Review: Finder, by Terri-Lynne DeFino

Finder, by Terri-Lynne DeFino

Release date: November 2010

Genre: Fantasy

Set in a richly imagined, Middle-Eastern flavored fantasy world, Finder is at heart a complicated, decades-long love story between Ethen and Zihariel, two star-crossed lovers from very different backgrounds. Ethen is the eponymous hero with a special power: he can “find” any sort of objects or people just by concentrating on them. During the course of the book he transforms from a streetwise urchin to a rich and relatively respectable middle-aged man. Zihariel is a beautiful woman with an amazing power all her own: an incredible gift for music. She begins the book as the pampered, sheltered slave of a rich merchant (her people have been systematically “purged” from Ethen’s native land and turned into slaves), who shows her off like a prize songbird for others’ pleasure—but Zihariel finally runs away, and Ethen is hired to “find” her.

Ethen tracks Zihariel down, but once he finds her, he also finds something totally unexpected: love. He no longer wants to fulfill his Finder’s contract, but what can they do, where can they flee? Nowhere seems safe for an escaped slave. Together, they set off on a series of adventures that bring them to the mighty city of Bosbana. Once there, just when things seem to finally be going right and we begin to hope that the lovers can craft a life together, both Ethen and Zihariel each independently decide that in order to keep their loved one safe, they’ll have to leave that loved one behind. This leads into the second half of the book, eighteen years later, when both have grown and changed and yet through the whim of fate, they meet up again and have to fumble their way back from pain and sorrow and distance to rediscover the connection and love they once shared.

Yes, there’s a plot here too, involving (among other things) illegal spice trafficking, blackmail, forbidden relationships and tangled politics, and it’s deftly handled even when we start to see the reveals coming before they happen; but the core of this book is a true-feeling and moving love story complicated by culture, time and individual psychology.

I loved the world-building of this book, and its beautiful Middle-Eastern feel (a refreshing change from the more frequent generic European medieval fantasy setting we all know and love). DeFino is terrific at throwing in interesting names and details (even down to food and drink) that add flavor and a sense of place without having to go into big explanatory info-dumps about the way things are.

I also enjoyed the way that DeFino used a love story to address complex, significant issues like slavery and freedom, trust and betrayal, family and loyalty, loss and sacrifice, self-worth and self-determination. This was a book that took a good clear look at some of the big obstacles we encounter in relationships, and did so in a compelling, honest way.

DeFino’s characters are also people I enjoyed coming to know and empathizing with. No one is perfect, everyone has their flaws, but overall their hopes and fears and desires and motivations felt realistic and reasonable to me. I especially liked Ethen and Zihariel, of course, but I also thought the author did a great job with her supporting cast (lots of interesting people in this world!) It was a rare treat to experience within the course of one book the way that characters grow over time and change as a result of their choices—I thought DeFino handled this well.

On a personal note, I also always appreciate characters who are artists of some sort—I thought Zihariel’s relationship with her music was fascinating, and I really felt for her when she lost her music and celebrated with her when she got it back.

There were a few things I got impatient about as the book progressed, because I’d already guessed how things would play out or who certain people were, but I didn’t mind too much because I was enjoying the journey even if I was pretty sure I knew the destination. And there were some good plot twists that surprised me too.

Overall Impressions: I very much enjoyed this book, and would certainly recommend it. If you like love stories and you also like well-written, imaginative fantasy worlds peopled with interesting, sympathetic characters, this is a book for you. I hear there’s a sequel in the works and I am looking forward to it!

Chick Points:

[We award "chick points" from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) for each book we read. Point awards are of course totally subjective, but we hope they at least give a flavor of where a book stands on specific feminist subjects.]

Strong Female Characters: @@@@@ (5 points out of 5)

Even though the main character of this book was Ethen, there were many other strong, well-rounded and interesting female characters in this book, including of course Zihariel.  I also really liked Augnesse and Cesilee.

Treatment of Women in the Book: @@@@@ (5 points out of 5)

This book certainly did touch on women’s issues and women’s roles, and did so in a satisfying and realistic way, even if ultimately women in the societies in this world have many of the same issues of inequality and lack of power or respect that they have in our own. But these inequalities were, if not confronted, at least not taken for granted, and I appreciated that.

Appearance of Women in the Cover Art: N/A

Only Ethen appears on the cover, so this doesn’t really apply. I would have maybe liked to see both Ethen and Zihariel on the cover, but really it was Ethen’s story so I’m ok with him being the only one on the cover.