can immediately tell that something is off. The “best features from the East and the West” part honestly offended me so much—I felt as if Shinobu’s Japanese heritage was only being alienated further by such a description, and I couldn’t get past it for the entire book. In addition, Shinobu’s Japanese mother is described as being doll-like, which is a hugely negative stereotype that Asian women face. That felt like a lazy description to me.
FC: All right, that much I can concede.
CC: Also, the action and the supposedly emotional passages all read as really flat, which didn’t help things at all. I could never truly connect to anything that was happening, and that naturally detracted greatly from my enjoyment of the book.
THE PLOT
FC: You have to admit it was all right, and it got much, much better towards the end.
CC: Only slightly. SLIGHTLY. And everything was incredibly disjointed. I felt like Dayton was trying too hard to achieve a “cinematic” feel that I think should be left to the screen rather than being put on the page. It made POVs and characters jumbled, and entire plot arcs felt rough and messy. Transitions and time jumps were clumsy at best, and everything felt very contrived.
FC: We should still note the improvement. And the pacing wasn’t that bad in certain places.
THE WORLDBUILDING
CC: I don’t even know anymore with this worldbuilding. It was… *pauses, at a loss for words*
FC: Honestly, I didn’t have any idea what was going on either. But the things that were actually clarified were pretty cool! There was an airship, a futuristic Hong Kong, a sweeping Scottish backdrop to the Seeker estate…
CC: But that was the problem. Almost nothing was clarified, leaving me incredibly confused as to a) what genre this book was trying to be and b) where things were taking place. I felt like there was no special reason for why each setting was selected—it was just, “oh! let’s see how exotic/cool we can make each locale”—and I could not for the life of me get a handle on the time period.
THE CONSENSUS
Both Christinas: All in all, Seeker just plain isn’t a very well-written book, and there’s not much to hold your attention. Pick it up if you’re looking for a really fast read, but otherwise I probably wouldn’t recommend it.
I did not dislike this book but I also did not think it lived up to all the hype I saw leading up to its release. I found the world building to be rather weak and frankly I was bored by the story and had to force myself to finish it.
Quin Kincaid has been put through years of brutal training for what she thinks is the noble purpose of becoming a revered ‘Seeker’.
Only when it’s too late does she discover she will be using her new-found knowledge and training to become an assassin. Quin's new role will take her around the globe, from a remote estate in Scotland to a bustling, futuristic Hong Kong where the past she thought she had escaped will finally catch up with her.
I took way too long to finish this book - and this was the first sign that shows I am not a big fan of it. Honestly, I have pretty much nothing to say, except that I found it have a pretty slow and torturous start - which couldn't even be compensated by that marvelous and epic climax. As the book progressed, it got more interesting, but only because I decided to stick with the book and finish it. (I don't pass judgement or review on a book until I completely read it, so...) I think what made it more interesting was once the Seekers' 'mission' was revealed to be non-alturistic. Until then, I kinda wanted to slap Quin for her naive hero complex. Throughout the book, actually, she was pretty irritating. Then there was John, the hero-turned-antagonist (I don't care about spoilers at the moment, okay? I'm too disappointed in this book to care about that), the eternal whiny kid who thinks an eye for an eye won't make the world blind. The whole book is like 'John, no!' and John going 'John, yes'. Shinobu was pretty good but wasted as a druggie in the later half of the book. His and Quin's romance didn't make any sense - particularly from her side. She suddenly wakes up and realizes - oh my god, my half third-something cousin is freaking hot! Heavens, spare me this melodrama!
What I liked - Maud and the Dreads. Seriously, their story was much better than the main arc. That is why I gave this book 3 stars - that was good world-building there, for the Dreads at least. I hope the sequel has more on the origin of the Seekers than that doomed love triangle, because I'm so over it.
Received an ARC from Random House via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Only when it’s too late does she discover she will be using her new-found knowledge and training to become an assassin. Quin's new role will take her around the globe, from a remote estate in Scotland to a bustling, futuristic Hong Kong where the past she thought she had escaped will finally catch up with her.
I took way too long to finish this book - and this was the first sign that shows I am not a big fan of it. Honestly, I have pretty much nothing to say, except that I found it have a pretty slow and torturous start - which couldn't even be compensated by that marvelous and epic climax. As the book progressed, it got more interesting, but only because I decided to stick with the book and finish it. (I don't pass judgement or review on a book until I completely read it, so...) I think what made it more interesting was once the Seekers' 'mission' was revealed to be non-alturistic. Until then, I kinda wanted to slap Quin for her naive hero complex. Throughout the book, actually, she was pretty irritating. Then there was John, the hero-turned-antagonist (I don't care about spoilers at the moment, okay? I'm too disappointed in this book to care about that), the eternal whiny kid who thinks an eye for an eye won't make the world blind. The whole book is like 'John, no!' and John going 'John, yes'. Shinobu was pretty good but wasted as a druggie in the later half of the book. His and Quin's romance didn't make any sense - particularly from her side. She suddenly wakes up and realizes - oh my god, my half third-something cousin is freaking hot! Heavens, spare me this melodrama!
