Author: Arwen Elys Dayton
Genre: Young Adult/Urban Fantasy
Publication: Delacorte Press (Dutch: van Goor)
Release Date: Jan 1st 2015
Pages: 448
Spoilers: Sorry there will be some spoilers about the end because I want to rant about that. But the first part you can read without spoilers.
Rating: 
(3.5 / 5)
Thank you so much to the publishers of the Dutch Seeker book, van Goor, for providing us with books for the 9th Bored to Death Book Club in Rotterdam last month. I loved that you are so interested in our opinions and talked with us about the book. Also thank you Donner for hosting the event! I just finished Seeker a couple of minutes ago and this is what I thought… 😉
“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]
My first thought was: this is AWESOME! My second thought, was, however: WTF?! What is happening? What is a Seeker? What is this? What is that? Why is this happening? Where are they and what century does the story take place? So many questions, so little answers. After a while, I finally got used to it. I made peace with the fact that I’d never know everything after only reading 3-4 chapters, but still, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything.
I think about halfway through the book it got clear to me what Seekers are, but didn’t really feel anything for Quinn. I must admit I started to like Shinobu (what a name?!) more and more, though the actually ‘like’ part didn’t really happen until the end of the book. And John? Well.. he’s being John. At first I totally loved him, then I hated him, but then again, I loved him, and in the end, I ended up being very very confused about him. Should I hate him? Should I like him? What??? So many questions. Again, to me it was all very confusing. I felt like plunging into deep cold water, trying to swim to the surface for some air. Breathless might be the best way to explain how I felt about the book at first.
The second half of the book, however, I thought to be very interesting. We got to know Maud better. Dayton added more secrecy to the book, more bad guys, more good guys, and I got confused again. But but but but I loved this part of the book. To me, Maud is a very interesting person. Quin is plain, to me. Shinobu is just messed up. And so is John. But Maud was an enigma to me. I’m really looking forward to read more about her. I also hope that Quin will develop more. She can be so much more then the already is.
The plotline was good, I think. We got to learn about every person, yet, some gaping holes were left to remain unfilled by a promise. I want more. That’s all I can say.
What I DO have to admit, is that I couldn’t binge read this book. Sometimes, when a book really speaks to me, I can just finish it in a day. With Seeker, I had more struggles. However, the ending really god me going. I couldn’t stop reading. I was so anxious to read more and then all of the sudden it stopped and everybody is making bad decisions and John is an ass and well, everything pretty much blew up in their faces. Literally. (pun intended).
So as you might notice, I’m not sure yet what to think of Seeker. The holes she left for us to fill made it, to me, more fun to read since I could really use my imagination. But, I have to say, as a reader, you can never fully fill in all of the holes to create a full story line.
I do think people who’d like to read some interesting, new-ish, not too high-ish fantasy book would really like Seeker. Seeker is a mysterious, fast paced and interesting book, introducing it’s readers to a whole new world.
