BookBrowse Reviews Seeker by William Nicholson

An epic coming-of-age story about courage, friendship, desire, and faith, that marks the beginning of a riveting new series

From the book jacket: Sixteen-year-old Seeker's older brother is publicly humiliated and - with no explanation - exiled from the Nomana, a revered order of warrior monks. Seeker refuses to believe that his beloved older brother is capable of committing a betrayal that would warrant such severe consequences, so he sets off alone on a journey to rescue his brother and find out at last what really happened. Along the way he meets two other young people who are on quests of their own, and in a shocking turn of events, the three are soon caught up in a harrowing and bloody race to save the Nomana - and themselves - from destruction.

Comment: The storyline is familiar: Boy consigned to boring life seeks adventure, discovers that (despite the fact that his family never thought him up to much) he's actually the chosen one who's destined to save his world from imminent destruction, meets traveling companions (including capable and determined female) and sets off on quest. However, as we all know, it's not what you tell, it's the way you tell it, and William Nicholson tells a very good story, one that will keep the 12+ age group reading long after bedtime.

This is the first volume in a planned trilogy. The second book, Jango, was published in the UK in 2006 but will not be available in the US until June 2007. The final volume, Noman, will be published in the UK in September 2007 (US: May 2008).

"A timeless piece of storytelling, unencumbered by being shackled too closely to our own world." - The Guardian (UK).

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in June 2006, and has been updated for the April 2007 edition. Click here to go to this issue.