A review by tasharobinson
Finder Library Volume 1 by Carla Speed McNeil

5.0

I don't normally include graphic novels on my official timeline for the year because most of them only take a few hours to read, and it feels like cheating to include them as part of an annual count. But this is a gigantic, meaty, 660-page behemoth of a book that required actual reading comprehension and significant time, and it seemed fair. Besides, I just wanted to write about what an experience this was. As an adult, I don't often run across new fantasy worlds that actually excite me. Everything just feels like an elaborate variation on something I've read before. Finder is different. It's a strange, quaint, elaborate world that feels like it has a history, but moreso, that's as packed with culture and variants and strange species as Star Wars' world, but with more personal and complicated stories going on. I had trouble following this first book at times, and at first I saw that as a flaw, but gradually I came to realize it was because the author wasn't telegraphing who readers were supposed to like and who we were supposed to hate. The story is more complicated, and I wasn't used to not being led in terms of heroes and villains. I suspect it'll all read more clearly the second time through, and given that by the end, I was reading this much too fast as I tried to take it all in, I'm very much looking forward to that second read.