Seers (Early Review)

Seers by Heather Frost

Seers Trilogy #1

For Kate Bennet, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.

Kate's life changed forever when her parents were killed in a car wreck that she survived, as she can now see auras, and always knows other people's emotions as a result. She does a good job at hiding this from almost everyone as otherwise would gain her a quick trip to the loony bin. Then invisible people start showing up without auras, and one of them claims to be her guardian who needs her help in fighting against demons. She quickly gets wrapped up in the mess of it all and finds herself as a particularly nasty demon's latest target. She'll have to learn fast if she has any chance at getting out of this mess alive.

While the story was intriguing, it wasn't enough to distract me from the overabundance of teen angst in terms of Kate's relationship with her boyfriend Aaron, and her attraction towards her Guardian, Patrick. (Guardian like an Angel, not a parent figure). I realize that things will change drastically when you have a life altering even like Kate did when she lost her parents, so it really wasn't a surprise that her relationship had gone a little stale. However, I did have a problem with how she strung him along. He couldn't have been more understanding about everything and tried his best to give her the time and space she needed, but it never was enough. She should have let him go long ago, rather than dragging things out because she thought she needed that stability. It was obvious that there really wasn't any comfort or stability to be had as she couldn't really stand to be around him. It got even worse once she started having feelings for Patrick and much of the book was spent on her angsting over what to do. This really lessened my enjoyment of the book, which is a shame, because the rest of it was quite good.

The world behind Seers was really unique and quite interesting. It showed a different take on the afterlife, and there were several aspects I really liked, especially how things are handled with young children who pass on. I especially liked how only the truly evil, are denied the change to reach paradise. Another unique thing was the handling of the "Angels" and Demons. They definitely were not what I've come to expect from these type of beings, the biggest difference being that they were not celestial beings, but were once human. I love any book that can change the "rules" when it comes to certain paranormals, as long as those changes are handled well, and are made reasonably believable. The changes were pulled off without a hitch in Seers, making for an impressive read.

Seers was a blend of highly enjoyable aspects blended with a few things that really lessened the experience for me, granting it a solid three rating. I will say that it should rate higher to a teenage reader as they are able to relate a little more to the angsty parts that really irked me. It is told mostly in Kate's first person perspective, but there are a few parts that switch over to Patrick's point of view. This only helped to further enrich the book as it helped to another side of things. Things were wrapped up decently without a hard cliffhanger, but you can definitely tell the book is part of a trilogy as there were obvious set ups for much more to happen. Seers is a fresh look on the conflict between Demons and Angels, as well as the humans who get caught in-between that will be sure to entertain and I look forward to reading the next installment.

(Received a copy from Netgalley)

Rating:

Pre-order from Amazon:
Seers (Seers - Trilogy)

Other Reviews:

• The Phantom Paragrapher
• Bending the Spine

Challenge Categories:

• Outdo Yourself
• YA 
• New Author