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londiniumgirlbooks 's review for:
Seeker
by Arwen Elys Dayton
**UPDATE** Originally Posted on Londiniumgirlbooks
This book was an alright read, one of those that’s intriguing, but not in a ‘I can’t function until I’ve read this book in its entirety’ way. The world is original enough, most of the characters are interesting (Shinobu is the only one I actually liked. Quin was alright at times but nearly always annoying), and the story was okay-ish. I did find myself not really caring about the major plot. I honestly just read to see how the story played out for Shinobu because I had a strong suspicion about his story-line (and I was right-the like three pages I really liked were almost worth reading the entire book for).
This story needed to explain the world a little more, because half the time I was reading it, I kept picturing the althame (stone dagger thing everyone wants; I don’t care to look up the correct spelling) as Lyra’s golden compass from Pullman’s His Dark Materials, as they seem to have the same function. I wasn’t really sure what to imagine. In HDM, it’s not so much that everyone wants the golden compass (there’s another technical name for it that also starts with an A but it’s been years since I read that series so I forget what it’s really called) it’s that everyone wants it and Lyra too, because like no one else can work the son of a bitch. In Seeker, there’s like fourteen people that know how to work it, but only Quin can teach the one person that reallllllllly wants to know how to work it because of their…gasp…past together, so it can only be Quin. Whatever, the story was kind of stupid, now that I think about it.
This is unimportant to the story(or is it?!), but there’s a freaking flying ship-home that circles London, but never is it mentioned what this feat of engineering genius runs off of fuel wise. Like is it solar-powered? Magic powered? Does it feed off of confusion from readers? I need to know because if it’s gas-powered and has to eventually stop to refuel, the last like twenty pages of the book are ridiculous *Sort of SPOILER—–> because they could have waited to blow the f-ing thing up when the captain (whoever) was standing outside the huge-ass ship, parked in a BP parking lot, fueling it up, tapping his foot and wondering if he could still apply for a job on a solar-powered airship, instead of them jumping off a building and shooting fireworks at it. *End of sort of SPOILER*.
There’s also an instance were Shinobu thinks of his Japanese mother as a doll beside his father, which is a racial cliche that I don’t feel qualified to discuss, but have noted in the past that it has offended folks(rightfully so). Shinobu is also called a tall Asian several times…so yeah.
In all, the book was enjoyable. It’s not my favorite. It doesn't rank in the top anything of fantasy YA novels/series, but if you need a distraction that doesn't take a whole lot of concentration, I’d recommend it( mainly cause I really liked Shinobu).
There’s a sequel coming out next year called, Traveler. Might check it out, might not.
This book was an alright read, one of those that’s intriguing, but not in a ‘I can’t function until I’ve read this book in its entirety’ way. The world is original enough, most of the characters are interesting (Shinobu is the only one I actually liked. Quin was alright at times but nearly always annoying), and the story was okay-ish. I did find myself not really caring about the major plot. I honestly just read to see how the story played out for Shinobu because I had a strong suspicion about his story-line (and I was right-the like three pages I really liked were almost worth reading the entire book for).
This story needed to explain the world a little more, because half the time I was reading it, I kept picturing the althame (stone dagger thing everyone wants; I don’t care to look up the correct spelling) as Lyra’s golden compass from Pullman’s His Dark Materials, as they seem to have the same function. I wasn’t really sure what to imagine. In HDM, it’s not so much that everyone wants the golden compass (there’s another technical name for it that also starts with an A but it’s been years since I read that series so I forget what it’s really called) it’s that everyone wants it and Lyra too, because like no one else can work the son of a bitch. In Seeker, there’s like fourteen people that know how to work it, but only Quin can teach the one person that reallllllllly wants to know how to work it because of their…gasp…past together, so it can only be Quin. Whatever, the story was kind of stupid, now that I think about it.
This is unimportant to the story(or is it?!), but there’s a freaking flying ship-home that circles London, but never is it mentioned what this feat of engineering genius runs off of fuel wise. Like is it solar-powered? Magic powered? Does it feed off of confusion from readers? I need to know because if it’s gas-powered and has to eventually stop to refuel, the last like twenty pages of the book are ridiculous *Sort of SPOILER—–> because they could have waited to blow the f-ing thing up when the captain (whoever) was standing outside the huge-ass ship, parked in a BP parking lot, fueling it up, tapping his foot and wondering if he could still apply for a job on a solar-powered airship, instead of them jumping off a building and shooting fireworks at it. *End of sort of SPOILER*.
There’s also an instance were Shinobu thinks of his Japanese mother as a doll beside his father, which is a racial cliche that I don’t feel qualified to discuss, but have noted in the past that it has offended folks(rightfully so). Shinobu is also called a tall Asian several times…so yeah.
In all, the book was enjoyable. It’s not my favorite. It doesn't rank in the top anything of fantasy YA novels/series, but if you need a distraction that doesn't take a whole lot of concentration, I’d recommend it( mainly cause I really liked Shinobu).
There’s a sequel coming out next year called, Traveler. Might check it out, might not.