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Finder #4
Finder, Vol. 04: Talisman
If you've never been tempted to steal a book from a library; If you've never dreamed of being given a book with all the answers in it, and awakened disappointed because it's not really under your pillow;
If your mother never gave away, threw out, or sold a book that had changed your life;
If you're not still half looking for that book every time you pull one off the shelf...
But of course you are.
"Talisman" is about hunger and magic.
If your mother never gave away, threw out, or sold a book that had changed your life;
If you're not still half looking for that book every time you pull one off the shelf...
But of course you are.
"Talisman" is about hunger and magic.
104 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2002
1 person is currently reading
140 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
May 7, 2013
This is a book for book lovers and writers.
The first half addresses the love one has for a book. Perhaps the book was consumed in your youth, and you spend your life trying to regain the sensations you experienced.
The second half, presented in the form of Marceline struggling to regain that original book of her childhood by hashing it out in written form, is about the pain of writing.
McNeil captures perfectly both spectrums in gorgeous black and white illustrations set in a near future radically more like the present than not. Marceline's anguish in her futile search for the fabled book echoes in the heart of every bibliophile, and writers can appreciate her rage and frustration in managing the written word.
Kudos
The first half addresses the love one has for a book. Perhaps the book was consumed in your youth, and you spend your life trying to regain the sensations you experienced.
The second half, presented in the form of Marceline struggling to regain that original book of her childhood by hashing it out in written form, is about the pain of writing.
McNeil captures perfectly both spectrums in gorgeous black and white illustrations set in a near future radically more like the present than not. Marceline's anguish in her futile search for the fabled book echoes in the heart of every bibliophile, and writers can appreciate her rage and frustration in managing the written word.
Kudos
December 5, 2010
Talisman is easily my favorite trade paperback in the "Finder" series so far, despite the fact that the titular character barely appears. Instead, this volume follows one of the minor characters as she explores her love of books and come to terms with what being a writer means. And it is simply one of the best bits of fiction I've read in ages. Absolutely profound.
February 26, 2011
(This is an excerpt from a blog post I wrote, and it's a little long. But I feel it explains quite well why this is my favorite graphic novel of all time. I first came across this book at the Baltimore Comic Con--and I had the honor of buying it from the author herself. The following is an e-mail I wrote to her only hours after bringing it home...)
Dear Mrs. McNeil,
I know you may have already forgotten me–I was probably just one of hundreds of people who stopped by your table.
But I can say with confidence, that I will never forget you.
In fact, I owe you a profound debt of gratitude.
And I just wanted to let you know that I truly wish I had come across your table sooner (when I still had a little more money).
I would have picked up all of your books.
I’d really like to tell you that Finder: Talisman is one of the best graphic novels I’ve ever read–more than likely, THE best.
But in good conscience, I can’t really do that . . .
You see, I still haven’t finished reading it.
And I don’t know if I ever will . . .
I’m afraid I find myself in a similar predicament to Marcella. I don’t want Talisman to end. Every time I pick it up, and crack it open at a random page, I read something new.
I’ve tried several times now, to read it from the beginning . . . but I always end up putting it down.
There is so much depth and meaning in every page, and every illustration; I find that I just have to put it aside.
Almost like it would burn my fingers, if I held on to it too long.
Of all the books on your table, I don’t know why I picked up this volume.
And I really don’t know if the rest of your books will have a similar effect.
But God, I hope so…
In an age of TV, video games, and declining readers . . . you’ve given me hope that perhaps not all is lost; and not everything will be forgotten.
That perhaps storytelling–real storytelling–while it may be a dying art, hasn’t yet become extinct.
Sometimes I feel like today’s children are raised on meaningless violence and Pez dispenser morality.
Over stimulated by technology and special effects, and sorely lacking in the ability to critically analyze the “fast-food-for-thought” fiction they are force-fed by profit hungry, and immoral entertainment empires–I feel they often find themselves wandering through our underfunded, and underperforming school systems; like starving zombies hungering for an education.
Time and again, I hear people praise Star Wars as a modern-day fairytale. That Joseph Campbell, was George Lucas’s “Yoda.”
But history is written by the victors, isn’t it?
And Lucas isn’t Luke Skywalker.
The toy tie-in’s, and merchandising, reveal the true wolf behind our modern, manufactured culture.
Lucas may not be wearing a black mask, but I know a Sith Lord when I see one.
I only wish other people could as well.
I fear the lights have gone out in young people’s minds.
That stories are no longer told to teach, heal, and instruct. That they are only being told to make money.
They are being created to suck the last bit of life from our children’s fading imaginations.
To help turn them into meek and homogeneous little corporate cattle; trained from birth to toil for a meager salary, and then waste it all on brand name things they have been brainwashed into thinking will make them happy.
We are living in very dark times, Ms. McNeil. And people no longer curse that darkness. They curse the light. They hide from it. Fear it.
I may never end up reading all of Talisman. But I don’t think that will ever bother me.
As long as I can look at the cover . . . see a girl warming herself from the pages of a book that sparked her creativity, and forever changed her . . . I know there may yet, still be hope.
Even if it is, just a fictional one.
Yes, I know your book isn’t really all about that; or . . . maybe it is.
Perhaps I’m just happy to find another person who is as drawn to the written word as I am. Perhaps I’m just happy that to know that I’m not alone; in my love for the mystery of books.
Thank you for introducing me to Marcy.
Thank you for tipping your hand, and showing me that there are still people who can make modern fairy tales a reality.
And now I’m afraid, I have a favor to ask of you…
If ever our children needed a champion: that time is now.
If ever there was someone worthy of taking up that sword to protect them . . . it is you.
Our children need to hear the story of The Iron Tarn, Ms. McNeil. And there is a reason I’m not the only one who has asked you to tell it:
“Remember only this thing,” said Badger. “The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put stories in each other’s memory. This is how people care for themselves.”
–Crow and Weasel, Barry Lopez
Today’s Facebook generation is starving for meaningful fiction; for contemporary, and healthy folklore.
Our mythology is now filled with the shiny tin gods and goddesses of the cinema. Actors and actresses who share the same vices and hubris of the gods of ancient times . . . but none of their heroic qualities.
Our youth looks to the mass-produced stories that fly out of the Hollywood assembly line, and the television pig stys, to give meaning to their lives.
They hammer, chisel, smash, and bite at the tropes of modern fiction; trying to get to the sweet treasure they think is hiding inside.
