The Truth Finder by Penny Luker
The Truth Finder is set in the fifth millennium, in a world
destroyed by nuclear wars. There remain but three inhabitable cities and the
land in between (The kingdom of light). Some of humankind has evolved to
possess special powers. Vrail is one such young boy. He is a Truth Finder, one
who has the ability to read minds. At the start of the book we find him alone
at the age of 17 after the death of his father. We follow his at times perilous
journey into manhood. The author describes nicely how Vrail experiences his
gift is as much of a curse as a blessing as he finds his own place in this
dangerous world. Even though the story is set in the future, the land between
the cities has more of a ‘Shires’ feel about it. People go about farming the
land and use horses for transport. Some of this book reminded me about the
Hobbit. Vrail also enjoys normality next to a cosy fireside and at times wishes
he wasn’t special. I think this book will appeal to a young adult that likes to
read adventure/fantasy.
My problem with the Truth Finder was that it screams for a
follow up and I hope Penny is hard at work on book number two. There was a
wealth of information to take in about this new future world, but I feel I’ve
hardly scratched the surface of what there is to know about the cities. We got
to meet many fascinating characters, but apart from the main character Vrail,
we don’t know too much about any of them. Especially Vrails neighbour Grace, a
fellow thruth Finder and the woman he is closest to seems very interesting. She
is over 300 years old! She must have some interesting stories to tell. I’m
looking forward to reading the follow up and I hope Penny goes a bit deeper
into the many characters she has introduced me to.
