He is brilliant and wants to be bad; she is brave and wants to save the world. At eighteen, Captain Valeria Tylia has often been promoted and commended for her bravery. So, when she detects a threat coming from the barbarian Outer Planets, she must travel to mighty Cael, the center of the civilized worlds, to warn the emperor that they are about to suffer an unexpected attack that might end their existence. The emperor, Gaius Lucius Drusus, is not very concerned. In fact, he is more interested in Valeria's shape under her uniform and her adorable freckles than in Armageddon. Unable to make the detestable, ironic Gaius understand the seriousness of the situation, impatient Valeria kidnaps him and takes him to Earth, to show him what will be left of their planets if the barbarians cross the shield. As they race against time to put a mega weapon together, Valeria begins to understand that Gaius may not be so detestable after all; that, in fact, he may be the key to their salvation. If you love The Hunger Games or Divergent , but like a sense of humor with your impending doom, you will love Time Seer. Follow the adventures of the brilliant Gaius and the brave Valeria, on a future Earth full of genetically-bred monsters, sunken palaces, abandoned cities and still unexpected beauty. Meet two star-crossed lovers born beyond the stars, and watch them fall in love against their will in the first part of The Book of Cael, the Song of Liro.
This was a fun YA space opera. I enjoyed the characters of both Val & Gaius and their bickering and teasing. I liked their initial dislike/distain and battle for one upmanship. I enjoyed the softening on Vals’ part and the thawing on Gaius’ and how they fall in love (even if neither of them will admit it) as they turn being trapped on Earth into a mission to save their world. I don’t know why but I particularly enjoyed Val’s impatience and propensity for charging headlong into things without stopping to consider the consequences. I was not a fan of that ending as I never like cliff-hangers and have the firmly held belief that they should be illegal unless the next book in the series is already available. I expect it will be sorted to some extent in the next book but how that will be done will surely cause a whole new set of problems. So long as they are not problems in the relationship between V & G then I can deal.
DNF. I bailed at 4%. The writing was more YA than I expected and the characters were confusing to me. By the time I unpacked the love-hate daddy vs little girl, I was tired. The little girl destroying six enemy craft in a single engagement was enough for me.
It probably is a mediocre fantasy story with science fiction trappings. The writing was bad but maybe not so bad that a fan wouldn't like it.
Ms. Meare has created a fascinating universe filled with interesting worlds and likable characters that deal with believable emotional issues, political intrigue, and the threat of war. For me, the beginning was a little rough and slightly confusing. Stick with the story. If you love well-written science fiction that's equally plot and character driven, I promise, you'll love Time Seer.
Excellent. Great world building. Strong development of characters. A skillful job in imparting the technology of the world without writing a lecturing on it. It kept my engaged and wanting to find out more.
This series has interesting characters and an intriguing storyline. I started reading the second book first and was hooked. I binge read book 2 then 3 and now finally finished this book.
"I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book" This book was set after people destroyed each other and earth and some left and found a new place to live in space, their technology is vast, well above earths current tech, this story is on both adventure, fantasy and love. I'm not one to usually love a space story. but wow, the chemistry between Valeria and Gaius was incredibly strong, i wanted so badly for them to give in. The barbarians are going to cross their shields if the promised one cannot stop them. At the end of the story there were tears, i must read book two to know how things finished. This is not a stand alone read.
I received this book as an ARC for my honest review.
I absolutely loved it! Though the protagonists are 18 and 21 they can feel mature or teen at different times. They are both very well drawn characters, full of flaws but of humanity too.
There is betrayal of the worst kind to start off the novel, but by the time Valeria kidnaps Gaius we are in for an adventure on Earth with laughs and great stops along the way.
There isn't a lot of hard science or technical details. It almost feels like a classical adventure in a way though they are both so engineered they are super human, and they have their little devices and things to help them.
I laughed and I cried in this book, and the end makes you really long for part 2, which is supposed to come out in May. Whether you're a teen or an adult, I think you'll enjoy this!
First book that I've read by Cassia Meare, Time Seer, is the first book in the Book of Cael, the Song of Liro series. A well written science fiction time travel story. A highly engaging tale which was descriptive and thorough. This is a great start to the series and the twists & turns were perfect for the dynamic of this story.
This is a hard book to read. There are very simple mistakes and structure issues reminding me this is an amateur at best. An uninteresting open, overuse of exclamation points, clunky mouthful of exposition. Just...not good. The idea could be great, but I gave up on it way too soon. Stay away from this series.