And after they collapse from exhaustion in middle age; teeth shattered, and dreams forgotten . . . only then do they realize that the wealth, fame, and material trappings they traded their childhood for . . . has turned to dross.
Can you blame them for their cynicism?
For their blind faith in science, and technology?
For their distaste for those fools that still believe in magic, faith, and spirituality?
The tin gods that they have struggled all their lives to crack open; have always been empty, hollow.
Why is it, thousands of years after their first telling, stories of the greek gods, Odysseus, and the Argonauts are still being read? Or watched, as the case may be.
Why does Hollywood keep going back, and perverting the old; instead of creating the new?
They’ve forgotten how to tell a story.
That’s why.
It gives me a profound sense of joy to know that there are still storytellers in our modern age.
People like you.
Wizards of words who can send our minds to distant lands, and times.
And even let us bring back a few souvenirs that we can tuck away, hidden in the deepest recesses of our psyche.
I think I understand why you only gave us pieces of The Iron Tarn.
And I know that’s why it was so powerful.
After all, the human mind likes to solve puzzles.
But unlike many of your other fans, I’m not asking you to write us a story from beginning to end.
I don’t need all the pieces; I just want more of them.
And I don’t even care if some of them are missing.
I can fill in the empty spots.
And I don’t think I’m the only one . . . like many tens of thousands of lost, and starving children; I still have a tiny ember of imagination burning inside my soul.
And I still know a few magic spells.
I’m no Gandolf, or Merlin–but like you, I also know the hidden power of words.
And like you, I know that it is far better to light a single candle, then to curse the darkness . . .
You’ve got a match in your pocket, Ms. McNeil . . . with it you can light a magical fire in the minds of thousands of children.
I’m actually not surprised you haven’t won an Isner yet.
Your fiction could do irreparable damage to decades of Corporate media mind control.
In the cold shadows of a growing darkness; the light of your fiction is one of the few torches keeping the McHollywood vampires at bay.
Please, don’t let that torch burn out.
Marcy’s book may be filled with blank pages. But the pages she’s scribbling on at her desk, they aren’t, are they?
When she’s done writing, would you please consider sharing the story she discovers?
There are many starving children in the world, Ms. McNeil . . .
Many of them are hungry for a contemporary fairy tale–and I’m sure they would be very happy if all you could give them . . . were crumbs.
Thanks for your time,
With most sincere respect and appreciation,
Peter Usagi
“The Writing Rabbit”
Well, OK. Eventually I did finish reading Talisman.
But it did take me two weeks.
At first, I managed only a page or two at random every few days. And then finally, I forced myself to sit down and read it from front to back.
I was miserable–still am in fact–when I got to the last page.
It’s was the very first time I’ve read something so good…I had to actually force myself to keep reading.
I drove a considerable distance to see Ms. McNeil once more–this time at the Small Press Expo (SPX) several weeks later.
Yes, she was the only reason I went.
I could mumble something about E-Book publishing, and multi-media books…but that was just window shopping–not the reason I drove to the mall.
The first time we met, she was just one of hundreds of comic artists with their own table at the Baltimore Comic Con.
Just one of a half-dozen I bought something from.
But she was the only one who made me truly appreciate my chosen profession.
The only one who told a story that fed my soul.
While it’s true, I did want to say thank you in person; I mostly went to get the rest of the finder series (which you can see in the photo below).
It would have been a couple hundred bucks…but she gave me (and anyone else who was visiting her table) a substantial discount off the cover price.
For which I’ll be ever thankful. That was how I got the entire set…
Did I tell her who I was? Remind her of the e-mail I sent?
Nah.
I just told her I really liked Talisman, and Marcy was my favorite character in one of my favorite books.
I really don’t know why; maybe she remembered me from Comic Con?
You might assume it was because I had just purchased a huge stack of her books; but so had half the other folks crowding around her table.
(Even though SPX was about one-sixth the size of the Baltimore Comic Con, she was absolute swamped with fans and curious onlookers. I guess the folks who attend the SPX were a bit more familiar with her work.)
Either way, she looked up at me, and smiled.
Apparently, I wasn’t Marcy’s first fan.
In fact, Mrs. McNeil told me that all the original artwork of Marcy from the comics had been sold years ago (not long after it was first published).
I do remember that she asked me if I wanted her to sign the first volume (I did have every book she’d created), and I remember I said no.
And I don’t know why; my memory is cloudy about this part–did I have it in my hand?
Or did she ask for it?
I really don’t think I asked.
After all, there was quite a crowd clamoring for her attention. And I’m not a push and shove kind of guy.
Somehow she ended up with my SPX badge; which wasn’t much more than a rectangular piece of cardboard with two holes punched in it for stringing around your neck.
I do remember she was writing on it for a good while.
What she was writing, I didn’t have a clue.
I couldn’t see what she was doing behind all the Finder books on her table.
When she finally handed it back to me, I was a little flustered. Her other fans were a bit miffed she had spent so much time signing something for me, I guess. A few were giving me the stink eye.
Like I said, it was kinda crowded there (a LOT more people in a smaller space). So I left the large conference room, and found a nice quiet spot out in the hallway to read what she wrote.
I held up my badge, and slowly turned it around…
You’ve heard that old cliché about a girl’s knees going weak?
Well, it must have at least some basis in fact.
Physiologically, I mean, not hormonally of course…after all, I’m a guy: but I did just about collapse on the floor.
You see, she hadn’t written a single word.
Naturally I was surprised.
Stunned, even…
In fact, thinking back on it now, I wonder why no one really noticed me.
I must have been quite a sight.
(Or maybe they did see me, and just took a few steps back.)
Anyway, the badge had slipped out of my fingers, a lazily floated to the red carpet.
Staring up at me from the floor, through a small pair of glasses, Marcy gave me a wry, sad smile from the back of my badge.
My friends tell me it was a simple coincidence.
I really don’t care.
The SPX badge is just the right size, though.
It it all seemed Kismet. And I really do think she knew what she was doing. She meant to do what she did. And she was aware of all the subtle nuances in meaning.
Yeah, it might just be a bookmark.
But to me, it’s much more than that–it’s a talisman.
I’m not really going to go into details. This post is already too long.
Read the book. I think you’ll understand…
Eventually, I finished reading all the Finder series.
No, sadly, Marcy was never meant to be the main character.
But to my great amusement, Marcy does end up showing up again near the end of the series.
