BOOK REVIEW: Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton

This is a review for Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton. I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review. The publication date for the book is scheduled for February 10 of this year.

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.

In the Amazon synopsis, this book was compared to Marie Lu's Legend, Veronica Roth's Divergent, and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games. I loved every single one of those series so I had high hopes for this one. I was very interested in this book for the first two or three chapters. It told of Quin's training and her desperate desire to become a Seeker. I thought that the author would reveal what a seeker was at some point. Once Quin completes her training, there is a very mysterious task they have to complete right before actually taking oath. No one knows that task (even Quin) except for current seekers. I thought the author would reveal what that was at one point. I was wrong on both counts, although later in the book they do hint at what they had to do. But never do they say why they had to do it.

The chapters bounced between Quin, John (her love interest who wants to become a seeker at all costs) and Shinobu (another trainee who takes the oath with Quin and also is in love with Quin). Later Maude is introduced. Maude is the Young Dread. What is a Dread and what is their purpose? After reading the book, I am still not sure. But judging by Maude's chapters, I don't think even she knows what the purpose of the Dreads are. Later in the book, they start talking about the athame. What is that? Like everything else, I have no idea. I gathered that it is a royal dagger. But the author never explains why this is so important. What we do know is that everyone is after this dagger and some people are willing to kill to get their hands on it.

The author does try to introduce a love triangle, but it isn't well done. First of all, the romance is very minimal. Second of all, I have no idea why Quin continued to have feelings for John even after all the horrible things he did just to get his hands on the athame. Another reason why this love triangle was not well done is because I just didn't care about any of the characters. The character development was just as minimal as the romance. And maybe it's the way the chapters were structured and all the questions the author never answered. There were so many unanswered questions that I had a really hard time figuring out the motivations behind anyone's actions. I think this is only series I have ever started in which I have no interest in reading the other books.

My recommendation for this book: Skip it. There are just too many questions in this book that are never answered.