The Reader

By: Traci Chee
Location: FIC CHE
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Sea of Ink and Gold #1

An instant New York Times Bestseller, this is a stunning debut set in a world where reading is unheard-of. Perfect for fans of Inkheart and Shadow and Bone. Finalist for the Kirkus Prize

"I was spellbound from the first page. An utterly transportive tale of swashbucklers and sharpshooters, masterfully written."--Renee Ahdieh, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn

"Traci Chee's The Reader Could Be The Next Big YA Fantasy Series"--Bustle.com

Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book--a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed--and punish the people responsible.

"But books are curious objects. They have the power to trap, transport, and even transform you if you are lucky. But in the end, books - even magic ones - are only objects pieced together from paper and glue and thread. That was the fundamental truth the readers forgot. How vulnerable the book really was."