She’s all grown up. And yes, she’s still messing around with books. But in a strange, and wonderful new way…
Do I want more Marcy? Sure!
But I’m happy to have what I’m given. In fact, I’m happy just knowing that there is another storyteller like me, wandering around in the wasteland of popular fiction.
This is a book every child must read.
But only after they grow up…
After all, it’s only after you’ve had your heart-broken, your imagination snuffed out, and you’re drowning in a sea of the mundane…that you desperately look up at the sky, searching for a creative star to guide you out of your darkness.
I think that everyone, at some point in their lives, needs to find their way back to that forgotten sense of wonder.
Children really don’t need to be reminded that magic still exists: they’re too busy fighting to keep their imaginary friends, and their dreams for the future, intact.
Grown-ups on the other hand…sometimes they need a life-preserver.
Well, here it is.
Finder: Talisman
I dare you to try to keep treading water, stubbornly refusing the help you need…
Just because you think you’re too old to read a ‘comic book.’
Grow young already.
Sincerely,
Peter Usagi
“Comic Book Ronin, Wandering Story Hunter, He-Who-Blogs-Books…
P.S.
You can read the full post on my blog @ www.peterusagi.com
Also, Carla’s Finder series has just been picked up by Dark Horse. Now you can get the first three-story arcs (including Talisman) in one collection: The Finder Library Vol. 1 (available for pre-order now)-- check out: www.findercomics.com
Also, if you’ve read Talisman, or are a fan of Carla’s work, check out the facebook page I made. Just search for "Finder: Talisman"
Dear Mrs. McNeil,
I know you may have already forgotten me–I was probably just one of hundreds of people who stopped by your table.
But I can say with confidence, that I will never forget you.
In fact, I owe you a profound debt of gratitude.
And I just wanted to let you know that I truly wish I had come across your table sooner (when I still had a little more money).
I would have picked up all of your books.
I’d really like to tell you that Finder: Talisman is one of the best graphic novels I’ve ever read–more than likely, THE best.
But in good conscience, I can’t really do that . . .
You see, I still haven’t finished reading it.
And I don’t know if I ever will . . .
I’m afraid I find myself in a similar predicament to Marcella. I don’t want Talisman to end. Every time I pick it up, and crack it open at a random page, I read something new.
I’ve tried several times now, to read it from the beginning . . . but I always end up putting it down.
There is so much depth and meaning in every page, and every illustration; I find that I just have to put it aside.
Almost like it would burn my fingers, if I held on to it too long.
Of all the books on your table, I don’t know why I picked up this volume.
And I really don’t know if the rest of your books will have a similar effect.
But God, I hope so…
In an age of TV, video games, and declining readers . . . you’ve given me hope that perhaps not all is lost; and not everything will be forgotten.
That perhaps storytelling–real storytelling–while it may be a dying art, hasn’t yet become extinct.
Sometimes I feel like today’s children are raised on meaningless violence and Pez dispenser morality.
Over stimulated by technology and special effects, and sorely lacking in the ability to critically analyze the “fast-food-for-thought” fiction they are force-fed by profit hungry, and immoral entertainment empires–I feel they often find themselves wandering through our underfunded, and underperforming school systems; like starving zombies hungering for an education.
Time and again, I hear people praise Star Wars as a modern-day fairytale. That Joseph Campbell, was George Lucas’s “Yoda.”
But history is written by the victors, isn’t it?
And Lucas isn’t Luke Skywalker.
The toy tie-in’s, and merchandising, reveal the true wolf behind our modern, manufactured culture.
Lucas may not be wearing a black mask, but I know a Sith Lord when I see one.
I only wish other people could as well.
I fear the lights have gone out in young people’s minds.
That stories are no longer told to teach, heal, and instruct. That they are only being told to make money.
They are being created to suck the last bit of life from our children’s fading imaginations.
To help turn them into meek and homogeneous little corporate cattle; trained from birth to toil for a meager salary, and then waste it all on brand name things they have been brainwashed into thinking will make them happy.
We are living in very dark times, Ms. McNeil. And people no longer curse that darkness. They curse the light. They hide from it. Fear it.
I may never end up reading all of Talisman. But I don’t think that will ever bother me.
As long as I can look at the cover . . . see a girl warming herself from the pages of a book that sparked her creativity, and forever changed her . . . I know there may yet, still be hope.
Even if it is, just a fictional one.
Yes, I know your book isn’t really all about that; or . . . maybe it is.
Perhaps I’m just happy to find another person who is as drawn to the written word as I am. Perhaps I’m just happy that to know that I’m not alone; in my love for the mystery of books.
Thank you for introducing me to Marcy.
Thank you for tipping your hand, and showing me that there are still people who can make modern fairy tales a reality.
And now I’m afraid, I have a favor to ask of you…
If ever our children needed a champion: that time is now.
If ever there was someone worthy of taking up that sword to protect them . . . it is you.
Our children need to hear the story of The Iron Tarn, Ms. McNeil. And there is a reason I’m not the only one who has asked you to tell it:
“Remember only this thing,” said Badger. “The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put stories in each other’s memory. This is how people care for themselves.”
–Crow and Weasel, Barry Lopez
Today’s Facebook generation is starving for meaningful fiction; for contemporary, and healthy folklore.
Our mythology is now filled with the shiny tin gods and goddesses of the cinema. Actors and actresses who share the same vices and hubris of the gods of ancient times . . . but none of their heroic qualities.
Our youth looks to the mass-produced stories that fly out of the Hollywood assembly line, and the television pig stys, to give meaning to their lives.
They hammer, chisel, smash, and bite at the tropes of modern fiction; trying to get to the sweet treasure they think is hiding inside.
And after they collapse from exhaustion in middle age; teeth shattered, and dreams forgotten . . . only then do they realize that the wealth, fame, and material trappings they traded their childhood for . . . has turned to dross.
Can you blame them for their cynicism?
For their blind faith in science, and technology?
For their distaste for those fools that still believe in magic, faith, and spirituality?
The tin gods that they have struggled all their lives to crack open; have always been empty, hollow.
Why is it, thousands of years after their first telling, stories of the greek gods, Odysseus, and the Argonauts are still being read? Or watched, as the case may be.
Why does Hollywood keep going back, and perverting the old; instead of creating the new?
They’ve forgotten how to tell a story.
That’s why.
It gives me a profound sense of joy to know that there are still storytellers in our modern age.
People like you.
Wizards of words who can send our minds to distant lands, and times.
