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A review by rakoerose
The Reader by Traci Chee
4.0
This book really grew on me as I experienced it; even more so than I initially expected.
Six years on the run from these people. A lifetime in hiding. And still they’d found her.
Belief has to be slightly suspended for a world without reading or written language, but knowing just a touch about history I know people got along with just the spoken word for a long time. The concept of a secret society of Readers, of a magic to writing and reading, of a world where it is kept under strict allowances... is fascinating! Add in the interesting elements of the Sight (or the Vision) as it’s called with different castes of specialties and abilities and you’ve got one rad magic system I can’t wait to learn more about.
Sefia and Archer, the two protagonists, are delightful in how tender they are with each other. They come from such rough and intense backgrounds (Sefia’s family murdered and Archer forced to kill to live) and seeing them be gentle together juxtaposed all that in a beautiful way. They warmed my heart and I loved watching their progression over the course of the book as they began to care about each other.
I also loved the “book within a book” aspect of this novel! Sefia, reading a book to learn the letters and what they mean, shows us the story of Captain Reed and his crew. The moment where everything intertwined and revealed the true nature of this mysterious book Sefia owns was deliciously done. Not to mention we also see bits of the past in other ways that fleshes out the origins of everything. I love parsing out history and understanding in this way, but I also know it won’t be for everyone.
All in all, I came away from this surprised at how much I loved this! As a first book, it definitely felt focused on the fleshing out of everything. I’m excited for what comes next with these characters well established - it has the potential to become a series I highly recommend even more than I already do!
Six years on the run from these people. A lifetime in hiding. And still they’d found her.
Belief has to be slightly suspended for a world without reading or written language, but knowing just a touch about history I know people got along with just the spoken word for a long time. The concept of a secret society of Readers, of a magic to writing and reading, of a world where it is kept under strict allowances... is fascinating! Add in the interesting elements of the Sight (or the Vision) as it’s called with different castes of specialties and abilities and you’ve got one rad magic system I can’t wait to learn more about.
Sefia and Archer, the two protagonists, are delightful in how tender they are with each other. They come from such rough and intense backgrounds (Sefia’s family murdered and Archer forced to kill to live) and seeing them be gentle together juxtaposed all that in a beautiful way. They warmed my heart and I loved watching their progression over the course of the book as they began to care about each other.
I also loved the “book within a book” aspect of this novel! Sefia, reading a book to learn the letters and what they mean, shows us the story of Captain Reed and his crew. The moment where everything intertwined and revealed the true nature of this mysterious book Sefia owns was deliciously done. Not to mention we also see bits of the past in other ways that fleshes out the origins of everything. I love parsing out history and understanding in this way, but I also know it won’t be for everyone.
All in all, I came away from this surprised at how much I loved this! As a first book, it definitely felt focused on the fleshing out of everything. I’m excited for what comes next with these characters well established - it has the potential to become a series I highly recommend even more than I already do!