What I liked - Maud and the Dreads. Seriously, their story was much better than the main arc. That is why I gave this book 3 stars - that was good world-building there, for the Dreads at least. I hope the sequel has more on the origin of the Seekers than that doomed love triangle, because I'm so over it.
Received an ARC from Random House via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of this book from Delacorte Books for Young Readers (Random House Children's) through NetGalley.
1/5 stars
I did not really enjoy this book as much as I wanted to, so I would like to clear up something for those who haven't read it. First of all, lower your expectations. Second of all, do not expect this to be a high fantasy book.
I went into this book expecting fantasy and was confused and disappointed to find out that it was not. The book starts off with sword training, yet they have guns and more advanced weapons they could easily use instead. They also have technology such as cars and airships, yet they choose to ride horses. This threw me off right from the beginning. The world just didn't make any sense. Is this a fantasy or science fiction novel? Does the story take place in the past or the future? We don't really know.
As for the settings of Scotland and Honk Kong, I think the story could have easily taken place elsewhere. The author has been to Scotland and Hong Kong, yet she does not describe them with enough detail to make me believe that is actually where the characters are. I only got a vague sense of the cultures. Also, how on earth did they travel there? I understand that they used these athames, but the way this works made no sense and was difficult to wrap my head around. Where is There? How does it transport them? I still have no idea.
Now the characters. Honestly, they bored me and I didn't really connect to any of them. Quin was kind of a bland protagonist. John was very annoying and made dumb choices. Shinobu was funny, but not that interesting. The one character I did not mind was the Young Dread a.k.a. Maud. However, she remained quite a mystery and I want to know who she is and how she has managed to not age.
Lastly, the actual plot. I thought I liked where the story was going, and then I didn't. It could have been a better concept, had it been properly explained. Quin, Shinobu, and John were training to become "Seekers". But what are Seekers? Their role is not explained, so I'm assuming they are some sort of assassins? There were also awkward gaps in the book where it felt like huge chunks of plot were missing. What happened between Scotland and Hong Kong? Why were there only flashbacks to fill in the gaps? They didn't seem to have any importance to the rest of the story and were one of the reasons why this book didn't flow smoothly. Overall, I think this story had potential, but it could have been fleshed out better.
Will I read the sequel? This is a big maybe. Perhaps if I get an eGalley of [b:Traveler|24690795|Traveler (Seeker, #2)|Arwen Elys Dayton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440171447s/24690795.jpg|44309301] I will give it a shot, but it is not a book I'm highly anticipating.
1/5 stars
I did not really enjoy this book as much as I wanted to, so I would like to clear up something for those who haven't read it. First of all, lower your expectations. Second of all, do not expect this to be a high fantasy book.
I went into this book expecting fantasy and was confused and disappointed to find out that it was not. The book starts off with sword training, yet they have guns and more advanced weapons they could easily use instead. They also have technology such as cars and airships, yet they choose to ride horses. This threw me off right from the beginning. The world just didn't make any sense. Is this a fantasy or science fiction novel? Does the story take place in the past or the future? We don't really know.
As for the settings of Scotland and Honk Kong, I think the story could have easily taken place elsewhere. The author has been to Scotland and Hong Kong, yet she does not describe them with enough detail to make me believe that is actually where the characters are. I only got a vague sense of the cultures. Also, how on earth did they travel there? I understand that they used these athames, but the way this works made no sense and was difficult to wrap my head around. Where is There? How does it transport them? I still have no idea.
Now the characters. Honestly, they bored me and I didn't really connect to any of them. Quin was kind of a bland protagonist. John was very annoying and made dumb choices. Shinobu was funny, but not that interesting. The one character I did not mind was the Young Dread a.k.a. Maud. However, she remained quite a mystery and I want to know who she is and how she has managed to not age.
Lastly, the actual plot. I thought I liked where the story was going, and then I didn't. It could have been a better concept, had it been properly explained. Quin, Shinobu, and John were training to become "Seekers". But what are Seekers? Their role is not explained, so I'm assuming they are some sort of assassins? There were also awkward gaps in the book where it felt like huge chunks of plot were missing. What happened between Scotland and Hong Kong? Why were there only flashbacks to fill in the gaps? They didn't seem to have any importance to the rest of the story and were one of the reasons why this book didn't flow smoothly. Overall, I think this story had potential, but it could have been fleshed out better.
Will I read the sequel? This is a big maybe. Perhaps if I get an eGalley of [b:Traveler|24690795|Traveler (Seeker, #2)|Arwen Elys Dayton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440171447s/24690795.jpg|44309301] I will give it a shot, but it is not a book I'm highly anticipating.
DNF @ chapter 7. This is just so bad. I mean guys...I've read 50 Shades and the writing in this is almost that bad. I really wanted to finish it but I just don't hate myself that much.
You have been raised to be special, brought up on stories and tales of what it means to be different. You've trained your entire life, seen your father as an example of what you want to be, and pitied your mother for what she is. You finally take that final step to become what you've dreamed about...only to find out that it was all wrong. Everything you thought you knew, is no longer what it was. Your love, your friendships, your family...all changed irreparably in the time that it takes to be bound as a Seeker. All of us have choices, and many are made for specific reasons. At what point do those choices, in the name of what's good, turn us into what we swore we would never become?