And even let us bring back a few souvenirs that we can tuck away, hidden in the deepest recesses of our psyche.
I think I understand why you only gave us pieces of The Iron Tarn.
And I know that’s why it was so powerful.
After all, the human mind likes to solve puzzles.
But unlike many of your other fans, I’m not asking you to write us a story from beginning to end.
I don’t need all the pieces; I just want more of them.
And I don’t even care if some of them are missing.
I can fill in the empty spots.
And I don’t think I’m the only one . . . like many tens of thousands of lost, and starving children; I still have a tiny ember of imagination burning inside my soul.
And I still know a few magic spells.
I’m no Gandolf, or Merlin–but like you, I also know the hidden power of words.
And like you, I know that it is far better to light a single candle, then to curse the darkness . . .
You’ve got a match in your pocket, Ms. McNeil . . . with it you can light a magical fire in the minds of thousands of children.
I’m actually not surprised you haven’t won an Isner yet.
Your fiction could do irreparable damage to decades of Corporate media mind control.
In the cold shadows of a growing darkness; the light of your fiction is one of the few torches keeping the McHollywood vampires at bay.
Please, don’t let that torch burn out.
Marcy’s book may be filled with blank pages. But the pages she’s scribbling on at her desk, they aren’t, are they?
When she’s done writing, would you please consider sharing the story she discovers?
There are many starving children in the world, Ms. McNeil . . .
Many of them are hungry for a contemporary fairy tale–and I’m sure they would be very happy if all you could give them . . . were crumbs.
Thanks for your time,
With most sincere respect and appreciation,
Peter Usagi
“The Writing Rabbit”
Well, OK. Eventually I did finish reading Talisman.
But it did take me two weeks.
At first, I managed only a page or two at random every few days. And then finally, I forced myself to sit down and read it from front to back.
I was miserable–still am in fact–when I got to the last page.
It’s was the very first time I’ve read something so good…I had to actually force myself to keep reading.
I drove a considerable distance to see Ms. McNeil once more–this time at the Small Press Expo (SPX) several weeks later.
Yes, she was the only reason I went.
I could mumble something about E-Book publishing, and multi-media books…but that was just window shopping–not the reason I drove to the mall.
The first time we met, she was just one of hundreds of comic artists with their own table at the Baltimore Comic Con.
Just one of a half-dozen I bought something from.
But she was the only one who made me truly appreciate my chosen profession.
The only one who told a story that fed my soul.
While it’s true, I did want to say thank you in person; I mostly went to get the rest of the finder series (which you can see in the photo below).
It would have been a couple hundred bucks…but she gave me (and anyone else who was visiting her table) a substantial discount off the cover price.
For which I’ll be ever thankful. That was how I got the entire set…
Did I tell her who I was? Remind her of the e-mail I sent?
Nah.
I just told her I really liked Talisman, and Marcy was my favorite character in one of my favorite books.
I really don’t know why; maybe she remembered me from Comic Con?
You might assume it was because I had just purchased a huge stack of her books; but so had half the other folks crowding around her table.
(Even though SPX was about one-sixth the size of the Baltimore Comic Con, she was absolute swamped with fans and curious onlookers. I guess the folks who attend the SPX were a bit more familiar with her work.)
Either way, she looked up at me, and smiled.
Apparently, I wasn’t Marcy’s first fan.
In fact, Mrs. McNeil told me that all the original artwork of Marcy from the comics had been sold years ago (not long after it was first published).
I do remember that she asked me if I wanted her to sign the first volume (I did have every book she’d created), and I remember I said no.
And I don’t know why; my memory is cloudy about this part–did I have it in my hand?
Or did she ask for it?
I really don’t think I asked.
After all, there was quite a crowd clamoring for her attention. And I’m not a push and shove kind of guy.
Somehow she ended up with my SPX badge; which wasn’t much more than a rectangular piece of cardboard with two holes punched in it for stringing around your neck.
I do remember she was writing on it for a good while.
What she was writing, I didn’t have a clue.
I couldn’t see what she was doing behind all the Finder books on her table.
When she finally handed it back to me, I was a little flustered. Her other fans were a bit miffed she had spent so much time signing something for me, I guess. A few were giving me the stink eye.
Like I said, it was kinda crowded there (a LOT more people in a smaller space). So I left the large conference room, and found a nice quiet spot out in the hallway to read what she wrote.
I held up my badge, and slowly turned it around…
You’ve heard that old cliché about a girl’s knees going weak?
Well, it must have at least some basis in fact.
Physiologically, I mean, not hormonally of course…after all, I’m a guy: but I did just about collapse on the floor.
You see, she hadn’t written a single word.
Naturally I was surprised.
Stunned, even…
In fact, thinking back on it now, I wonder why no one really noticed me.
I must have been quite a sight.
(Or maybe they did see me, and just took a few steps back.)
Anyway, the badge had slipped out of my fingers, a lazily floated to the red carpet.
Staring up at me from the floor, through a small pair of glasses, Marcy gave me a wry, sad smile from the back of my badge.
My friends tell me it was a simple coincidence.
I really don’t care.
The SPX badge is just the right size, though.
It it all seemed Kismet. And I really do think she knew what she was doing. She meant to do what she did. And she was aware of all the subtle nuances in meaning.
Yeah, it might just be a bookmark.
But to me, it’s much more than that–it’s a talisman.
I’m not really going to go into details. This post is already too long.
Read the book. I think you’ll understand…
Eventually, I finished reading all the Finder series.
No, sadly, Marcy was never meant to be the main character.
But to my great amusement, Marcy does end up showing up again near the end of the series.
She’s all grown up. And yes, she’s still messing around with books. But in a strange, and wonderful new way…
Do I want more Marcy? Sure!
But I’m happy to have what I’m given. In fact, I’m happy just knowing that there is another storyteller like me, wandering around in the wasteland of popular fiction.
This is a book every child must read.
But only after they grow up…
After all, it’s only after you’ve had your heart-broken, your imagination snuffed out, and you’re drowning in a sea of the mundane…that you desperately look up at the sky, searching for a creative star to guide you out of your darkness.
I think that everyone, at some point in their lives, needs to find their way back to that forgotten sense of wonder.
Children really don’t need to be reminded that magic still exists: they’re too busy fighting to keep their imaginary friends, and their dreams for the future, intact.
Grown-ups on the other hand…sometimes they need a life-preserver.
Well, here it is.
