Publishers Weekly
★ 06/27/2016
After 15-year-old orphan Sefia is separated from her aunt, she sets out on a rescue mission. Determined to learn the truth about her past and the rectangular object she’s spent her life hiding, Sefia eventually discovers that the item—bound paper covered in symbols—is a book. Books, reading, and writing are unheard of in the land of Kelanna, but Sefia is certain that this book holds the answers she seeks. She is joined in her quest by a mute, nameless boy, whom she rescues from a life of forced cage fighting. The book Sefia carries, which initially seems to be filled with stories and myths, becomes increasingly mysterious when she learns that the people and accounts detailed within are true. Chee’s debut is an intricate, multilayered reading experience, but the author avoids leading readers along too transparently, trusting them to puzzle together the pieces surrounding the mystery of Sefia’s past. An exploration of self-determination and the magic of the written word, Sefia’s story is an absorbing introduction to the Sea of Ink and Gold series. Ages 12–up. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Agency. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Reader:
An ALA Top Ten Best Fiction Pick – 2017
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year – 2016
Finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize
A Kirkus Best Book of the Year – 2016
An NPR Best Book of the Year – 2016
A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of the Year – 2016
A Bustle Best YA Book of the Year – 2016
Minnesota Public Radio Best YA Book of the Year – 2016
A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year – 2016
A 2016 Nerdy Book Club Award Winner
An ABA Indies Choice Honor Book – 2017
“I was spellbound from the first page. An utterly transportive tale of swashbucklers and sharpshooters, masterfully written. Traci Chee has penned a beautiful novel about the power of story, complete with a fantastic cast of characters and an expertly rendered fantasy landscape. This is a book you will not soon forget.”—Renée Ahdieh, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn
★ “Deftly rendered in beautiful prose, narrated through three shifting time lines woven into an interconnected history of duty, honor, and magic. . . . This is a must-have for all those who value a good read with genuine character growth, mystery, unique world-building, adventure, unyielding bonds of loyalty, and pirates. . . . A fresh, diverse fantasy; highly recommended for fans of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart and female-powered adventures.”—School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Commanding storytelling and vivid details, particularly of the magical process of reading, bring the story to life… the first of what promises to be an enchanting series.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Chee’s debut is an intricate, multilayered reading experience… An exploration of self-determination and the magic of the written word, Sefia’s story is an absorbing introduction to the Sea of Ink and Gold series.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “With evocative language, fascinating world building, multifaceted characters, and a compelling plot, this is a series fantasy lovers will want to sink their teeth into.”—Booklist, starred review
“Most world-building shies away from tackling the question of literacy within fantasy cultures, but here it serves as the beating meta-heart.”—NPR
"Those looking for complex fantasy will enjoy and look for the next installment."—School Library Connection
School Library Journal
12/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—Sefia, who lives in a world without books and reading, is on the run for her life, desperate to avenge the murder of her father and rescue her aunt. The only clue she has is a strange rectangular object—a book—whose secrets she's slowly learning to uncover. With layers upon layers of tales woven throughout the narrative, Chee's debut novel establishes a fantastically populated world with a diverse cast of characters. Meticulous storytelling and a memorable adventure.
OCTOBER 2016 - AudioFile
The first in the Sea of Ink and Gold series introduces listeners to the lushly portrayed violent world in which Sefia struggles for survival. Kim Mai Guest’s light, young-sounding tone reflects Sefia’s youth and graceful athleticism as she fights soldier agents of the rulers who have already left her orphaned. Fully voiced speaking roles for Sefia, the boy she rescues from captivity, her elderly aunt, and the roughneck soldiers and sailors with whom she engages in physical skirmishes and battles of wit are each so evocative that the tale unwinds with almost visual clarity. At the heart of this dystopian story is Sefia’s illegal possession of a book, an artifact almost unknown in her culture, and her successful effort to teach herself the means to access its contents. The cliff-hanger ending leaves listeners eager for the next episode. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-06-01
In her debut for teens, Chee takes readers on a heart-racing adventure.In the land of Kelanna, Sefia and her aunt Nin have been on the run for years, avoiding detection and the people who murdered her father. But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia knows what they want: the mysterious package she salvaged from the wreckage of her home all those years ago. Determined to stop running, Sefia opens the package and finds a book: a foreign object known to a dangerous few and possibly the key to her past and finding Nin. On her quest to uncover the truth, Sefia encounters a silent boy trained to kill, powers she never knew she had, and forces who will go to great lengths to acquire the book. Chee weaves Sefia's story with multiple narratives, such as the book-within-the-book tale of the legendary Capt. Reed and his colorful crew and the story of Lon, a boy inducted into a secret world as Apprentice Librarian. Commanding storytelling and vivid details, particularly of the magical process of reading, bring the story to life. Also, tucked within the pages of the book are surprises like a blotted-out paragraph, a disappearing sentence, and ink splatters that sometimes resolve into fingerprints. Kelanna is a racially and ethnically diverse land; Sefia herself has East Asian features and coloring. This cleverly layered fantasy leaves more questions than it answers, but fortunately, it's only the first of what promises to be an enchanting series. (Fantasy. 14 & up)
