Book Review: The Seekers (Order of the Lily) by Cait Ashwood
Audrey’s always felt there’s more to life than being stuck in the same old 9-5 routine. When a black-clad stranger says she meets the criteria for his recruitment program, she can’t help but be intrigued. The fact that he’s from nine hundred years in the future only adds to the appeal. Hound has been searching for ancestors of the Order his entire life. The power to heal the earth resides in their blood, and they are all that stands between humanity and starvation. But protecting Audrey isn’t an easy task, not when her uncontrollable talents only paint a target on their backs.
The Seekers (Order of the Lily) is the first book in Cait Ashwood’s fantasy series. The story takes the reader 900 years into the future to a destroyed earth reliant on plant healers from the past to save both the planet, and the human race.
The female protagonist, Audrey, is central to the whole story, introduced to the reader as a fresh-out-of-therapy young woman with a past as of yet unknown. While the story is very plot-heavy, Ashwood’s writing is strong, and she skillfully develops the main characters so that the reader becomes invested in what happens to them.
The premise of the book is introduced at the beginning, when the Seekers, a group of ‘recruiters’ from the future, find three young women, including Audrey, who are ancestors of the Order, and therefore have the power to heal the earth so that humanity doesn’t starve.
Many characters are initially introduced, but most are whittled away to bit-parts by the time the story has fully taken hold, leaving you with a non-typical love triangle between Audrey, Ace and Hound. Although a little uncomfortable at times, each character also has their own story outside of the triangle, making what happens to them individually of equal, or perhaps more importance than just matters of the heart.
If I was to find any fault with this debut novel it would be in the last few chapters. Personally, I felt the story could have ended sooner, and the last chapters were an unnecessary extension at this point.
With that said, however, I would thoroughly recommend The Seekers, now available at Amazon, and am looking forward to seeing how the story progresses in subsequent books.