Finder: Talisman
I dare you to try to keep treading water, stubbornly refusing the help you need…
Just because you think you’re too old to read a ‘comic book.’
Grow young already.
Sincerely,
Peter Usagi
“Comic Book Ronin, Wandering Story Hunter, He-Who-Blogs-Books…
P.S.
You can read the full post on my blog @ www.peterusagi.com
Also, Carla’s Finder series has just been picked up by Dark Horse. Now you can get the first three-story arcs (including Talisman) in one collection: The Finder Library Vol. 1 (available for pre-order now)-- check out: www.findercomics.com
Also, if you’ve read Talisman, or are a fan of Carla’s work, check out the facebook page I made. Just search for "Finder: Talisman"
July 13, 2019
I suppose one could write a lot about the Finder volumes. This was my first encounter with Jaeger and the world’s interesting characters.
I suppose it’s a fairly easy thing to write, too, that a reader will either grossly enjoy these books or despise them. I find it difficult to find a reader who may feel apathetic towards this book.
There’s a lot going on. It’s worth the read if one is serious about thinking for more than 10 minutes. ;)
I suppose it’s a fairly easy thing to write, too, that a reader will either grossly enjoy these books or despise them. I find it difficult to find a reader who may feel apathetic towards this book.
There’s a lot going on. It’s worth the read if one is serious about thinking for more than 10 minutes. ;)
May 8, 2007
An all-time favorite. In some ways I felt like this story was about me.
November 15, 2024
finding bits of yourself in pieces of media is one of the most magical feelings in the world
April 17, 2022
Reread 2022.
2005 review:
"You have to read this," my friend told me.
Okay, I said. I'll check it out sometime.
"No, really," she said. "You have to read this."
So the next time I went to the comics store I looked up Finder. I couldn't remember which volume it was, although I knew it wasn't the first one; my friend had assured me that it was comprehensible without any background. I took down the entire series and skimmed the back covers to see if any of them were obviously me-books. I knew right away that the one I was looking for had to be Talisman.
Talisman is about that book. I bet you have one--the book you read as a kid, maybe once and maybe over and over again, the book you loved more than anything else you'd ever read; the book you lost. Maybe your parents threw it out, or you lost it on vacation, or it was a library book and one day it wasn't there and you thought someone else had taken it out, but no matter how many times you went back, you could never find it on the shelf again. And you may know, reasonably, years later, that it's probably not as good as you remember; that if you ever find it, it won't live up to your memories; but in your heart you're convinced that that isn't really true. That book is magic. If you could find it again, you could be that kid again. You could read like that kid again. You could be utterly immersed in a world brighter and more intense than the real world, as if that kind of absorption were about the book and not about childhood.
Marcie's book was a collection of fairy tales that her mother's friend Jaeger read to her when she was too young to read herself; no one else could read it right. Her mother threw it out one day when Marcie was at school, and Marcie spends years looking for it, years remembering it, years making up her own stories. We learn a lot about Marcie and her family, and a little bit about the world she lives in--just a little, because Marcie is more concerned with the world inside than the world outside, so we see that that people have neural jacks and the technology to record emotions, memories, and daydreams, but only find out that Marcie lives in a domed city from the notes at the back--and it doesn't matter, because the focus is exactly where it should be, on Marcie and on the book.
The remarkable thing about Talisman, the really remarkable thing, isn't so much that Carla Speed McNeil remembers what that book was like, but that she evokes the longing for it and the memories of it so precisely. The details she gives are, of course, not like my book; but it's that book, all the same. If you had one, too--
--you have to read this.
2005 review:
"You have to read this," my friend told me.
Okay, I said. I'll check it out sometime.
"No, really," she said. "You have to read this."
So the next time I went to the comics store I looked up Finder. I couldn't remember which volume it was, although I knew it wasn't the first one; my friend had assured me that it was comprehensible without any background. I took down the entire series and skimmed the back covers to see if any of them were obviously me-books. I knew right away that the one I was looking for had to be Talisman.
Talisman is about that book. I bet you have one--the book you read as a kid, maybe once and maybe over and over again, the book you loved more than anything else you'd ever read; the book you lost. Maybe your parents threw it out, or you lost it on vacation, or it was a library book and one day it wasn't there and you thought someone else had taken it out, but no matter how many times you went back, you could never find it on the shelf again. And you may know, reasonably, years later, that it's probably not as good as you remember; that if you ever find it, it won't live up to your memories; but in your heart you're convinced that that isn't really true. That book is magic. If you could find it again, you could be that kid again. You could read like that kid again. You could be utterly immersed in a world brighter and more intense than the real world, as if that kind of absorption were about the book and not about childhood.
Marcie's book was a collection of fairy tales that her mother's friend Jaeger read to her when she was too young to read herself; no one else could read it right. Her mother threw it out one day when Marcie was at school, and Marcie spends years looking for it, years remembering it, years making up her own stories. We learn a lot about Marcie and her family, and a little bit about the world she lives in--just a little, because Marcie is more concerned with the world inside than the world outside, so we see that that people have neural jacks and the technology to record emotions, memories, and daydreams, but only find out that Marcie lives in a domed city from the notes at the back--and it doesn't matter, because the focus is exactly where it should be, on Marcie and on the book.
The remarkable thing about Talisman, the really remarkable thing, isn't so much that Carla Speed McNeil remembers what that book was like, but that she evokes the longing for it and the memories of it so precisely. The details she gives are, of course, not like my book; but it's that book, all the same. If you had one, too--
--you have to read this.
November 2, 2012
Reason for Reading: The lost book intrigued me even though I have not read any books in the Finder series.
This is a reprint of a particularly well-loved volume of the Finder series. I absolutely enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would since it is part of a larger series. But it reads incredibly well as a stand-alone, in fact, one isn't even aware that it is a part of a series as a newcomer. The story appeals to the book lover and is a coming of age story as well as a bitter lesson in whether one should try to re-capture one's childhood or not. We have the story of a girl who can't read and is gifted a book by her mother's easy come, easy go boyfriend. Every time he visits he reads to her from this book and it is full of the most amazing stories. However, he stops visiting and Marcie can't continue with the book, she gets her older sister to read it to her but it's not the same story, she's not reading it right and she finds something offensive in the book and puts it up on a shelf. Marcie then goes on to learn to read but once she has the knowledge she comes back to get her book and it has gone, her mother has given it up for recycling. Another interesting aspect of this story is that it is set in a future world where "dead tree" books are of little value. People "read" electronically through uplinks that they plug into their heads, Marcie is quite against this.
