The Reader by Traci Chee

Once there was, and one day there will be. This is the beginning of every story.

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. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS 

So, wow - how do I write this review?! ← I tend to ask that a lot. Anyhoo . . .

So this world of Kelanna doesn't have books! What? Who are these people? There is a whole story thing about it, but I got a little confused so don't ask me. 




A what? What's a book? Or as someone asked in this story, "What's a buck?"

Sefia has been on the run with her aunt Nin for quite some time. There are people looking for Nin because she's the most notorious thief in the Five Islands, they call her the Locksmith. But . . . there are other reasons she is hunted.

Sefia's mom was killed years ago and then her dad was killed and they had this set up what Sefia was to do if that happened. I feel really bad for Sefia seeing her father dead because the people in this book do some nasty killings.

Sefia took something she found hidden in their home when she made her escape to her aunt Nin. What was that something? A Book! A what?

Later on Nin gets caught by said people looking for her and Sefia has to fend for herself for a few years while hunting these people and hoping to find her aunt still alive and get revenge for her parents. I really like Sefia's character.

One day she is looking at the book. The what? Sorry, I can't help myself. She does something or other and she begins to read. Well, her dad taught her a little about reading back in the day but when she reads, something magical happens.



The book is magical! All books are magical in my world, but I digress. This book actually does something to Sefia and she ends up with some powers but I can't tell you what they are, read the book. The what?



One day in the woods, where Sefia has been living, there are some jerk holes that come along. Sefia is watching them from a tree. They have a crate with them that has holes in it with the sign of the book that Sefia has and she thinks it might be Nin. But when she goes later when they are sleeping to open the crate, it's a boy inside and not Nin.

Sefia saves the boy, he is scrawny and has many scars. She knows he is used in fighting and killing. He ends up staying with her, he can't talk, she teaches him things, she reads to him, she names him Archer, he's deadly, they save each other, they take out others, they are both wonderful, wonderful characters.

The end.

No, just kidding. Seriously, Sefia and Archer go through a lot together to get to Nin and they eventually do and revelations, revelations, revelations!!

And the book is a book within a book. Figure that one out =)

I enjoyed this book very much. I got it from the library Overdrive and it's now on my Amazon wishlist for Christmas. I loved Sefia and Archer so much that I just want to have their story and I am looking forward to the rest of the series/trilogy? 

GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1823165783

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399176772/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=200PK5IIT8BDX&coliid=I1MDC67CQDE3QV