Once there was, and one day there will be.
This is the beginning of every story.
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by Traci Chee
Published September 13th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sefia lives her life on the run. After her father is viciously murdered, she flees to the forest with her aunt Nin, the only person left she can trust. They survive in the wilderness together, hunting and stealing what they need, forever looking over their shoulders for new threats. But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia is suddenly on her own, with no way to know who’s taken Nin or where she is. Her only clue is a strange rectangular object that once belonged to her father left behind, something she comes to realize is a book.
Though reading is unheard of in Sefia’s world, she slowly learns, unearthing the book’s closely guarded secrets, which may be the key to Nin’s disappearance and discovering what really happened the day her father was killed. With no time to lose, and the unexpected help of swashbuckling pirates and an enigmatic stranger, Sefia sets out on a dangerous journey to rescue her aunt, using the book as her guide. In the end, she discovers what the book had been trying to tell her all along: Nothing is as it seems, and the end of her story is only the beginning. [n.]
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This book was practically click bait for me and I've been dying to read it since I first saw the book last year. I was reminded when I saw a Twit saying the second book is already out. Aside from Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, from the title alone, I knew I'd love this book. It did not disappoint.
“If you're reading this, then maybe you know you ought to read everything. And maybe you know you ought to read deeply. Because there's witchery in these words and spellwork in the spine.”
I couldn't imagine a world without books. And if suddenly all the books in the world disappeared, I would write my own stories and make my own books. Books have shaped me and changed me, and as the author Stephen King put it - "Books are a uniquely portable magic."
Sefia is from a world where books and reading is unheard of. Those who have heard of books, only share in whispers about the Magic supposedly contained in them. Sefia has been on the run with her Aunt Nin after her father was murdered. She followed their instructions and keeps in her small pack an artifact so powerful, it would be catastrophic in the wrong hands.
We follow 3 stories intertwined with each other - Sefia reading the book, the stories in the book, and the story of an Apprentice Librarian and The Second who fall in love. It might be every readers dream to meet the characters they read about in books, I know I would, and Sefia did exactly that. I loved Captain Reed and his "merry" band of outlaws (Pirates). Sefia herself is not the typical Female Protagonist. She's the right balance between a fighter and a useless static character.
Of course our main protagonist has to have a love interest. She meets and saves a savage boy from Impressors on their way to take him to another fight. Sefia names him Archer and I'm seeing love naturally blossom between them. No angtsy teenage insta-love here.
Another underlying theme in the book that spoke volumes to me as reader was Captain Reeds's desire to be remembered. Kinda ironic that Sefia has already met them in the book before she met them in real life. Their lives were already being remembered by a reader. That is one legacy I would like to have.
And that ending, really? Cliffhanger? Good thing Book 2 is now out. Hahaha.
It's been a while since I rated a book this high and it's a book I would recommend to anyone. Grab your copy of Traci Chee's Books Now!
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