The Seer’s Secret by Brittany Fichter
Fantasy. 546 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
A failing warrior.
A prince in pain.
A city in the mountain where they and their loved ones hide from Solevar’s curse.
But this reality will soon shatter. For among the cursed ashes of Solevar, a Seer has been found.
Eirin, the king’s favored warrior-in-training, is going to fail her combat test. She knows this, as does everyone around her. This comes as no surprise, though. Eirin never understood why the king chose to train her alongside the Walled City’s most promising fighters. She’s always been too slow, too weak, never enough for what a true Sgaeth is meant to be. And now that it’s nearly over, she dreams only of returning to the home where she’s loved and she belongs.
For years, Drystan, the king’s Heir, chosen for his strength and prowess in combat, has watched Eirin fight only to fall again and again. And though he’s only the king’s Heir, his patience with the situation grows thin. Anyone can see that Eirin was never meant to be a Sgaeth, but the king refuses to listen. As if his worry over Eirin’s safety isn’t enough, the ever-present pain in Drystan’s chest is reaching nearly crippling levels. If he can’t get it under control, his suffering will soon begin to affect those he should be keeping safe.
Both Eirin and Drystan’s plans and ambitions are brought to a halt, however, when just before Eirin’s combat trial, the Walled City is attacked by an army of monstrous shifters. And Eirin and Drystan hear a word uttered that changes the course of the battle and their lives.
Seer.
Upon hearing mention of this word, the king sends Eirin, Drystan, and a small party of companions out of the Walled City, out of the mountain, into the ancient, dying land of Solevar. There, he promises, they will find the answers they’ve been seeking. But no matter what happens, Drystan must protect Eirin at all costs. The Walled City’s survival depends on it.
As they make their way into the dangerous world of the Atharrach shifters, far from the safety of their city’s walls, Drystan and Eirin begin to see that perhaps the world is not exactly as they’ve been told. Even more importantly, though, they learn world-altering secrets about their own selves. And if they can’t learn to embrace their true natures…and trust one another along the way, the world as they know it might fall.
The Seer’s Secret is the first in the Legacy of the Time Stones Trilogy, a world with magic, myth, and mystery. Read Seer’s Secret today to embark on the journey to the Time Stones…before it’s too late.
My Review:
Oh my word. I loved this book. I am so thrilled for Fichter’s dragon story to finally be here and I cannot wait for the rest of the trilogy!
The world for this new trilogy is intriguing. I must admit, it took me a few chapters to get the swing of things. There were a lot of names that were kind of hard to track and I didn’t really understand what was a name, a creature, a plant, a rank, etc. But I adjusted quickly enough. It made the beginning a little disorienting, but not enough to pull me out of the story. I was fascinated by the sun sickness, though, and the underground society Fichter built. I really hope to learn more about the sun sickness in the later two books. It’s such a unique worldbuilding element and I really loved seeing how different people dealt with the ramifications of it. And I loved the mystery of unraveling how it started and what caused it–and I’m definitely curious to see more on that front as the story progresses.
The different settings in the world gave the journey a very quest-like feel that was a lot of fun. We started in a curious culture of people who valued order and strength and then saw different kinds of societies after that on the way to the surface. I really liked the dwarf mines and hope we see more of those, too. And the first glimpse of the surface was a moment that effectively made me pause with the characters. I’m excited about exploring more of the surface, too.
Much like the world, the storyline itself drew me in. I love a good mystery and there are threads of mystery and hints of fairytale and loads of adventure smattered throughout. I definitely suspected one of the twists, but Fichter still built suspense and uncertainty before she revealed the truth, and the twist was cool, too. It was neat to start the book from one perspective and then see everything shift and realize the truth of what was going on. I know she’ll have more twists and turns in store!
The Testings ended a bit oddly, I thought. I know it was explained later, so it wasn’t a huge deal, but there was something about it that made me wonder why it didn’t go a different way. At first we didn’t see a lot of the Elders, but I think they’ll become increasingly more important and I’m still very curious about their role in all this. They were an entertaining and suspenseful element to the story for sure. The whole bigger plot still feels like a mystery, so I’m curious how much of this first story will carry into the rest of the bigger plot. This one felt like a smaller story that sets up the bigger one, but I’m hoping some of what went down here still ties deeply into the bigger elements.
The characters in this were soooo much fun! I didn’t love some of the names. I did eventually figure out what was the name of a person and what was the name of some worldbuilding element, but some of them were still difficult to say in my head and I just ended up making something similar up XD But that was such a small thing compared to how much fun this cast was. I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamics between the students, the teachers, and the Elders/rulers.
Eirin and Alys make me want to hug my best friend so much. And I was so scared through half of this that something would sour their relationship–I’m still scared of it! I may cry if it does sour cause I love these two. And it was so sweet how their friends rallied around each other. (I really hope we get to see more of Mateo and Jude soon!) I loved the loyalty and team mentality they had throughout the journey. And those who rocked that boat, too! Nuru is an interesting character and I’m willing to bet there’s more to her yet to come. Thane was a comic and I’m definitely hoping to see where his character leads. Qeb is probably the one I’m most curious about, though. There just feels like there has to be more boiling under the surface there. Eirin’s parents and family were such a sweet touch to the story, too. I just want to scoop them up!
Drystan and Eirin make me smile. They each had such broken bits they began to work through and it was easy to cheer for them and hope for their growth. I did feel like Eirin’s hatred of Drystan was a little built up. We spend half the book wondering what this mysterious thing is that she refuses to talk about or remember. I mean, I get that it impacted her view of Drystan and his character, but I guess I was expecting something a little more deeply traumatizing than what it actually was–just in the context of the culture, it didn’t seem so…awful. Or maybe I just didn’t have the ability to connect with her and experience it as much because it was only a memory. I’m not sure. And while I saw the reason behind what he did, I do also wish that had been explored a little more or discussed perhaps? It just seemed for the amount of trauma it caused Eirin, it was pretty swiftly resolved and taken care of. That said, I liked the way it was rooted in Drystan’s character in a number of ways. And most of all, I loved how they saw each other’s character, who they were, and their brokenness. Also, it doesn’t hurt they each looked good 😉 But that wasn’t the focus and it made the romance feel more realistic.
THE CREATURES! Okay, guys! So, first: I found the names of the creatures really confusing and difficult to keep up with. They had a race name (I think?) and then each had species names. Maybe I’m just not as up and up on my mythology as I should be, but until Fichter described what they were, I was so in the dark. The characters had a great knowledge of the creatures and had studied them thoroughly, but I was a little lost. That said, I loved the variety of them so much! I loved the function they served in the world and I’m soooo curious about what they should have been before the world broke. It was so much fun to have so many fun, cool creatures interacting at different points in different ways. (Also, shoutout to my merman!!! YAS! Absolutely hoping he turns up again later!) Um, and I totally figured out the dragon on the cover!! Also, MORE DRAGON! 😀 I’m a little excited for the dragons, okay.
The book has no swearing, some fantasy violence, and a sweet, clean romance. It explores questions of truth, deception, power, etc. There is allusion to less-than-wholesome boys with less-than-wholesome plans for one of the main girls, but nothing actually happens and it’s tactfully portrayed. I’d feel comfortable giving the book to a teen.
More:
Book 2 in the Time Stones trilogy is being written as we speak! Check back for updates!