The Seer by Ariel MacArran

In the Realm, Seers are not citizens. They are no better than animals and are to be executed on sight. That's why Arissa has been in hiding her entire life, after her parents faked her death at the age of five. But when she sees a Fleet Commander being held at gunpoint in an alley, she can no longer cower in the shadows, and steps into the light to save him. Bound by honor to save Arissa's life, Jolar has no choice but to take the beautiful Seer on his mission to a corrupt and dangerous planet, where dark intentions are afoot. It doesn't take long for Jolar to realize that Seers are nothing like the Realm makes them out to be, and in the dangerous world that he has brought Arissa in to, he's going to have to give up everything to keep her safe.

"Just in case my thoughts and feelings aren't shouting it to you, my beautiful Seer–I'm madly, wildly in love with you and nothing is going to keep me away from you."

Drawn in by the beautiful cover, I picked up this book, though I'm usually not much for the Science Fiction genre, and fell in love. This was a stay-up-all-night-because-you-can't-put-it-down read, and I regret nothing. From the opening line I was sucked in to this fast-paced, intricately woven story, and wasn't released until well into the afternoon.

Arissa is beautifully innocent and strong at the same time. It was great getting to see her excitement at finally being a part of the world around her. She maintained her belief in good despite the corrupt world around her, and no matter what, she was always looking out for others.

Jolar was strong-willed and honor bound, but his character was so great because after meeting Arissa, he came to question beliefs that he had simply accepted before, and so the character development was great. It was fun to watch him softening toward Arissa during their journey, and it was intriguing how he took for granted the things that were so fantastical to her.

This is a long book, and it was chock full of action and twists and turns in the plot, it never gets boring. Honestly this was one of those books where the plot seems very narrow-minded and you assume you know the ending and how the book will progress, but it turns into so much more than that. The book has an incredible scope by the end, and it truly was breathtaking. The galaxy was well thought out and the foods and animals remained consistent, which can be hard to do in SciFi. It's clear the author had the planets, and aspects of them very well documented, because there weren't inconsistencies.

Jolar and Arissa are great together. Arissa's innocence complements Jolar's jaded attitude, so that they each make each other a better person. While they did seem to fall in love a little quickly, it didn't bother me the way so many insta-love stories do. The conversations between them flow, and the author didn't cop out by say something like, "And they talked for hours, getting to know the little things about each other" or something like that, as authors that don't know how to write chemistry do. They interract well, and maturely with each other. The only thing is I couldn't get a good read on exactly how hold Jolar is. We know Arissa is right around twenty, but Jolar's age is never mentioned, though I got the impression that he was at least a few years older than her. I would put him in his late twenties.

This was a great book, especially for a self-publisher. There were a few editing issues, but there wasn't anything chronic, which made it easy to handle. I really appreciated this book, and while there isn't another in Arissa and Jolar's story, I will look in to other books by this author.

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

The Seer on Goodreads