Habían sido ungidos por el poder del único dios. Trabajaban a su servicio y luchaban por la paz y la justicia, a lo largo y ancho del mundo, con las armas de la fuerza y la razón. Eran los Guerreros Místicos o nomanos, y vivían bajo la pesada losa de una maldición que había tomado forma en el despótico Imperio de Radiancia. Pero la voz de dios había hablado al corazón de tres muchachos, y sólo ellos podrían reescribir el destino de los nomanos.

Well, the entire reason I decided to put my old list of books on this website is because my friend and I had a conversation about how frickin weird these books are, so I guess it's got that going for it...

One of my favorite fantasies, this book goes outside the norm in both character and plot.

Ages ago, a single warrior named Noman founded an order of warrior monks called the Nomana. Their duty was simple; to spread peace, safeguard the people, and protect their god, the All and Only. Ensconced in their sacred citadel Anacrea, the Nomana are idolized and feared by many.

Seeker After Truth, a young boy who lives on Anacrea, yearns to join the warrior order like his older brother, scorning his father's hopes that he become a schoolteacher.

In a faraway country, the shephard's daughter Morning Star, who has the gift of seeing emotions, also wishes to join the Nomana, following in the footsteps of her vanished mother.

And on the waterways of the land, a handsome and wild teenage river pirate named the Wildman meets with the Nomana, and is awed in spite of himself by their peaceful power. And he wants it for his own.

Now, three teenagers come together for a common purpose; to join the ancient order. But when a threat arises from a city where people are sacrificed daily, Seeker, Morning Star, and Wildman will undertake a quest to save all the Nomana.

With three amazing main characters, a winding plot, and nothing held back in terms of danger and death, this is the first of a strange yet compelling trilogy that I have always loved. ( )

I made it half way, then the suspension of disbelief just died a horrible, painful death and I can't continue. It's just too absurd and outlandish, even for a fantasy. I started with the hope of finding a gem in the rough text, only to realize I'd dug up pyrite instead.

Just from an editing point of view, it moved way too slow. Chapter seven should have been chapter one. Of the first 8 chapters, it should have been condensed to 3 because there is too much backstory slowing the pace. It skips among too many characters to make the story consistent until chapter fifteen when many of the main characters are in the same scene, the same spot. Then they all separate again. Plus you get secondary characters with POV chapters that really don't need to exist through the point I stopped. Maybe they become more important later, but the storylines are so jumbled it's hard to tell.

Then we have some of his descriptions. What does this guy listen to for some of these? Since when is FLOP a good description of a paper hitting a desk? I can vaguely see bump for a monastery bell, but it still suggests something muted to me. Just doesn't feel right for the world he's building.

Reading this reminds me a lot of reading a script, though with attempts to fill in details between the dialog and scene/set descriptions. The paragraphs of description read like someone trying to describe a play set up. Just not wonderful prose. Doesn't really fulfill the full details of what the reader sees either.

Really not something I'd recommend. ( )

Seeker is the first novel from William Nicholson that I've read, and after reading it, I don't particularly feel the need to read any of his other novels. Nicholson is very heavy into world building and spent a good bit of time on the backstory about the Nomana, or the noble warriors, who dedicate their lives to the Nom, the All and the Only. This backstory, unfortunately, is poorly developed, not particularly interesting and really drags. The characters are just abysmal. All three of the main characters, are poorly drawn out, not compelling and add little to the story. The Wild Man character may be the single worst character that I have ever encountered in any book I've ever read, and I have read a helluva lot of books in my day.

The three characters go on a journey that seems to go nowhere. Seeker of Justice, the main character, is trying to find his brother, Blaze of Justice, who is purportedly a traitor. Another annoying aspect of this novel is that the character names are ridiculous. I can't really think of anything particularly redeemable about this novel. My only piece of advice would be to stay away. Life is too short to read bad novels.

Carl Alves - author of Blood Street ( )