The Reader

Sefia and her Aunt Nin have been on the run since her father was murdered when she was a little girl.  Now, Nin has been kidnapped by the people who may be behind her father's murder, and Sefia will stop at nothing to save her.

All Sefia has to remember her parents is a strange object.  She's never seen anything like it, but she has been carrying it all these years without really examining it.  Now that Nin has been kidnapped, she risks pulling it out.  It is full of paper with strange markings.  Everyone in Kalanna is illiterate, so it takes Sefia a while to realize the symbols are letters that form words.

Along the way, she meets a similar group of men traveling with a crate marked with a symbol she remembers from her childhood.  Inside the crate is a boy who is a little older than Sefia and covered in filth, but he soon proves himself to be an extraordinary fighter, even if he doesn't seem to enjoy it.  He is unable or unwilling to speak, so Sefia names him Archer.

On their journey, they read from the book about a group of outlaws who sail the seas in search of adventure.  In a moment of desperation, the meet these characters in real life and realize there is more the book than they every could have imagined.

Traci Chee's series opener has received a lot of buzz, so I was excited to read it.  Maybe it was because it was so hyped that I found it a little disappointing.  It was a struggle at times to keep my focus.  It was good but not my favorite.