Seer, The

Truesight #2

by David Stahler Jr., MacLeod Andrews (Reading)

Young Jacob Manford grew up in Harmony, a blind boy raised in a colony of citizens dedicated to blindness as a way of life. Stricken with sight at 13, he escapes to the futuristic city of Melville, only to discover he has traded one hostile community for another.

Jacob's sight introduces him to a thrilling new world—vast landscapes, glittering skyscrapers, and flying machines—but he is unsure if he has finally found a place to belong. Will Jacob ever find what he is looking for?

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult, Fantasy

MP3 CD

First published April 10, 2007

About the author

David Stahler Jr. is a fourth-generation Vermonter who, in addition to writing, teaches at his alma mater, Lyndon Institute, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

An author of YA Fiction across a variety of genres with an emphasis on the strange and supernatural, his books include the TRUESIGHT trilogy (a science fiction series with a dystopian bent), DOPPELGANGER, A GATHERING OF SHADES, and SPINNING OUT.

His work has received several awards and accolades--including a Best Book Award from the American Library Association, Le Prix Farniente, and numerous state reading list selections--and has been translated into French, Italian, and Chinese.

Reviews

[Erin Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read the first in the Truesight series, which might have been helpful but wasn't necessary as they set up the story pretty well. Jacob grew up in Harmony, a colony of people who choose to be blind to avoid the greed and corruption of the world. After gaining sight at age 13, he became an outcast--a Seer--and was forced to run away. In this book, he escapes to the city Melville to find his friend Delaney, only to discover that the city has its own set of evils. With the help of a new friend, he goes to rescue Delaney and make his own way. Reminiscent of themes from the Giver, but not as well done.
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PSC Review:
A book reminiscent of The Giver without being its equal by any means, The Seer, the second book in the Truesight Trilogy, is still a worthwhile book to read. Jacob has grown up in a colony of people who choose to be blind, but when he is stricken with sight at age 13, he escapes to the futuristic city of Melville to find his friend—and his identity. However, he is disappointed by the greed and hostility that he was always warned about in the blind colony and feels helpless in a world beyond comprehension. A gruff but kind hermit, Xander, saves him from a Melville gang, helps him find his friend, and begin a new life. But will Jacob ever feel at home anywhere? A story of friendship and community, this book feels familiar and is outdone by other similar books, but the pacing and characters make it hard to put down.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

Jacob grew up in Harmony, a city populated entirely by blind people. In the previous story (TRUESIGHT) Jacob was forced to leave Harmony. Because Jacob can see. After being ostracized by the only family and community he had ever known, and observing firsthand the treachery of the man in charge, Jacob fled to the unknown. Which is where THE SEER picks up.

Jacob wasn't completely prepared for his journey. He is traveling on foot through foreign areas, it's been days since he's eaten or drank anything, and he's heading towards a place he was raised to dislike. Jacob is beginning to doubt the wisdom of leaving Harmony, even if he is a fugitive.

He is "rescued" by Xander. Xander lives alone outside of the city and the painful memories that live there. In a way they are both attempting to escape their pasts. Perhaps that is why Xander is willing to help Jacob, in his own gruff way.

Jacob has a mission. His friend, Delaney, was banished from Harmony by her own father. She traveled the same roads as Jacob, without the benefits of sight. Jacob feels driven to find his friend.

Finding her turns out to be easy. Getting to her? Well, that's another story entirely. Jacob and Xander are going to have to rely on and trust each other, and that's just the beginning.

In addition to being a great, intelligent, futuristic adventure, there are real characters with good stories. And it's just a really interesting concept. To start with, there's a city where being blind is the only way. Even though Jacob didn't fit in there, it's still comforting because it was a place he knew. Add in a girl who should have fit in there, but didn't. A man who can't seem to find any place where he fits. And some people who will try to make everybody fit into what they want them to be.

Sometimes what you think you want isn't really what you want at all.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading the Trusight trilogy because the first book was in the book list for my 6th grader. I soon good hooked! I not a fan particularly of Sci-Fi, I actually have never read a sci-fi fiction novel in my life, but this trilogy is an exception. It starts as a dystopian novel and soon turns into sci-fi novel. I met Jacob in the first book, where he was born blind by choice and slowly regained his sight, and by the end of the first book I knew I wanted to know what was going to happen to him. Jacob is 13 and he has a bond with Delaney, a girl who was told to be dead. He left his community of "blinders" because now he is a "seer" and can't stay there anymore, and he goes into this life adventure trying to find his place in the world (I should say: his place in the planet). He meets people, he grows, he gets scared, and he has the feeling that Delaney is actually alive and escaped their blinders community because she wanted to regain her sight, so he tries to find her.
This is a turning pages book, at times I couldn't stop reading! Really good, said from one that never reads sci-fi!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was AMAZING. In fact, I dare say it is better than the original book. Truesight was a good book, but it was somewhat drab until the end. This book, unlike Truesight, deals with changes in Jacob’s personality and power rather than sight. It also introduces a new character, Xander, who became my new favorite character in this series. He’s different than the other characters. Unlike the inhabitants of Harmony, who are oblivious to the awful place they live in, and the people of Melville, who only care about outward appearance and are overly violent, Xander stands out. He is somewhat violent, but only does so while trying to defend Jacob or Delaney (yes, she survived). He also becomes like a father figure to Jacob. We also see more changes in Jacob; he begins having nightmares, but these eventually morph into detailed visions and these eventually allow him to predict future events. This book is great, because it focuses on character development, but still leaves room for action and drama.

