This book was so unlike anything I have read before. The language used was complex and not only was the story really creative the writing style felt really unique as well. It was a great story, great world building and characters and an intriguing start to a series. I will absolutely be reading the rest. Thank you so much NetGalley for allowing me to read it!

I have tried and failed to read this book in its entirety. Sadly, it is not for me and I can't get past the half way mark. In order to be fair, I will not review this on GoodReads or storygraph. Thank you for the opportunity to read this advance copy, I am sure this story will find its audience!

Samuel Griffin’s book takes place in days of old, yet has a very female forward protagonist. Choices made by the protagonist, for better or worse, are very much her decision. She doesn’t preternaturally have all the right instincts and learns most if not all in simply living the new life she is granted when pulled from an orphanage and selected to have qualities needed for her new role as Seeker. I am being particularly guarded about details as it would be easy to give too many accidental spoilers. It is fascinating, and occasionally confusing, but the end is worth the wait.

This was a good start to a series. I wouldn’t have minded some more action, but the depth of the characters and the world was done wonderfully.

Thank you to NetGalley and Panthe Press . ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

This book was slow for me to get into but I really enjoyed the pacing, the depth of the characters and how the author wove the story together!

I suppose there are some cool elements of this novel, but man, I thought at certain points, when something very awesome was going to happen, nothing did... it was... boring. The world that is built, and the genre "flintlock" is a neat concept, kinda of Steampunk without the machines. That's cool, right? That's in, correct? I love that style of writing and genre, but Seeker had so much potential and a ton of exposition. Sometimes, I think, just get to the point. Get to the action. Trust your readers to get where you're taking them without telling them every single thing and thought that drops in your head. It's annoying. Anyway, bonus points for a cool concept, and a loss of star for dragging on forever. I am also going to give extra star power because I guarantee that my students will love this book. Not all of them, but there are few I know will relish this story. And honestly, that's the audience, so bravo!

Shay Bluefaltlow, an orphan, is studying to become an archivist, who deals with magical mysterious creatures known as Sentinels. It's a character-focused book that spends most of its time on her own character arc. As a result, the pacing was slow but I enjoy slow books so it didn't bother me.

I adored Seeker from the writing style, world building, prose, and narration! I don't see first person narration too often, but it was a joy to read Shay as she learns more about her surroundings and comes into herself.

I look forward to the next installment and learning more about the world Griffin has crafted!

Thanks to Samuel Griffin and the publisher for the ARC. This book started out slow and went in several directions quickly. A lot happened to the main character Shay in her new home. The description of the world was ok but could have been better. Considering it was told from her perspective, it left out a lot that the reader should know. Was a good read

We follow the education of the principal character from her indenture as a child through increasingly important positions. Decisions are made that seem unwise, but then you realize that she is a naive child coming into her own. The first person narrative feels constrained at times. I do wish that there was a map of the territory. Maybe in the next book?

Received as an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC).

I never take weeks to finish a book. I can’t even truthfully say I finished this; I skimmed the last thirty or so pages. And only then so that I could write this review.
Initially the storyline and storytelling seem to parallel Jane Eyre: a young woman, an orphan, raised in a boarding school. The narrative is in the first person, to the reader, the writing, I assume, intended to be Victorian in tone.
Shay is ‘bought’ (Indentured?) by a physician and expects to become a servant but instead is set to learn many things, told only that it is the wish of her ‘benefactors’
I really did not take to this book. The writing style is overly flowery and verbose, with a great deal of commas, injecting asides, meant perhaps to indicate that you are hearing Shay’s thoughts, all the while simply leading to confused sentences that had to be read over before any sense could be made of them,and often to no obvious aid to the tale.(See what I mean?)
No one will tell Shay anything. And perhaps because of this she makes idiotic decisions. She is very young, yes, but no-one takes this into consideration in their expectations of her.
For the most part I found the story dull. And interminable. There was no flow, I felt no connection to the characters, and I still only have a vague idea of what the story is about.

Nope! Sorry, I just cannot get along with this at all. I wanted to, but it just wasn't happening. I originally started the book a few weeks ago and thought I just wasn't in the mood for it, so I thought set it aside for a while, let it percolate and come back to it. However, I tried to read it again and just couldn't get along with it. Written in a regency style it tells the story of Shay Bluefaltlow as she goes to be an indentured servant. However, I cannot comment on the rest of the story because I didn’t make it that far as unfortunately the flowery prose completely put me off.

That’s not saying that it is a bad book or anything like that, but it’s just not for me.

PS: I wouldn’t normally do a star rating , but by the sheer will of writing and publishing a book deserves some recognition despite the fact that I personally didn’t get on with the book!

