REVIEW: FINDER :TALISMAN

 

   

PUBLISHER:
DARK HORSE COMICS

 

Learn More about the Finder Series HERE

 

 

I've been reading the Finder series for quite some time. In FINDER Carla Speed McNeil has created a wonderful universe of interlinking stories that potential readers can jump into anytime. Yes there are stories that overlap and interconnect but every Finder story has a special perspective that makes it highly readable to all despite their prior familiarity with the series.

 

I've read the Finder graphic novel Voice and vols 1 & 2 of the Finder Chronicles and thoroughly enjoyed them, but finder Talisman has earned a special place in my heart.

 

Talisman is Marcie's story. Marcie is the youngest child in a very unique family. When Marcie is 7 a family friend brings her a gift. A book. Marcie sits on her friend Jaeger's lap and he reads to her. He spins her a tale of wolves and magic, heroic quests and terrifying monsters. Jaeger captivates Marcie with the world of books and she will never be the same again.

 

Then Jaeger leaves and Marcie is left with the book, a Talisman that has guided her into a whole new world, a world she cannot access on her own because  Marcie can't read.

 

It's not a strange thing for a young girl to not know how to read in Marcie's world. With the technology available she can "plug in" and have any book read to her. But with Jaeger gone and her sister's attempts to read to Marcie turning out "wrong" Marcie starts a quest to learn to read.

 

In the midst of her education Marcie is saddened to discover that her mother has given away her tattered, eyesore of a book to the recyclers. Marcie is heartbroken, her mother fails to understand since the book has been scanned as a hologram into the house library and can be accessed by Marcie anytime.

 

Yet fate has other plans as Marcie discovers that there has been an error in the download and the pages of the book are distorted and unreadable.

 

Time passes and Marcie has turned her passion for books into a budding career as a writer, which brings with it a whole new set of problems, inspiration and torment.

 

The Finder series has quickly become my number one referral for those interested in trying graphic novels. Now Talisman has become my number one suggestion for those of us who love the written word and for all of us aspiring novelists. This book really resonated with me since I'm trying my hand at writing once again this month for NANOWRIMO.

 

Talisman is a love letter to readers, and all the emotions reading can invoke: the longing for a book lost, the lifelong quest for that book and the realization that once found it  will not, cannot effect you the same the second time around, those first stirrings of the want and need to create stories of your own.

 

In the midst of all these themes is the other character in this tale, Carla's art. Every nuance of Marcie's journey is portrayed with stunning art. The richness, and magical essence of Carla's art shines through the black and white illustrations. The feelings this tale left me with are full of depth and color.

 

A wonderful gift for readers and writers alike. You will laugh , possibly cry and nod knowingly, Carla is our people, she knows the life books breath into our lives and how we couldn't live without them.