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A review by bookishwonderlandco
Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
1.0
1 Star for the interesting world that Arwen Dayton attempted to create, but ultimately failed miserably. I wanted to read this but had to call it quits a little under a quarter of the way through because this book turned into such an impossible read.
This story is about Quin, who is being trained by her family for her legacy. What that legacy is other than being a warrior she doesn't know. Then she takes her oath and is illuminated to the truth and regrets all her decisions and mistrust her trainers. One of which is her father.
This book sounded so interesting and I couldn't help but pick it up. But it just completely failed.
My main issue is the characters. In this book the characters were sporadic. Which basically means they had absolutely no reasoning behind their actions. The characters didn't have the necessary predictability that comes with a well-written personality. These characters had no personalities, even the main ones, they were just there to further the plot. I know predictability has a bad tag lately, but it is okay to be predictable. It is okay to have predictable characters. This lends familiarity to the reader and allows the reader to feel closer to the book because they want to see if their theories are correct. This book completely breaks that. And not it a good way.
The setting was interesting, but also poorly done. Each chapter switched characters. I am not sure why that was necessary, because it really didn't add much to the story.
If you are thinking of reading this: don't. I know its YA and some may think I am being harsh, but this book should have never been published. There are so many issues in this book it isn't worth the time. There are so many other YA books that are poorly written but 100% better than this. Read one of those, and spare yourself.
*Spoiler*
I will now describe a scene that will give some parts of the book away. Read at your discretion.
So basically Quin's dad is an evil bastard. He is still her dad. In this scene he is losing a fight with another character that may or may not be an antagonist, I never found out because I quite reading. Anyway Quint sees her dad struggling and is pulling her mom away from the fight, trying to escape without being seen. Her mom is worried for her dad and is all, "But your dad!" And then Quint thinks, "He is a monster. Let him die. I don't care." And that's it. End scene.
No reasoning, no supportive argument for why her father is this horrible person. No emotion. No small twinge of guilt. Just, "He's a horrible beast let him die." (None of these are direct quotes, but extremely close enough.) In any decent book there would be a paragraph explaining the decision. Giving support for the character feeling nothing at leaving her father behind to die. But yet this book has none of that. And this wasn't the only scene where the characters gave no reasoning, no support for their actions or feelings.
Honestly I can't believe that someone actually published this. This book is quite literally the worst I have ever read and it a major trainwreck.
This story is about Quin, who is being trained by her family for her legacy. What that legacy is other than being a warrior she doesn't know. Then she takes her oath and is illuminated to the truth and regrets all her decisions and mistrust her trainers. One of which is her father.
This book sounded so interesting and I couldn't help but pick it up. But it just completely failed.
My main issue is the characters. In this book the characters were sporadic. Which basically means they had absolutely no reasoning behind their actions. The characters didn't have the necessary predictability that comes with a well-written personality. These characters had no personalities, even the main ones, they were just there to further the plot. I know predictability has a bad tag lately, but it is okay to be predictable. It is okay to have predictable characters. This lends familiarity to the reader and allows the reader to feel closer to the book because they want to see if their theories are correct. This book completely breaks that. And not it a good way.
The setting was interesting, but also poorly done. Each chapter switched characters. I am not sure why that was necessary, because it really didn't add much to the story.
If you are thinking of reading this: don't. I know its YA and some may think I am being harsh, but this book should have never been published. There are so many issues in this book it isn't worth the time. There are so many other YA books that are poorly written but 100% better than this. Read one of those, and spare yourself.
*Spoiler*
I will now describe a scene that will give some parts of the book away. Read at your discretion.
So basically Quin's dad is an evil bastard. He is still her dad. In this scene he is losing a fight with another character that may or may not be an antagonist, I never found out because I quite reading. Anyway Quint sees her dad struggling and is pulling her mom away from the fight, trying to escape without being seen. Her mom is worried for her dad and is all, "But your dad!" And then Quint thinks, "He is a monster. Let him die. I don't care." And that's it. End scene.
No reasoning, no supportive argument for why her father is this horrible person. No emotion. No small twinge of guilt. Just, "He's a horrible beast let him die." (None of these are direct quotes, but extremely close enough.) In any decent book there would be a paragraph explaining the decision. Giving support for the character feeling nothing at leaving her father behind to die. But yet this book has none of that. And this wasn't the only scene where the characters gave no reasoning, no support for their actions or feelings.
Honestly I can't believe that someone actually published this. This book is quite literally the worst I have ever read and it a major trainwreck.