Seeker is an interesting young adult fantasy with a strong female character. She is not flawless, but her faults are human and make her real. The writing flows well and the pace is fairly quick-moving. Once things really kick into gear (and it doesn't take long), everything just flies. There were a few times when a phrase as written seemed a bit jarring and unnatural for what the story was, but it was brief and did not affect the overall story at all.
It's obvious with the ending that this is the first in a series, though I'm not sure how many will be coming. I would guess a trilogy, but I'm not certain. There is a sense of closure for this book, but there is also a knowledge that the world is, as yet, incomplete. It's been a while since I had to force myself to put down a book so I could go to bed, as was the case here. I look forward to the sequel, due Spring of 2016.
Seeker is an interesting young adult fantasy with a strong female character. She is not flawless, but her faults are human and make her real. The writing flows well and the pace is fairly quick-moving. Once things really kick into gear (and it doesn't take long), everything just flies. There were a few times when a phrase as written seemed a bit jarring and unnatural for what the story was, but it was brief and did not affect the overall story at all.
It's obvious with the ending that this is the first in a series, though I'm not sure how many will be coming. I would guess a trilogy, but I'm not certain. There is a sense of closure for this book, but there is also a knowledge that the world is, as yet, incomplete. It's been a while since I had to force myself to put down a book so I could go to bed, as was the case here. I look forward to the sequel, due Spring of 2016.
Yeah, so, this is over (DNF at 50%). Plot is just too complicated and weird for me. I hear it gets better after this point in the book, but life is short, man.
Seeker is told from multiple POV's but for the most part we follow our three main characters; Quin, John and Shinobu. The trio have spent the past few years of their lives training hard to an oath but it turns out that all is not as it seems.
While we have three main characters, the books description led me to believe that Quin is the main focal point but I had big problems connecting to her and caring about her. She goes through some awful things during the book but I didn't feel any of that and ultimately, I didn't care what happened to her.
John and Shinobu also go through some terrible things but I found them much easier to connect to and I could feel their frustration, loss and want, which meant I cared for them and I was worried about what would happen to them.
Due to my lack of a connection with Quin, Seeker felt a bit disjointed. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts where we followed other characters but the majority of the scenes with Quin fell flat for me.
To be honest, I found myself thinking that Quin might have worked better as a secondary character, with John and Shinobu as main characters.
There is a bit of a love triangle in Seeker but I wouldn't say it's a focal point of the book and it wasn't overwhelming or annoying.
Onto more positive things; the action. There is quite a lot of action and fighting in Seeker and those scenes were gripping and exciting to read. Unlike many fight scenes, it wasn't confusing or over too soon.
The last third of the book was action-packed, really enjoyable and I didn't really have an issue with Quin because there were so many things going on with the other characters that I was more interested in.
Seeker had me blind-sighted a couple of times. To start with, I thought that it would be set in Scotland hundreds of years ago, I'm not really sure why I thought that but it was a bit of a surprise to discover it was set in modern day. There are a handful of twists throughout the book which catch you off guard, which made for an enjoyable read.
Conclusion: As you might have gathered, the biggest problem I had with Seeker was a lack of a connection to Quin. I loved the scenes with John and Shinobu so if I'd cared for Quin I think this could have been a five star book all day long.
* I received a free copy of this via NetGalley and Random House Children’s Publishers UK (thanks!), but you guys know I would never let that sway my opinion.
While we have three main characters, the books description led me to believe that Quin is the main focal point but I had big problems connecting to her and caring about her. She goes through some awful things during the book but I didn't feel any of that and ultimately, I didn't care what happened to her.
John and Shinobu also go through some terrible things but I found them much easier to connect to and I could feel their frustration, loss and want, which meant I cared for them and I was worried about what would happen to them.
Due to my lack of a connection with Quin, Seeker felt a bit disjointed. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts where we followed other characters but the majority of the scenes with Quin fell flat for me.
To be honest, I found myself thinking that Quin might have worked better as a secondary character, with John and Shinobu as main characters.
There is a bit of a love triangle in Seeker but I wouldn't say it's a focal point of the book and it wasn't overwhelming or annoying.
Onto more positive things; the action. There is quite a lot of action and fighting in Seeker and those scenes were gripping and exciting to read. Unlike many fight scenes, it wasn't confusing or over too soon.
The last third of the book was action-packed, really enjoyable and I didn't really have an issue with Quin because there were so many things going on with the other characters that I was more interested in.
Seeker had me blind-sighted a couple of times. To start with, I thought that it would be set in Scotland hundreds of years ago, I'm not really sure why I thought that but it was a bit of a surprise to discover it was set in modern day. There are a handful of twists throughout the book which catch you off guard, which made for an enjoyable read.
Conclusion: As you might have gathered, the biggest problem I had with Seeker was a lack of a connection to Quin. I loved the scenes with John and Shinobu so if I'd cared for Quin I think this could have been a five star book all day long.
* I received a free copy of this via NetGalley and Random House Children’s Publishers UK (thanks!), but you guys know I would never let that sway my opinion.