Anyway, without going into more details, eventually Marcie grows up, becomes a wanna be writer, continues on an everlasting search for her lost book as that is where her imagination stems from. Marcie does eventually find the book with devastating results. I just loved this story, the world in which it was set and the characters. An invaluable part of the book was the author's end notes where she goes through the book page by page leaving sometimes very brief, ofttimes quite detailed notes on the story: where the ideas came from, what inspired her and how the story relates to the Finder universe in general. This is where the uninitiated realizes that these characters have been around. The boyfriend, especially, is an important figure otherwise in this world. These notes really made me want to investigate Finder some more. The individual volumes are no longer available but omnibus editions *are*, at very reasonable prices. So I've added Vol. 1 to my cart, which contains the first four books, including this one, so I can dive deeper into this intriguing and actually quite deep and thought-provoking story world.
This is a reprint of a particularly well-loved volume of the Finder series. I absolutely enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would since it is part of a larger series. But it reads incredibly well as a stand-alone, in fact, one isn't even aware that it is a part of a series as a newcomer. The story appeals to the book lover and is a coming of age story as well as a bitter lesson in whether one should try to re-capture one's childhood or not. We have the story of a girl who can't read and is gifted a book by her mother's easy come, easy go boyfriend. Every time he visits he reads to her from this book and it is full of the most amazing stories. However, he stops visiting and Marcie can't continue with the book, she gets her older sister to read it to her but it's not the same story, she's not reading it right and she finds something offensive in the book and puts it up on a shelf. Marcie then goes on to learn to read but once she has the knowledge she comes back to get her book and it has gone, her mother has given it up for recycling. Another interesting aspect of this story is that it is set in a future world where "dead tree" books are of little value. People "read" electronically through uplinks that they plug into their heads, Marcie is quite against this.
Anyway, without going into more details, eventually Marcie grows up, becomes a wanna be writer, continues on an everlasting search for her lost book as that is where her imagination stems from. Marcie does eventually find the book with devastating results. I just loved this story, the world in which it was set and the characters. An invaluable part of the book was the author's end notes where she goes through the book page by page leaving sometimes very brief, ofttimes quite detailed notes on the story: where the ideas came from, what inspired her and how the story relates to the Finder universe in general. This is where the uninitiated realizes that these characters have been around. The boyfriend, especially, is an important figure otherwise in this world. These notes really made me want to investigate Finder some more. The individual volumes are no longer available but omnibus editions *are*, at very reasonable prices. So I've added Vol. 1 to my cart, which contains the first four books, including this one, so I can dive deeper into this intriguing and actually quite deep and thought-provoking story world.
January 12, 2012
Carla Speed McNeil's Finder series may be set in a detailed alternate reality where humans are not the only sentient species, and a majority of people spend their entire lives within the confines of labyrinthine domed cities protecting them from the inhospitable "outside." But while the author's own description of the works as "aboriginal sci-fi" isn't inaccurate, the characters are so elegantly drawn, the artwork so precise and beautiful, that seeing them navigate the familiar terrain of identity and relationships against such an alien background only heightens our impression of them as people as complex as the ones we might know ourselves.
The constant thread in each story is Jaeger, a compulsive wanderer and outlaw through whom we see both the ugly and tender aspects of survival. The books reveal only bits and pieces of any given character's life at a time (and not always in a linear fashion), but I recommend starting with Talisman, which focuses on Marcie, a young girl who discovers the power of reading in a society where the practice is almost obsolete. As an aspiring writer, she struggles with the realities of growing up and learning the painful truth that the only fantasy more untouchable than fixing her family, is attempting to do so through rediscovering the perfect words, the perfect story.
I think the back of the book sums it up best, especially for those of us who are readers:
"Talisman is about a book. The book that's never there when you wake up, no matter how hard you try to take it with you. The book you steal when you're too young to understand it's not the only copy in the world...Talisman is about hunger and magic."
But don't take my word for it...
The constant thread in each story is Jaeger, a compulsive wanderer and outlaw through whom we see both the ugly and tender aspects of survival. The books reveal only bits and pieces of any given character's life at a time (and not always in a linear fashion), but I recommend starting with Talisman, which focuses on Marcie, a young girl who discovers the power of reading in a society where the practice is almost obsolete. As an aspiring writer, she struggles with the realities of growing up and learning the painful truth that the only fantasy more untouchable than fixing her family, is attempting to do so through rediscovering the perfect words, the perfect story.
I think the back of the book sums it up best, especially for those of us who are readers:
"Talisman is about a book. The book that's never there when you wake up, no matter how hard you try to take it with you. The book you steal when you're too young to understand it's not the only copy in the world...Talisman is about hunger and magic."
But don't take my word for it...
February 19, 2015
I recommend all the volumes of Finder to anyone who loves sci-fi, fantasy, or just well crafted stories.
But this volume stands out.
It follows Marcy, the youngest daughter in a complicated family, seen previously in the Sin Eater volumes. Many avid readers will find a little a little of themselves in her and her love of books, of the many worlds stories can take you to, and the desire to escape into them. We see glimpses of one of those worlds, first as a story that is told to her, and later as a story she takes over, embracing to cope with her father's declining health and mental illness.
The world of Finder is very broad, sampling many aspects of fiction, but even with the sci-fi aspects of plugging into to a household computer instead of reading books, or the fantasy elements of some of the creatures casually wandering the streets, Talisman weaves in very real and sobering elements of growing up in a home shattered by mental illness.
But this volume stands out.
It follows Marcy, the youngest daughter in a complicated family, seen previously in the Sin Eater volumes. Many avid readers will find a little a little of themselves in her and her love of books, of the many worlds stories can take you to, and the desire to escape into them. We see glimpses of one of those worlds, first as a story that is told to her, and later as a story she takes over, embracing to cope with her father's declining health and mental illness.
The world of Finder is very broad, sampling many aspects of fiction, but even with the sci-fi aspects of plugging into to a household computer instead of reading books, or the fantasy elements of some of the creatures casually wandering the streets, Talisman weaves in very real and sobering elements of growing up in a home shattered by mental illness.
