I am thrilled to be a stop on the book tour for Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton hosted by Rockstar Book Tours! I have a review for your reading pleasure, but be sure to check out the tour schedule by clicking the banner above or scrolling to the bottom of this post for more goodies!
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Series: Genre: Publication.Date: February 10, 2015 Pages: 429 (ARC paperback) Published By: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Website: Arwen Elys Dayton Seeker on Goodreads My review copy:
Where to get:
For readers of A Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games comes an epic new series.
The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor. As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world. And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.
But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes. Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.
And now it's too late to walk away.
(Goodreads)
Reviews
The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor. As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world. And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.
But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes. Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.
And now it's too late to walk away.
(Goodreads)
Reviews
“Fans of Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Marie Lu’s Legend, and Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series: your next obsession has arrived.” —School Library Journal
“[A] powerful beginning to a complex family saga . . . Dayton excels at creating memorable characters.” —Publishers Weekly
“A tightly woven, action-packed story of survival and adventure, Seeker is perfect for fans of Game of Thrones.” —Tahereh Mafi, author of the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series
“Secrets, danger, and romance meet in this unforgettable epic fantasy.” —Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures and author of Unbreakable
Quotes obtained from an ARC copy and are subject to change.
The Dreads were holding them down. Quin felt the Young Dread's small, strong hands pulling her left arm forward and holding it in place. Then Briac pressed the brand into Quin's left wrist, burning into her flesh the shape of an athame. She cried out as he held the metal to her skin. She was a Seeker now, marked for life.
She had thought this brand would be an emblem of pride, but now it meant something entirely different. She was damned.
Beneath her, the water was very deep and very cold. Near the bottom, where the sunlight never reached, it was black. Something was down there, and it was moving. She could feel it rising from the darkness and the freezing depths, slowly climbing upward. As it rose, it moved faster, into water that was deep blue, then lighter shades. In a moment, it would break the surface. From there, it would continue rising, up through the rafters of the Bridge, through each of the lower levels, until it was here in the room with her, all around her. She could feel it now, enveloping her and pulling her back toward the ocean, where she would drown.
"Now it does not matter. Great minds are not what's wanted. Only good hearts. Good hearts choose wisely."
When I first heard about Seeker, I went back and forth about whether I wanted to read it. I sat on it for a few days and then read the synopsis again immediately wondering what my hesitation in the first place was. (Still don't know.) When I had read the synopsis I thought Seeker to be a fantasy novel, but it is actually a science fiction story. While this did surprise me, I enjoyed it because I don't normally read science fiction and it took me out of my comfort zone.
Seeker is an interesting new story. Growing up in a small village, Quin has been taught from a young age to be a Seeker, an individual who goes out into the world and dispatches of those who have wronged the innocent and need to be stopped. Of course, nothing in this world is what it seems and despite a vague warning from her mother, Quin takes her oath and learns the horrifying secrets.
Arwen spans her story over the course of two years so we see development within our characters. Quin, who doesn't start out as a strong character, eventually becomes someone who fights and stands up for what she believes. Shinobu, who initially comes across and more of a "sidekick" turns into a rather impressive front man. And John . . . okay, John didn't really evolve in my opinion. He pretty much stuck to one course and that's that. Outside of these three, I love Maud/Young Dread but I won't go into detail about her because I love the surprises that came with her story and honestly, she's probably my favorite.
I've seen people reference a love triangle between Quin, Shinobu, and John but I wouldn't classify it as one. The relationship between these three characters evolve in such a fashion that it's not an instance of "Oh whoa is me - who do I pick?! I love you both so much, please stop fighting over me." Besides, John sucks. I don't mean as a character, but as a person, he sucks.
The beginning of Seeker started out a bit slow and it took me a bit to understand what was going on. The beginning also has a feel of taking place in the past, but then there was talks of guns and television. I would have appreciated more background and world building in the first half of the book as well. Once I understood what a Seeker was and what was going on . . . Oh, wait. Maybe this is the English teacher in me, but now I'm thinking this is intentional. Quin doesn't really know all that being a Seeker entails, only what her father has told her, until it's too late. So she's pretty much in the dark about everything and while we know something bad is going to happen we don't exactly know what the deal is until Quin does. In a way, Arwen is getting us to connect with her characters by putting us in their shoes. Allowing both us and these character to misunderstand and be confused with the world around us and introducing us to the lies and reality of the situation, along with these characters, until it's too late to turn back. Clever little author.
Seeker has the markings as the first in what will be an intriguing series. I found myself wholly wrapped up in the story once things started moving, the battle at the end is a real page turner!, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next in Traveler.
Arwen Elys Dayton spends months doing research for her stories. Her explorations have taken her around the world to places like the Great Pyramid (which she explored by a single fading flashlight when researching Resurrection), Hong Kong and its many islands, and lots of ruined castles in Scotland. She enjoys creating complete worlds inhabited by characters who charm, frustrate or inspire. Arwen lives with her husband and their three children on the West Coast of the United States. You can follow her @arwenelysdayton on Twitter and Instagram.
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Cheaters Never Prosper
Each day of the tour reveals a different graphic. And today’s graphic asks bloggers to Seek Love
And Me? I'm all about love. I love-love. Have you ever seen Moulin Rouge? I am Christian, Christian is me. Yes, it may sound cheesy, but I think love is one of the best things out there. Love of other people, love of animals, love of books, love of whatever you love! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to listen to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack on repeat. Come what may, bitches.
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