Review: Order of the Seers by Cerece Rennie Murphy

Order of the Seers by Cerece Rennie Murphy

After the tragic deaths of their parents, sixteen year old Liam and thirteen year old Lilith (Lilli) Knight are forced to go on the run by an organization known as The Guild, a corrupt branch of the U.N. obsessed with power. The siblings are hunted because Lilli is a "Seer" a talent that allows her to catch glimpses of the future and she is not alone in her abilities. 

Marcus and Alessandra are two captured "Seers" that are used and abused for The Guild's self-serving purposes. Marcus has a vision of escape with the hopes of bringing the organization to its knees.

When all the "fugitive" Seers are drawn to the same commune in Iowa they discover that they were more powerful than even The Guild could have imagined.

 I was contacted by the author about reviewing this book, she sent a sample chapter and after reading it, I was greedy for more. This book just pulls you right in from the word Go. I struggled a little bit with it after the first few chapters because so many new characters were introduced in a relatively short period of time and the narrative perspective changes without warning. However, once I became accustomed to the flow it was a very fast read. There's a good passage of time during the course of the plot so don't let the characters young ages at the beginning turn you away, it's not a bunch of teen angst.

I'm not sure where I got the impression but I went into this book believing Lilli would be the main character, but I really felt that Liam was our main focus. In my opinion, that was absolutely fantastic. He was such a wonderfully written character who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.Oh god, he broke my heart over and over again! The pain the author poured into him was almost devastating to read at times. I found myself rooting for him to find happiness and felt so dejected when he'd shy away from it.

Even though the Liam perspectives were obviously my favorite, I think this tale is woven together pretty solidly as the perspectives change from character. We get to see some of the brutality at the hands of The Guild through Marcus and Alessandra's narratives and we're also introduced to one of our Guild henchmen, Crane. He was a creepy villain who made my skin crawl. In my opinion, he gives sadists a bad name. He was just that icky. Read it, you'll see what I'm saying.

Most of the story takes place at commune where the Seers, that have been on the run or have escaped, learn to adjust to daily life again. Although not all is peaceful and quiet for long as The Guild continues to hunt for their most valuable assets. There was an ever present sense of loss through the entire book, every character had a tragic past to overcome and I felt it gave a nice richness to the plot.

This book is the first in a proposed trilogy and given that there were a few new characters thrown into the mix near the end I am looking forward to reading the next installment. What a fantastic read to start off the new year!

Ciao!

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