April 19, 2014
I found a copy of this on sale yesterday at Forbidden Planet. I'd read the story before as part of the Finder 1 collection but I bought this as I just loved the story so much. It's about a little girl who wants to use magic but instead falls in love with books, stories that are made up and not actually in books but in films, though she hates films. It's all about the power of reading and the importance of writing and speaks to me on SO many levels. Despite having this in the collection I'm really glad I bought the bigger version as it is so lovely to see the art this way. It is definitely one of the best comics I own and reminds me that I really need to get the rest of this series and finish it. While this is volume 4 in the series I think it really works as a stand alone book, even if it does leave a lot of unanswered questions that way.
January 11, 2015
This is profound. I had no idea it was part of a series when I picked it up at the library and now I'm glad I didn't know. I love this. I love this story and the way it was delivered through the art work. It's a slow, perfectly paced story of layer upon layer of meaning. I feel like to say it's a book about books is an understatement. It's about how books make you feel, the effect they have on us, why books are one-of-a-kind. This was such a beautiful read. I'm glad I got the chance to take in the art and enter this world for a little while. Very short, but very worthwhile.
May 22, 2018
I can't recall why exactly I put this on my library holds list (although slightly-alternate-magical-world stories, esp ones with book lovers, are my jam) but I wish I'd paid more attention when I did. I didn't realize that this was the fourth volume of a series, so although I was able to read it fine, there was clearly a lot I was missing, which became abundantly clear when I got to the end notes which referred to some of the earlier volumes. I enjoyed it even so, and am planning to go back and read the first three.
July 11, 2017
GORGEOUS illustrated book celebrating the love of books and creativity.
January 5, 2019
A coming of age story that also celebrates bibliophiles, fan fiction, and the secret dreams of greatness we all hold. Love it.
August 26, 2019
One of my favorite comics of all time. Beautiful and literary and poetic, with gorgeous black and white art.
April 26, 2020
Holy shit. I needed to read this, and I especially needed to read it right now. Read it.
January 2, 2026
I picked up this copy in a used bookshop in Boston. It's the first Finder graphic novel I'd bought, although I have read them all. My roommate is a bigger fan and has a well-worn, ragged collection of the other volumes.
The Finder series takes place in a vaguely defined future of Earth with humans, anthropomorphic animals, various bizarre creatures, technologies and various human classes and castes and lineages.A perfect sandbox to tell varieties of stories that could be scifi or fantasy. The first several volumes follow a drifter named Jaeger and his interactions with the family of his former military CO. But you don't need to know all of that backstory to enjoy Talisman.
Marcie, one of the minor characters from the prior volumes is the spotlight character here. As a young girl, Jaeger read to her from a book. A book of wonder and mystery, heroines and tragedy. Unfortunately, by the time she was old enough to read on her own, the book had been thrown out. As she gets older she tries to become a writer, trying to recapture the magic of that original book and tell her own stories, but never feeling anything she says is good enough.
Basically a big metaphor for the power of stories and the ephemeral natures of stories and books.
This is a book for readers and writers.
For those of us who are searching for those books we half-remember from our youth, the ones that spurred our imaginations and may have been the book that got us into reading as a hobby.
For those of us who sometimes find that book and realize...it's not as magical as we remember from our youth.
For those of us who dream or daydream of amazing stories and characters, who have epic arcs plotted out in the backs our head, but they lose something when we try to put them down on paper, or, no matter what praise we get from others, it never feels like we got the essence or feeling on paper. It feels lesser, not perfect.
So if you're an avid reader or aspiring author, and you come across a copy of Talisman in your look used book stop, buy it.
The Finder series takes place in a vaguely defined future of Earth with humans, anthropomorphic animals, various bizarre creatures, technologies and various human classes and castes and lineages.A perfect sandbox to tell varieties of stories that could be scifi or fantasy. The first several volumes follow a drifter named Jaeger and his interactions with the family of his former military CO. But you don't need to know all of that backstory to enjoy Talisman.
Marcie, one of the minor characters from the prior volumes is the spotlight character here. As a young girl, Jaeger read to her from a book. A book of wonder and mystery, heroines and tragedy. Unfortunately, by the time she was old enough to read on her own, the book had been thrown out. As she gets older she tries to become a writer, trying to recapture the magic of that original book and tell her own stories, but never feeling anything she says is good enough.
Basically a big metaphor for the power of stories and the ephemeral natures of stories and books.
This is a book for readers and writers.
For those of us who are searching for those books we half-remember from our youth, the ones that spurred our imaginations and may have been the book that got us into reading as a hobby.
For those of us who sometimes find that book and realize...it's not as magical as we remember from our youth.
For those of us who dream or daydream of amazing stories and characters, who have epic arcs plotted out in the backs our head, but they lose something when we try to put them down on paper, or, no matter what praise we get from others, it never feels like we got the essence or feeling on paper. It feels lesser, not perfect.
So if you're an avid reader or aspiring author, and you come across a copy of Talisman in your look used book stop, buy it.
November 1, 2025
I was definitely missing context by coming in at the 4th volume.
However, Marcie's story also stands alone. It shows that special relationship you can have with a book as a child and later find out it's more complicated than that. (I also had at least a couple of children's books where my name was put into them at a mall kiosk in the early 1980s.)
The art was fantastic. Marcie's point of view growing as she aged was done perfectly. I appreciated how it was also a story about creativity being blocked but how the only way to get through it is by doing the work. Even as Marcie tried to do a spell to unblock herself. But she really needed to confront her trauma around her father's illness.
Unfortunately, I wasn't inspired to read more in this series.
However, Marcie's story also stands alone. It shows that special relationship you can have with a book as a child and later find out it's more complicated than that. (I also had at least a couple of children's books where my name was put into them at a mall kiosk in the early 1980s.)
The art was fantastic. Marcie's point of view growing as she aged was done perfectly. I appreciated how it was also a story about creativity being blocked but how the only way to get through it is by doing the work. Even as Marcie tried to do a spell to unblock herself. But she really needed to confront her trauma around her father's illness.
Unfortunately, I wasn't inspired to read more in this series.
January 22, 2019
Really good science-fiction story about a preteen girl trying to get along in an unusual family in an unusual world. And very well drawn.
January 7, 2020
An interesting exploration of culture, memory, nostalgia, creativity and creative block.
July 26, 2020
In some ways, this graphic novel, though a work of fiction, is also a writing manual.
June 7, 2021
One of my favorites in the series. I love the dynamics between Marcie and her family, and seeing her grow up as a creative is delightful.
April 11, 2023
3.5/5 stars
May 10, 2023
I read this first without knowing it was part of a series, but it still works as a standalone. Brilliant writing and world-building. It sucked me into its world effortlessly.
