Traci Chee

Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book-a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed-and punish the people responsible. Praise for The Reader-

The Reader

"Set in a world where reading is unheard-of, Sefia makes use of a mysterious object to track down who kidnapped her aunt Nin and what really happened the night her father was murdered"--

Sarah Sammis

The book design. The hidden messages. All these things compete for attention and ultimately drew me away from Sefia's story. What die undliche Geschichte does in its untranslated version is use red and green ink to tell you whose story you're reading — whether it's Atréju's or if it's Bastian's. This book, though, is all black and white, though there are artistically added ink splotches, and other errata and marginalia but in to make it look like multiple books bound together.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

The book started off pretty slow for me, and I didn’t know if I would be compelled to continue after the first time I placed it down. I am glad I did. 

This book is filled with magic, adventure, heartbreak, and curiosity. The little details in the print made me happy, and I am ashamed that I only noticed the fun details every few pages by the numbers when I made it halfway through the book, whoops. 

I was thrown off by the POV changes the first time it happened. I am normally not a fan of them, but I enjoyed it in The Reader. The different plots intwining together to form a wonderful book. 

I would recommend you give this book a try.

Melissa Palmer

Book #59 Read in 2016
The Reader by Traci Chee

First in a series, The Reader is a great read. Sefia is on the run from evil people who want the book that she has....a rare and unusual thing in her world. She meets Archer, a wounded boy, and the two try to find Sefia's aunt, who has been kidnapped. On this journey, they meet tons of interesting people....some good, some bad....and find out more about themselves and their powers. This book is full of action and interesting characters. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review. I highly recommend it for high school readers as well as adult readers.

altlovesbooks

The writing style was nice, but I just couldn't get into the story. I gave it a solid try, but by almost the midpoint of the book the plot hadn't grabbed me.

laura

I actually really enjoyed the world building in this novel. I did at points drag but I think that is largely because of the massive world. I did really loved the various setting we were in and also how many POV we did have. Sometimes i got a tad confused on who was who but it was interesting read. I def grew invested to most of the main characters and overall was excited about the novel. I wish I felt a little bit more invested to the the characters but I am excited for book 2!

I don't remember the last time that I became this immersed in a fantasy story. Chee has absolutely astounded me with the first book in this new series and I won't be able to get my hands on sequel fast enough. 

Sefia lives in a world in which traditional reading, as we know it, doesn't exist. She also lives in a hidden room in her parents house, isolated from almost all contact. Why? What are her parents hiding?

This is book is a story within stories, laced and intertwined around each other. It's a story about harnessing magic and discovering ones truth.  I adored the characters, from Sefia - her courageousness, her ambition, her determination - to Archer - the most resilient character I've read in a long time - to Horse, who I absolutely adore in every way. It's a journey that had me gripped from page one. A journey which ended (for now) somewhere in which I certainly did not expect. 


  
    "This is a book, and a book is a world, and words are the seeds in which meanings are curled. Pages of oceans and margins of land are civilizations you hold in the palm of your hand. But look at your world and your life seems to shrink to cities of paper and seas made of ink. Do you know who you are, or have you been misled? Are you the reader, or are you the read?"
  

And what's next? I have no clue. But I sure as hell want to find out.

Kate

Considering the multiple raving reviews, I’m pretty sure my lack of understanding of the plot of this is totally on me but I have literally no clue what happened in this book. I think listening to a book with so many subplots, timelines etc. on audio made it incredibly difficult to follow and I was confused from start to finish. (I’m also very tired, which is never good news when combined with trying to follow a complex plot.) 

However, the audio narrator was fab and I was entertained throughout, I just didn’t know what I was being entertained by…

Jennifer

Larisa

Katy

oberon vortigern

Julia

Instant New York Times Bestseller A stunning debut set in a world where reading is unheard-of, perfect for fans of Inkheart and Shadow and Bone Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin’s been taken, or if she’s even alive. The only clue to both her aunt’s disappearance and her father’s murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book—a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed—and punish the people responsible. With overlapping stories of swashbuckling pirates and merciless assassins, The Reader is a brilliantly told adventure from an extraordinary new talent.

The Reader

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