Disclaimer: I was given an ARC from netgalley for an unbiased review.
"Seeker" is a fantasy on par with "the Lord of the Rings." Its deep, surrounding atmosphere builds the world in your mind with minimal effort and all you need to do is keep turning the pages.
Shay is an approachable, understandable guide to this new world and its monsters and politics, as well as monsters *in* politics. It was well written, and will someday translate well to essay assignments.
I highly recommend for fans of Tolkien or Codex Alera.

DNF at 30% for now.

This is an interesting concept and intriguing and everything I should like in a book: a headstrong orphan bought by mysterious benefactors to be educated in somewhat arcane things. However, the execution fell short for me.

It was just so slow. At 30% so little had happened in the book that I was really struggling to maintain interest. It also didn't help that the writing style employed made it much harder to just lose yourself in the story. It was very grandiose and verbose. There's nothing wrong with that, and it definitely fit the worldbuilding and story, but combined with the very slow pacing, it made it almost impossible for me to immerse myself in the story like I enjoy.

I may give this one another go because I am genuinely interested in the story itself, but it may be at a later date.

I have no doubt that this book will find it's niche. Probably for fans of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which I did enjoy, but I had to be in the right frame of mind to read.

3.5 stars

This was an interesting book, a very regency feeling fantasy right down to the use of language. This is written very thoroughly and very well in the style of much older books and I do feel it really did lend to the solidity of the world and the grounding of it. It was one of the many things I liked in the book.

The world building at least what I saw of it in this first volume, was solidly intriguing. I really wanted to know more about the Archives and the Seekers and the Sentinels, but what I did learn so far was extremely interesting. As the first book of a series should this feels like it leave a great number of things unanswered and to be discovered. I will be very intrigued to see where the story and Shay alike go from here.

I liked a lot of the cast we had here. What we see of Archivist Penelope Etherington is very interesting and admirable. I quite liked Hardy and Peck. There were other members of the book's cast I really wished had just a touch more page time so I could know them better. But over all I was really intrigued by the characters, the setting, and the concepts.

I think of the less positive things I have to say, a few of them are due to it being the first of the series. I have so very many unresolved questions, which I very much assume will be addressed later. However, I wish I had understood a bit more of everything going on in this book before the end. I believe some of that is down to the author doing a very good job of slotting us into Shay's limited view, but it did make some of the plotting quite puzzling.

Shay herself is an interesting character with quite a lot of potential. I am very intrigued to see where things will go for her after that ending. However, as much as I liked and sympathized with her she was a bit frustrating at times, because she was making very horrible choices. Still one never had the feeling she wasn't trying only that sometimes she was very much trying at the wrong things.

Overall this was a very unique and interesting fantasy novel. I'm quite looking forward to the rest of the series in hopes of learning a lot more about the world here and also where the plot will go after the whirlwind end of the last bit. Quite a solid book and especially impressive as a debut.

I love the Regency period, mainly romance, and it's been a long time since I've delved into Regency fantasy. This made me love it all over again. It is told from the POV of an orphan who is "bought" as an indentured servant to a stoic and grumpy doctor, who treats her well, but young Shay wants to be free. She plans an escape that lands her not so much in trouble as truth, at least she's finally getting answers. The question is does she want them? The author did an excellent job of creating life-like characters that show their personalities and help immerse you in the story. A detailed and elaborate world that tells a great story. I'm looking forward to the next book.

Thank you to Panthe Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was simply beautiful! The writing that Samuel Griffin weaves gives life to a story of Shay Bluefaltlow. She leaves her school and finds adventure whether she thinks she deserves it or not.

I connected a lot with the world and characters so when I saw this was a series I was beyond excited!

Engaged at first, my interest in the story waned. The pace was slow and the MC not very likable. I really had trouble understanding the whole plot and found it hard to pick up once I put it down. Other readers might enjoy this slow paced story.

Very unique, loved the concept, the characters were excellent. Kept me interested the entire way, very hard to put down. Looking forward to the next book from this author. .

The Sentinel Archivists listen and study the songs of ancient leviathans. Shay Bluefatlow is training to be a specialist archivist but the training is hard on her. She will learn a so much on her difficult journey but will he skills be enough?

This novel introduces us to a new world where war is about start. Strong characters with difficult roads to follow. Not all are true friends and life can be bewildering. Enjoy the ride.

I struggled to get through this book. The writing was incredibly wordy and made it difficult to follow. At times I felt like I was attempting to read Shakespeare. That appeals to some readers, but for me it made the story harder to lose myself in.