February 17, 2019
Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder series is the best thing I discovered last year. Talisman is a great entry point if you are sci-fi adverse or just want something about bibliophilia.
July 24, 2014
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
I feel this is one of those graphic novels that can divide readers - a meditation on the love/importance of books and imagination rather than a straight-forward story. One can either love it or be bored by it as it veers all over the place, both graphically and story-wise. But Finder: Talisman is clearly a well defined and intelligent treatise on reading and the soul-nourishing nature of imagination.
The story is set in the near future when everything is online digitally and most people find actual books offensive and redundant. Young girl Marcy is read a special 'real book' by her mother's boyfriend and falls in love with the fantasy of stories well before she can even read herself. When her mother throws the book away, Marcy finds all her imagination stilted and grows miserable. Years later, she finds the book again but some honest truths about the boyfriend, the book, and her own imagination will propel her along a journey of self discovery and healing through the catharsis of writing.
The characters and concepts in the book are very interesting. Quirky, different, they run the gamut of distinct without being too far removed from reality. As well, the characters look and dress like we do and yet there are the future themes - plug in jacks to the brain, everything digitized, etc. I had to feel the irony while reading this since the news today was about the last Blockbuster video stores closing due to no one wanting physical tapes any more.
And yet....as much as I could appreciate the story intellectually, I was left cold emotionally. I did not find it a compelling read and really had to push myself to finish the book. It almost felt pretentious at times - an exercise in philosophy rather than storytelling. Which, honestly, can at times really come off as feeling a bit pretentious. A good storyline can be woven with philosophical musings effectively - I just don't know that it was done here. And I'm also on the fence as to whether this really needed to be (or benefited from) being told in the graphic novel format.
The artwork was clean, black and white, and the book a large sized hard cover edition.
January 15, 2021
I really loved this slim volume. It hit a lot of points for me that I tend to melt over, like the love of reading and the solitary nature it requires and fosters, and the way we remember books that we had read as kids - even if that memory is nothing like the reality of the book itself. I can relate to the strong desire to recapture that nebulous experience, and the disappointment that can follow if, as is often the case, it cannot be done.
Talisman is, on the surface, about Marcie, an adolescent girl, and her attempt to locate a precious book thrown out by her mother. Her mother thought it nothing more than a useless antique; in this world all books are digital and most people are 'jacked in' to a network and receive information that way - the preferred method of entertainment not being books at all but simulated experiences. But the book was given to Marcie by her mother's estranged lover years before, at a time when their family was more vulnerable and the young man, Jaeger, helped hold them and especially Marcie together. Through the searching she finds that the book itself wasn't as important as how it made her feel, which is something she decides to hold onto, and recreate by writing her own book.
Talisman is the fourth volume of the Finder series, but though the main Finder character, Jaeger, makes an appearance and centers on Marcie, the youngest of the three Grosvenor-Lockhart daughters, it works fine as a stand-alone for those who've never read the series. I read Talisman and started reading the rest of the Finder series from the beginning after.
Finder is a comic often called "aboriginal science fiction" that is set in a futuristic world that has elements of both fantasy - like magic - and more traditional technological science fiction. Finder has been nominated for seven Eisner Awards and has won one Kim Yale award and two Ignatz awards.
Talisman is, on the surface, about Marcie, an adolescent girl, and her attempt to locate a precious book thrown out by her mother. Her mother thought it nothing more than a useless antique; in this world all books are digital and most people are 'jacked in' to a network and receive information that way - the preferred method of entertainment not being books at all but simulated experiences. But the book was given to Marcie by her mother's estranged lover years before, at a time when their family was more vulnerable and the young man, Jaeger, helped hold them and especially Marcie together. Through the searching she finds that the book itself wasn't as important as how it made her feel, which is something she decides to hold onto, and recreate by writing her own book.
Talisman is the fourth volume of the Finder series, but though the main Finder character, Jaeger, makes an appearance and centers on Marcie, the youngest of the three Grosvenor-Lockhart daughters, it works fine as a stand-alone for those who've never read the series. I read Talisman and started reading the rest of the Finder series from the beginning after.
Finder is a comic often called "aboriginal science fiction" that is set in a futuristic world that has elements of both fantasy - like magic - and more traditional technological science fiction. Finder has been nominated for seven Eisner Awards and has won one Kim Yale award and two Ignatz awards.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2009
I'm now coming into the Finder stories I haven't already read, and I'm liking the book more and more as it goes on. McNeil's writing style is still a bit more meandering than my general taste prefers, but this one is a more focused meditation on books and love of stories, filtered through characters we know from the first two books.
Ironically, while I found the first three Finder books plot-light and character-strong, this one flips that, with a very strong plot through-line and some excellent character work, but much less of an ensemble feel than the rest of them. Even strong personalities like Jaeger fade into the background as we get everything from Marcie's point of view. Which is, no doubt, a deliberate choice, as hinted at in the annotations, it's just that Marcie never quite comes alive... her love of books and stories is sort of it, as a defining characteristic, making her the perfect narrator for this story, but sort of one-note at the same time.
As always, the artwork is gorgeous.
Ironically, while I found the first three Finder books plot-light and character-strong, this one flips that, with a very strong plot through-line and some excellent character work, but much less of an ensemble feel than the rest of them. Even strong personalities like Jaeger fade into the background as we get everything from Marcie's point of view. Which is, no doubt, a deliberate choice, as hinted at in the annotations, it's just that Marcie never quite comes alive... her love of books and stories is sort of it, as a defining characteristic, making her the perfect narrator for this story, but sort of one-note at the same time.
As always, the artwork is gorgeous.
January 24, 2016
Someone told me to read this first of all the Finder books. And I mostly liked it and I didn't particularly feel like I was missing out on anything. But then I got to the end and there were really extensive notes so maybe if I continue with the series and come back I'll find all this hidden meaning that I didn't have the context for.
Also, without the other context I'm really uncertain how I feel about the treatment of the character of Lynne? but since they aren't the focus of this volume I don't really know.
But taken totally without any other context, I enjoyed this on it's own as a story about loving books and words. And we'll see how my opinion changes as I go back to the first three volumes.
Also, without the other context I'm really uncertain how I feel about the treatment of the character of Lynne? but since they aren't the focus of this volume I don't really know.
But taken totally without any other context, I enjoyed this on it's own as a story about loving books and words. And we'll see how my opinion changes as I go back to the first three volumes.
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