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Finder #7
Finder: The Rescuers
His American Indian-like clan is camping on the grounds of an urban estate owned by a nouveau riche lord. On the evening of a large party, the baron’s baby son is stolen and later found dead. Obviously, there are echoes of the Lindbergh kidnapping, one of the defining stories of the twentieth century, but the tale has been refashioned to play up the culture clash between the civilized and the aborigines.
152 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 20, 2018
Seven books in, and Finder continues to be one of the most challenging and rewarding series being published today. The Rescuers finds our more-often-than-not pointman into the fictional world of Anvard, Jaeger, working for a nobleman. As always, Jaeger's reasons are his own, but when the reader pieces together his motives, his actions will make complete sense. And it will tie perfectly into the theme of the book.
Lots of things are going on in this book - said nobleman's son is kidnapped, and the lead detective on the case comes to Jaeger for assistance. Being a Finder, Jaeger can track almost anything and find the criminal with complete ease. However, being of the lowly Ascian class, Jaeger's testimony and help are basically inadmissible. What are two polar opposites working the same case going to do?
The Rescuers works on another level, as well, as another of the lord's maids, also from a lower class, has born twin children. As her clan and status will not allow her to keep two children, she casts about for ways to save both of them. The lead chef, a close confidant of the lord, comes to the young woman's aid.
Neither rescue goes the way that you'd predict, but as with all things in the world of Finder, the pleasure comes less from the ending than from the journey to that point. The imagination, research and planning that McNeil has put into the world of Finder is truly inspiring. Very few comics have appendices at the back to explain references throughout the series. Fewer still NEED those appendices. This book offers lots of drama and mystery just on the surface, but then read it with the appendices as your guide and you find a whole other level, a depth of meaning to this fictional world that few other fictional lands have ever come close to achieving.
Wonder if that tattoo has meaning? It does. Wonder why the buildings are constructed as they are? There is a reason. One of my real pleasures in reading Finder is the continued excitement in simply seeing how this fictional society is as deep, complex, close-minded and, ultimately, as believable as the world that I walk around in every day.
Lots of things are going on in this book - said nobleman's son is kidnapped, and the lead detective on the case comes to Jaeger for assistance. Being a Finder, Jaeger can track almost anything and find the criminal with complete ease. However, being of the lowly Ascian class, Jaeger's testimony and help are basically inadmissible. What are two polar opposites working the same case going to do?
The Rescuers works on another level, as well, as another of the lord's maids, also from a lower class, has born twin children. As her clan and status will not allow her to keep two children, she casts about for ways to save both of them. The lead chef, a close confidant of the lord, comes to the young woman's aid.
Neither rescue goes the way that you'd predict, but as with all things in the world of Finder, the pleasure comes less from the ending than from the journey to that point. The imagination, research and planning that McNeil has put into the world of Finder is truly inspiring. Very few comics have appendices at the back to explain references throughout the series. Fewer still NEED those appendices. This book offers lots of drama and mystery just on the surface, but then read it with the appendices as your guide and you find a whole other level, a depth of meaning to this fictional world that few other fictional lands have ever come close to achieving.
Wonder if that tattoo has meaning? It does. Wonder why the buildings are constructed as they are? There is a reason. One of my real pleasures in reading Finder is the continued excitement in simply seeing how this fictional society is as deep, complex, close-minded and, ultimately, as believable as the world that I walk around in every day.
January 5, 2019
Hard to get this one out of my head. Of all the Finder books, this is the story I most want a sequel to.
June 30, 2015
Ruth just read this (I pushed a bunch of Finder on her after she enjoyed Dicebox), and talking with her made me really want to re-read it.
I can't remember what I said about it when I first read it, but this is very possibly the best book in the Finder series.
It might also be the worst jumping-on point. The whole point of Finder is that it's demanding and builds aggressively on prior context, but The Rescuers is on another level entirely. A new reader can understand what's going on if they pay attention, but I think the heart of the story is about how inevitable every shitty turn of events was. And that's the sort of thing you puzzle out afterwards, filling in blank after blank with what you remember from before.
