May 26, Charlotte Kersten rated it did not like it Shelves: youngins , classic-kid-vibes. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Torina: exiled princess. Does literally nothing while exiled other than pine and use her magical crystal sometimes. Wins the loyalty of others because of her striking beauty and grace. When she finally does something, it's only because she has to save the boy she is in love with. Landen: exiled prince.
While exiled he becomes a master craftsman, a skilled soldier, leader of a powerful band of warriors, advisor to the high king and mastermind behind a plan that saves the entire continent from inva Torina: exiled princess.
While exiled he becomes a master craftsman, a skilled soldier, leader of a powerful band of warriors, advisor to the high king and mastermind behind a plan that saves the entire continent from invasion. He wins others to his cause through his compassion and ingenuity. View 2 comments. Apparently this came out when I was still a kid and I've already started reading it and I kind of wish I'd read it when I WAS a kid because it seems like something I would have enjoyed Apparently this came out when I was still a kid and I've already started reading it and I kind of wish I'd read it when I WAS a kid because it seems like something I would have enjoyed View all 4 comments.
Apr 22, Alisa rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: anyone who loves fantasy. King Kareed conquers Bellandra and brings his daughter, Torina, two prizes from the war: a crystal ball and the son of the conquered king, Landen. He gives Landen to Torina as a slave, but Torina frees him. Torina witnesses the murder of her father and has to run away to save her life. Landen also has to run away because he is accused of the murder. They live under false names and both become valuable to the high king, Dahmis.
Dahmis unknowingly reunites Landen and Torina. I can't say any more wi King Kareed conquers Bellandra and brings his daughter, Torina, two prizes from the war: a crystal ball and the son of the conquered king, Landen. I can't say any more without giving the whole book away.
This is a well-written book that was fun to read. The books don't have to be read in any particular order. View 1 comment. Jan 28, Tammie rated it it was amazing Shelves: companion-series , high-fantasy , ya-fantasy , favorites , fantasy , trilogy , young-adult , series-completed , owned-mass-market-paper-back. The Seer and the Sword is one of my favorite YA fantasies. I enjoyed reading the way the two characters fell in love.
It was one of those stories that could be romantic without all of the kissing. I've never been a huge fan of the love at first sight type romances that are so prevalent in books. Although they can be fun to read and I've read my fair share , they generally seem to lack some substance. In this story we get to see and understand how and why they love each other, and it happens ove The Seer and the Sword is one of my favorite YA fantasies.
In this story we get to see and understand how and why they love each other, and it happens over a span of several years. I think the growth of characters is what I love so much about this book.
I do wish that some things had been filled in that were left out. So far there are only a couple of fairy books. When King Kareed of Archeld invades the peaceful city of Bellandra and takes home its prince as his prisoner, he unwittingly sets off a chain reaction of events that will ripple through the years, leaving his daughter, Torina, and the Bellandran prince caught in the cross-hairs. And Love. Oh my! This is an old favorite. I've resisted rereading it for years because I wasn't sure how well it would hold up, particularly against the wave of phenomenal MG and YA fan When King Kareed of Archeld invades the peaceful city of Bellandra and takes home its prince as his prisoner, he unwittingly sets off a chain reaction of events that will ripple through the years, leaving his daughter, Torina, and the Bellandran prince caught in the cross-hairs.
I've resisted rereading it for years because I wasn't sure how well it would hold up, particularly against the wave of phenomenal MG and YA fantasy books out there. To be fair, the writing is clunky, stilted and simplistic. The plotline is super fast, with years passing in a sentence and a lot happening.
A shit ton happens in this book—most of it rapidly unfolding in the last half. There are plot holes galore. There's little diversity. There's some super creepy icky romance shit between an almost thirty-year-old and a fifteen-year-old view spoiler [Double ick when he says he's loved her since she was twelve! Stranger danger, Torina! Stranger danger! The magic of this book once again swept me off my feet. I was pulled into this magical world as the writing—sparse and simplistic as it is—portrayed entire countries and palaces and mountains in a few words that take some authors paragraphs.
It reminds me of the wonders of old school high fantasy without any of the downfalls, where good battles evil and evil is a clever and handsome creepy dude. I still love the twisty turny nature of the plot, the evilness of Vesputo if you think he's far-fetched in what he gets away with, lemme just let you take a peek at this month's newspaper , how many little clues and series of events and characters weave together to tell the story of an arrogant princess and a former prince—as they grow, change, are forced apart, and find each other once again.
And I love the cover, drawn by my absolute favorite children's artist of all time, Trina Schart Hyman. It's childhood nostalgia in all its best forms. I wish more people knew about and loved this book as much as I do. Basically I love this book! It was the first book that really made me interested in fantasy.
It's so well done. It has everything - action and adventure, romance, political machinations, hints of magic, and a great cast of characters. I love Torina. S reread - love the romance, love the story, love the characters. She really grows up over the course of the novel. Landen is great too.
He's strong and smart but also values peace rather than fighting. The secondary characters are really good too. Overall a really well done YA fantasy. I was very sad when I finished reading it - I didn't want it to end! This was recommended to me a very long time ago by someone who'd read a little of my second novel and said I might like this. A very long time ago, I may have liked this. I certainly see it was likened it to my second novel. The difficulty is, all the parts that are similar are parts I cut in the epic rewriting of that second novel.
Essentially, this book is your standard kid's fantasy adventure novel. It's very, very standard. Most of the characters have only one note evil, innocent, stoic, wise This was recommended to me a very long time ago by someone who'd read a little of my second novel and said I might like this.
Most of the characters have only one note evil, innocent, stoic, wise, kind etc and they play up to those notes perfectly. There's a reasonable amount of political talk, but it's all simplistic and the reader is fully aware of who's going to back-stab whom.
The plot line itself is predictable and feels vaguely familiar. The characters didn't particularly stand out for me.
Many of them just kind of accepted horrible things happening to them, and only later would they fight. They also didn't question anything, which made my eyes roll repeatedly. I guess that's at the heart of my apathy for this story.
The events just felt like pre-ordained things happening to people even when the seer was changing the future, it was clear she was meant to change it.
I never felt like these characters were more than just cardboard puppets being danced around. Classic stories like this can be dramatically improved by a bit of imagination in the setting, the magic, the creatures.
This is pretty much just standard "medieval" fantasy, with no interesting creatures, and only the vaguest hint of magic in the form of a crystal ball that shows the future when it's plot-convenient, and a sword that apparently makes the wielder indestructible unless they're using it for conquest. The crystal ball gets a lot of play but little explanation, and the sword just kind of acts like a magical thingamabob that everyone wants.
No one ever uses its power. The writing is what I consider a very basic style. There isn't a great deal of description, still less done in an interesting way. The feelings of the characters are "told" to us quite a lot. The point of view is third person omniscient and zooms around lots of characters. We don't benefit from the coloured perspective you get with third person limited, so it's all rather impersonal. I definitely felt like I was being told a story, rather than witnessing it.
I can't get too annoyed about books like this, but sometimes I wonder if I should. Most days I think that reputation is monstrously unfair because there's so much innovation and complexity in the genre. Other days I fall across books like this, which aren't bad, specifically, they're just Probably the vast majority of fantasy is like this, but I'm really good at picking outstanding books so I tend to forget about these others.
I find these disappointing because it wouldn't take much to elevate it from "standard" to "good" or even interesting. One outstanding character. A quirky detail in the setting. Prose that oozes personality. They're not too hard to achieve, and they make books memorable. Anyway, I think this would be a reasonable book for an older child who cannot be stopped from consuming every book in the vicinity and just needs more reading material.
Otherwise, there are plenty of books that do everything better than this one. Oct 17, Burn rated it it was amazing Shelves: fav , reads , fantasy-there. I was entranced and excited. It was a WOW. It felt like you were drowning and being pulled in their world. The plot was awesome and everything was properly displayed. There was so much excitement and thrill. The characters were plenty and all of them were portrayed well: their actions, cleverness, emotions, thoughts; they were interesting and amusing.
War, love, cruelty, kings, princes and princesses, politics, poisons, death, betrayal and treachery, loyalty Awesome. War, love, cruelty, kings, princes and princesses, politics, poisons, death, betrayal and treachery, loyalty, bravery and hope. This has it all. Uploaded by AliciaDA on April 12, Internet Archive's 25th Anniversary Logo. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass.
User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. When they were together, he relaxed into warmth, telling her all the secrets of his life.
She doubted anyone guessed how much she knew. She never passed on his confidences, guarding them as closely as if they were her own. And now, at last, her pregnancy was advanced; when the moon returned once more to fullness, she would deliver again. Perhaps this time it would be a boy.
Her eyes, coloured like the sea, lit with surprise as her comrade Zeon rushed in, face flushed. A guard pressed through the door, grabbing Zeon roughly. If the boys can be believed, your husband will be here by sunset. Dreea felt a strange leaping in her heart. Unthinking, she stood and took a step towards the door. She heard a crash and turned in surprise to see Mirandae rushing at her with outstretched arms. The room tilted oddly and the light went out, snuffed by a dark roar rising in her ears.
Torina was hardly aware of her mother swaying and Mirandae upsetting the spinning wheel in her haste to aid her mistress. All the young princess wanted was to beat Zeon through the door.
The westering sun caught the dust of a cloud of riders and glinted on the gold helmet of the king. His amber-coloured stallion charged ahead of his men. One large arm swept the princess off her horse, red beard mingling with red curls as they embraced.
They rode slowly, her horse trotting near. Beaming, the king leaned into his saddlebag and brought out a fist. He put a crystal sphere in her palm. Her fingers barely fitted round it. Torina held it up to the embers of the sun. Inside the crystal, light swam and brightened; a world of gold. Moments alone with the king, without soldiers or petitioners or servants, were few. Hooves pounded towards them from the direction of the castle. It was the guard who had hustled Zeon out.
He galloped up. From the horsemen following, a rider detached and sped forward. Dark moustache and heavy eyebrows marked a handsome face. Not even looking at her, the king galloped away with the guard, their horses veiled in dust on the darkening plain.
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