Novel Review: Seekers: Return to the Wild, Book One - Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter

            I read a blog post on novelmatters.com recently that really grabbed my attention. It was called “Storyteller Vs. Status Seeker.” The premise of the post was that real and true storytellers can’t wait to get back in and start writing again, no matter how “important” publicity may be. They want words, and they will get their words one way or another. Status seekers are storytellers who get caught up in pumping out the next novel for the sake of noveling. They want as many books as possible to be recognized as “that author.” Unfortunately, it happens a lot.

            Mega-unfortunately, it’s happened to one of my favorite authors of all time.

            Erin Hunter had an amazing first series of Warriors books that captured my imagination and took me to the forest I have never left in my mind as I followed Fireheart and Graystripe on their perilous journey to stay alive amidst so much war and devastation among the cat Clans. I will never forget the amazingness of that first series. However, as the years go by, the team of five have fallen from storytellers to status seekers. I witnessed this over their last warrior cat arc, Warriors: Omen of the Stars. Quality fell dramatically. All but two of the characters fell into the “blah” and “gray” categories. It was like a mass merging of personalities into one entity that somehow split itself into multiple creatures with slightly altering factors. Needless to say, I was severely annoyed. This quality downturn took a sharp hook into their bear series, Seekers.

            Now, the first series I can’t review because I read it a while ago and can’t remember everything about the books. But I can say that the last one in the first series disappointed. Hunter built up the plot to where the bears—Toklo, Lusa, Ujurak, and Kallik—were going to do something amazing, but what they ended up doing was destroying an oil tower to “save the wild.” (insert disappointed stoic face) Wow, really? This trend continues in the second series, Seekers: Return to the Wild.

            The first book pretty much was about this: travel and getting lost. The teaser offered us that Toklo, Lusa, Kallik, and now Yakone were going to get lost in a set of dark tunnels and be stuck there amidst peril and adventure as they tried to find their way out. Did it happen? No. They were lost for approximately two chapters, three at most. This—aggravated—me. To no end did it aggravate me. And the little bear they ended up encountering? Yeah, Nanulak was more a pestilence and annoyance than anything. I hated him so much I cannot begin to convey the frustration I harbored towards this bear. Oh, and yes, hunting and stuff is essential, but when the book is comprised of 80% hunting and travel with random, meaningless appearances from other bears (Tekani, the polar bear Toklo met up with briefly), then I fail to understand how the book made it onto the New York Times bestseller list. It failed in delivering what it promised. Miserably.

            Seekers: Return to the Wild: Island of Shadows gets Three flipped pages out of Ten.

Novel Review: House of Secrets by Tracie Peterson

            The time I post these are always contrary to the time I write them. FYI, it is currently 1:48 AM. I—cannot—sleep.

            To the matter at hand.

            Now. Normally when a normal person reads a fantasy book, they feel the need to go back to the real world with a life-fiction, as I call them. For me, it’s the other way around. I can only take so much life-fiction before I have to delve back into the realm of the speculatively concrete world of fantasy, where anything is possible. To test a popular CBA author, I wanted to read one of her most recent books that my mother just so happened to have (thanks, Mom!). House of Secrets by Tracie Peterson . . . the cover entranced me. Usually books have elaborate layouts with inset text giving reviews or little teaser taglines. Not House of Secrets. The cover is simply three sisters holding each other in a family embrace, their backs turned to the viewer, and a forest in front of them. The title and author’s name are simply typed onto the picture in such a plain way, I was immediately drawn to the novel. Which is unusual, considering a year ago, I probably would have never considered this book to be on my TBR list.

            Anyway, to the writing. Bailee Cooper, the main character and oldest Cooper sister, had a distinct-ish voice. You could tell that she was trying to keep the family secrets and keep her sisters safe from what she thought would harm them. However, something about her felt a little too plain. A little too . . . expected. This was the case with most of the characters in the novel. Too much expectedness.

            A lot of the book involved talking, too. I mean, don’t get me wrong; novels are comprised of 85% dialogue. It’s what moves the story forward. But a little action now and then wouldn’t hurt, and I’m not talking about cooking a simple meal. Yeah, that’s action, but when the meal is alluded to instead of some talking while cooking (seeing as how the sisters had some special spaghetti recipe) irked me. Instead the talking was done mostly around seating areas and the seaside. These intimate spaces served well for the dialogue exchange but impeded any real movement that could have added to both the characters’ personalities and the story’s lack of action.

            Dialogue aside, there were few twists, and the one I didn’t completely see coming wasn’t all shocking because I had a niggle about it anyway. I think that Geena, the second-oldest Cooper sister, should have been diagnosed with their mother’s psychological disease to make things more intense. Geena could have added a lot of tension with normality one second, craziness the second. That would have been a twist we wouldn’t have seen coming but only suspected, because Piper, the youngest Cooper, displayed signs of the illness (I won’t tell you what it was in case you want to read the book). It turned out that Piper only had hypothyroidism, not the mental illness, but Geena should have had it. I can only grieve the lost action and detail that could have been added, the tension that could have smoked things up.

            Now, these aren’t the major reason I had a problem with the novel. My biggest irk was the romance plot. It—was—blatant—and—obvious. Bailee hardly struggled with herself, Mark seemed far too perfect to be human, and their kiss? Pah. I expected fireworks. I got a sparkler. A good novel is supposed to make you feel. I felt nothing. I wanted more heat, more struggle, more undeniable passion that made the two unable to stay away from each other, but Bailee could have fought against that even more and made the first kiss that much more explosive! Sadly, it didn’t happen.

            All in all, I wouldn’t call House of Secrets a bad book. It was good to read. Easy. But it didn’t challenge me. Not in life or faith or writing skill. And I never got punched in the face. (A good book always punches you in the face somehow.) Tracie Peterson kinda fell flat on this one, folks. Five flipped pages out of Ten.