The Rescuers is a tragedy, or maybe more like three to seven tragedies. It's about some events surrounding a botched kidnapping based loosely on the Lindbergh Baby case. There's no particular catharsis, and the story ends with a literal disintegration of the narrative: one endless page crumbling into ever smaller panels, fractally mimicking the failures of communication and connection that made any real resolution impossible.
It's bitter and cynical as hell, and unfailingly humane and generous as it breaks almost every character. Good fuckin' shit, easily the best dead baby comic of the aughts.
I can't remember what I said about it when I first read it, but this is very possibly the best book in the Finder series.
It might also be the worst jumping-on point. The whole point of Finder is that it's demanding and builds aggressively on prior context, but The Rescuers is on another level entirely. A new reader can understand what's going on if they pay attention, but I think the heart of the story is about how inevitable every shitty turn of events was. And that's the sort of thing you puzzle out afterwards, filling in blank after blank with what you remember from before.
The Rescuers is a tragedy, or maybe more like three to seven tragedies. It's about some events surrounding a botched kidnapping based loosely on the Lindbergh Baby case. There's no particular catharsis, and the story ends with a literal disintegration of the narrative: one endless page crumbling into ever smaller panels, fractally mimicking the failures of communication and connection that made any real resolution impossible.
It's bitter and cynical as hell, and unfailingly humane and generous as it breaks almost every character. Good fuckin' shit, easily the best dead baby comic of the aughts.
July 1, 2011
Yes, yes, I'm a massive fan of Finder. I've not met a volume in this series that I haven't loved, and this is no exception.
This volume largely dealt with the internal politics of the Anvard clan societies. When a semi-public figures son is kidnapped, and found dead by Jaegar, there's a question of what is to be done. Ascani testimony is no good in court, and the 'official' detectives lack the skills needed to solve the crime.
The intricacies of the society are fascinating, and at no point interfere with the characters and the plot of the story. Info-dumping just doesn't happen, the facts are revealed as it goes along. McNeil is a master of speculative fiction, and truly an inspiration when it comes to writing about any world or culture.
Highly recommended. Excellent work.
This volume largely dealt with the internal politics of the Anvard clan societies. When a semi-public figures son is kidnapped, and found dead by Jaegar, there's a question of what is to be done. Ascani testimony is no good in court, and the 'official' detectives lack the skills needed to solve the crime.
The intricacies of the society are fascinating, and at no point interfere with the characters and the plot of the story. Info-dumping just doesn't happen, the facts are revealed as it goes along. McNeil is a master of speculative fiction, and truly an inspiration when it comes to writing about any world or culture.
Highly recommended. Excellent work.
March 18, 2013
After several insightful volumes, Carla Speed McNeil takes the readers back to Jaeger, her initial protagonist, and a setting very familiar from the earlier stories in the series. And in so doing she again reduces the quality of her work somewhat.
"The Rescuers" has a reasonably smart premise, and the story does manage to examine the effects of hierarchichal societal structures and the dangers created by unequality, but Jaeger again inhibits the whole. The aboriginal bad boy has gained a bit of substance as a character by this point, but he is still a bit too weak. If the focus would be more on themes and issues and less on the main character, "The Rescuers" might be truly good, but as it is it feels a tad shallow.
"The Rescuers" has a reasonably smart premise, and the story does manage to examine the effects of hierarchichal societal structures and the dangers created by unequality, but Jaeger again inhibits the whole. The aboriginal bad boy has gained a bit of substance as a character by this point, but he is still a bit too weak. If the focus would be more on themes and issues and less on the main character, "The Rescuers" might be truly good, but as it is it feels a tad shallow.
February 13, 2021
Brilliant well constructed speculative fiction of the future with amazing internal cohesiveness. Believable characters dealing with everyday issues not seen in real life or other fiction.
June 4, 2022
2022 reread.
June 5, 2015
Neat to see Jaeger finally showing off his tracking skills. of course it does nobody any good because SOCIETY, but still neat.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews