Finders Seekers: 11/05/08

Finders Seekers is the first of a mixed genre trilogy known as The Ghatti's Tale. Doyce, a Seeker, is leading the investigation in a number of gruesome murders where the victims are found with their brains scooped out their heads. All the while her ghatti companion is trying to keep Doyce's nightmares at bay.

The book is a mixture of horror, fantasy and science fiction. The different genres don't always mix perfectly and he jumps between these genres are sometimes jarring. What saves the book is Greeno's attention to detail and her sense of humor.

What the novel needs more than anything is tighter editing and a rearrangement of key plot points to avoid unnecessary flashbacks and redundant scenes. The novel starts off in fantasy mode, reading like one of Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar books except with cats (called ghattis). It's only about forty pages into the novel that Greeno reveals the science fiction twist. Although the Seekers are living and working with Renaissance type technology on a distant planet. The cat like ghatti are actually a native species to the planet that happen to look and act a lot like the cats from Earth except for a greater intelligence and the ability to share their thoughts with humans.

The two things that kept me reading Finders Seekers were the mystery and the world building. Although superficially similar to Valdemar, Greeno's country of Canderis on planet Methuen is detailed and unique. I would have preferred less emphasis on the ghatti mind-speaking and more on the actual job of being a Seeker Veritas.

Although flawed, I am intrigued enough by Finders Seekers to want to read more of Greeno's Ghatti books.

The list of Ghatti books includes:

1. Finders Seekers (1993)
2. Mindspeaker's Call (1994)
3. Exiles' Return (1995)
4. Sunderlies Seeking (1998)
5. The Farthest Seeking (2000)

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Thursday, November, 6, 2008 at 17:38:37

Brenda

This series sounds interesting. Happy TT!"

Comment #2: Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 11:09:13

Pussreboots

The first book was good but flawed. I'm curious to see how future books in the series play out.