[K G · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting sci-fi world with a tense enough story to keep you engaged - it can also work as a standalone story, depending on what sort of reader you are. It touches on cults, in/out groups, and even the hypocrisy of authoritarians.

If you already like sci-fi books, I'd recommend giving this one a try.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic series. This, the second in the trilogy was as good as the first.

[Bees · Rating 4 out of 5]

*slow clap* This book series rocked!!! The covers all sucked, tho.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has the same feeling of when I left my southern baptist church/school. The idea of finding your way in the “real world” after being indoctrinated your whole life is terrifying and exciting

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept wanting to like this book, hoping it would be a transitional book to Jose Saramago's "Blindness." Instead, I got bogged down with the dreams that kept getting described in detail. I hardly care about real dreams, let alone fictionalized ones. Even though the author created a good reason for the dreams at the end, it was too little too late for me. I think the book DOES have a satisfying ending, though, with a nice hook to the next one. Perhaps if I had read the first title in this series I would have enjoyed this more; I'm not sure. I loved the concept of one sighted person finding himself among the seeing for the first time, and the author keeps the writing very clean and uncontroversial, but I think the plot flow felt a little patchy.

[Mary Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a 5 star in my opinion. I gave the book this rating because in this book there is never a dull moment you are never bored during this book. I would recommend this book to others for the age level of 13 to 16 because I did not know what was going to happen next and there was a lot of unexpected twist. In the beginning of the book Jacob was about to turn around and go back to the colony, but then he meets a guy that helps him the whole way. In the end the girl wants to go back to the colony to be with her dad again and she does not know her father can see. There are also people coming after the girl because she is really good at singing. I would not recommend this book if you did not read the first one true sight.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the first book in the Truesight series immensely, I found myself having a hard to time with this sequel. It follows Jacob as he leaves Harmony in search of Delaney. We do get to see some of the world outside of Harmony which was interesting, but I felt like the book started taking a different path in plot. We went from Jacob's struggle with his new sight and the implications that it brought to his way of life, into a more supernatural type heading, that to me did not really fit with the plot of the first book.

No question that you need to read the first book in the series to get anything from this sequel, but I have to wonder where the next book is going to take us.

[Cathy Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now Jacob is a seer he is trying to get to grips with the new, unknown and incredible world he finds himself in. He has left Harmony to save his sight and is befriended on his travels by Xander, a great character who has his own troubled and sad past.

Jacob misses his family and Delaney, who he found out hadn't committed suicide but was banished from Harmony by her father and Jacob wants desperately to find her.

Jacob needs to find his place in this new world and deal with what's happened to him.

The pace and tension are upped in this book, especially with Jacob's visionary dreams giving him a fore warning of things to come.

[Judy Desetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science Fiction, blindness, futuristic, male character, survival, series, trilogy- bk 2

Exciting continued story of Jacob who escaped from Harmony, a community where everyone is blind, to prevent the high council from making him blind again. Jacob strikes out in search of his friend Delaney who also ran away. Along the way he finds a new friend Xander who helps him in his search. This will leave you wanting to read the third in the series.

Good read. Fast paced.

[Joleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA book --- This is book 2 of the "Truesight" trilogy. I really liked book 1 and have already read book 3 with my preview books from Harper Collins. This one was still really good but I felt like I needed to read it before I read number 3. It moved more along the line of number one and would have been better read in order. But besides all of that the whole series was pretty good. I would just suggest reading them in order.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the continuation of Jacob's story, especially now that he can see and he is away from Harmony. It was more fast paced then Truesight which was refreshing because I got a little bored with the first one. I was however confused about whatever is going on with the advancement of Jacob's sight and I'm hoping the next book will clear that up. I'm looking forward to finishing this trilogy.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the first book better, but it was also very good. I think the only reason it wasn't quite as good is because I could already sense where the book was going - it was a little predictable. Once again though the end had a little twist, and now I'm very curious to read the third book. This book is a fascinating statement about the shallowness of society and is a good follow up to the first book.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. (this is my review for the whole series)I just wish it went deeper then it did. this series could have been absolutely amazing but the author didn't quite match its potential. Great ideas, intriguing situation and plot, it had all it needed. but the third book felt as if it was wrapped up to quickly and sloppily.

[Dotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing adventures of the now sighted Jacob. He is rescued by a Seer and together they rescue Delaney who was given sight, but the process eventually fails. Jacob also begins to have vivid dreams and visions that bring portent of the future.

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in a series. The first one is called "Truesight". It was a quick read - it wasn't as engaging as the first book.

[Jessica J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel to Truesight tells of futuristic society.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not to bad. I did not like the dreams being repeated with details each time. It was not needed for the enrichment of the book.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 of the Truesight trilogy. I liked it so I will read the next book also.