Read & Reviewed | Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton

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2 Stars, Arwyn Elys Dayton, book review, Fantasy, Netgalley, reading, Seeker, YA

SEEKER by ARWEN ELYS DAYTON

My rating: 2 of 5

ebook, 364 pages
YA, Fantasy
Published February 10th 2015 by Delacorte Press
Available on: Paperback, Kindle, Hardcover, Audible, Audio CD

What they say:

“[A] powerful beginning to a complex family saga…Dayton excels at creating memorable characters, among them Maud, the “Young Dread,” an ageless child whose mysterious clan is linked to the Seekers.”

Publishers Weekly

What I have to say:

I was in the mood for fantasy. I read this book’s synopsis and it seemed like one of those fantasy quest stories. The cover also made it look that way. It’s not the best cover in the world but I can imagine a fantastic story from the symbols and images on it.

When I added this one on my Goodreads account, I saw the reviews and the outlook didn’t look good. Regardless I decided to give it a try.

I started reading and I could see right from the get go why people didn’t love this story. The world building is not an easy one to get used to. I kept reading in hopes it would make sense further ahead. But it just got more confusing.

Seeker is the story of Quin, John and Shinobu, three teens in Scotland who are training to be “Seekers”. They’ve worked hard and have dreamt all their lives for the day they finally “graduate” their training and join the Seekers. John is not allowed to take his oath as Seeker, only Quin and Shinobu make it. It is after they take the oath as Seekers that they discover the dark secrets that come with the “job”. Quin is not happy about this and feels she needs to make things right. This leads her to a series of events that put her life at risk, take her to Hong Kong and to a parallel world that makes this story a wild ride.

Seeker is an easy and hard read at the same time. Easy because it is fast paced and let’s face it, it’s YA, so you can read it quickly…at least I did. But it is a hard read because you spend all your reading time trying to figure out things, some parts make sense, some parts make no sense at all. The first part in Scotland was a bit dull for me. It got better once we get to Hong Kong, but then when it changed to the “parallel world” it made no sense and I just needed the book to be over.

The world building is not great. First you think you are in the Scottish farmlands, you feel like in a medieval setting but suddenly sci fi cars appear, and then the fantasy stuff happens, and then you are in Hong Kong but then you go through some sort of portals that take you to dark worlds. It sounds great from a fantasy point of view, but it was the execution that was defective in this book. I’ve read fantasy books that take place in outrageous worlds, but they make sense. The world in Seeker made no sense at all. It also wasn’t believable and definitely not a world you would like to live in.

My other problem is that you never know what a Seeker really is. You first believe they’re some sort of warrior/knights in some sort of brotherhood, then you are told they are bad guys, but their exact function and the exact reason why the world needs them is never clearly stated in the book.

There is a teenage love triangle in the midst of all this madness, but I couldn’t really care much about the love story. I was too busy trying to make sense of the rest of story to get my feelings involved with the triangle. Also, the dudes were not my cup of tea, so I didn’t care about the love story.

I finished reading this because I don’t like to have DNFs. I don’t plan to read any sequels of this. I see why there are so many bad reviews. Seeker is not your average alternate world’s story. I gave it two stars because I was feeling generous.

There’s nothing wrong about adults reading YA, but having read this I can say that this is a book that can’t cross the border into adult’s bookshelves. I really don’t know who I could recommend this book to. I’m going to go with: If you’re looking for a fast paced fantasy YA story that keeps you figuring out what and why from start to finish, this is the story for you.

 

This one made me think on how sometimes we get to caught up on routine/problems/frustrations/etc., that we become unrecognizable beings who forget to enjoy living.

I’m a ghost waiting to live.

 

–> 

Paperback, Kindle, Hardcover, Audible, Audio CD

Kindle, Paperback

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DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

I received an Electronic copy of this book but was not financially compensated in any way nor obliged to review. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal experience while reading it. This post contains affiliate links as stated in my disclosure policy.