Customer Reviews

Finder: A Novel of the Borderlands

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I mean, really. I never thought it was possible to crush on a fictional character, until I read "Finder." If I could somehow slip into Bookworld--where all the worlds in books are real--I'd head straight for Bordertown (after a lengthy visit to Pern, perhaps) so I could marry Orient. I mean, he's perfect! He's handsome, he's friends with the best mechanic in the universe (vive Tick Tick!), you'd never lose anything again, and hey! he's even Jewish. Dig this: we have here the only man who could possibly locate the socks that disappear in the dryer! Hmmmm. OK, sex drives aside, this is a fun book. Bordertown: a sleek, hip world where magic melds with technology and bohemians dabble with royalty. (Kinda makes me homesick for NYC, mmmm?) Anyway, the Elves have returned...and they're cool, not a jot like the deified Tolkien-esque elves found in epic fantasies nowdays. Orient, our hero, is a fugitive from the regular world, who has found Bordertown a haven from his dark, secret past. He's friends with Tick Tick, a runaway elven princess who is the best mechanic known to man, a werewolf named Wolfboy (who stars in "Elsewhere" and "Never Never" by Will Shetterly, which were fun but not great), and a determined, mysterious cop named Sunny Rico. Anyway, the book centers around a mystery--some strange disease is turning humans into elves and killing real elves--and how Orient comes to grips with his past. Fast-paced, sleek dialogue, interesting characters, cool locale, strong plot, and Orient. Definately a great find! (Sorry about that last 8-)!)

I picked up Finder without having read any "Borderlands" stories. Not knowing waht to expect, I was overcome by the story. I fell in love with the characters immediately. The humor was infectious, the mystery exciting, and the relationship between Orient & Tick Tick, and it's outcome, literally broke my heart. This is a book not only for sci-fi and fantasy buffs, but for everyone who loves the possibilty of magic and believes in love and friendship

I was wandering through a bookstore three years ago with my then boyfriend and stumbled across a book called 'The War of the Oaks' by Emma Bull. I literally devoured this book, and have continued to re-read it twice a year. I was happy to discover that she wrote a short story for the Borderland books that I've had since I was fourteen (it's been 15 years since then, imagine that!) and then to my utter delight that she wrote another, 'Finder'.

Emma catches things in ways you can't imagine, she takes you in and you're there, at the Borderlands caught in this town between worlds. If you want to fully experience the Borderlands, search out the Music for it- Tempest's 'Serrated Edge', her own band or any other number of 'Celtic Rock'.

And if you fin 'War for the Oaks', buy it. It's out of print. It's worth it a thousand times over.

It's interesting to see what a unique talent can do with characters and material originally created for one of the "shared universe" anthologies that no longer plague us quite so much as was the case a few years back. (Though "Borderlands", along with the "Liavek" books -- featuring many of the same crew of authors were among the Very Best of the breed...)

All of the important elements of Bordertown are here -- the "Cat Street Crier", the Dancing Ferret, (and Goldie, Sai and Strider), the Mad River, Ho Street, and so on -- but it is still uniquely Bull's imagination and her story, and hers alone.

Other reviewers have gone into the What Happens Next aspects -- i'd like to touch on some of the Why It's Interesting When It Happens.

Orient, Tick Tick and Sonny Rico and all of the other characters who get mixed into this wind up *changed*. I mean *really* changed -- some die, some have to live with tose deaths and some never really understand what the hell is going on.

One of Johnny Cash's recent songs refers to "a long walk in a cold rain" -- and that's what Orient and company set out on -- this is an almost classic trip " ... down these mean streets ... [by] ... a man who is not himself mean ..."

You will not be indifferent to the fates of Orient and friends, as we all too often find ourselves indifferent to those of the "heroes" in all too many recent works of boilerplate conanistic "heroic fantasy". As a matter of fact, if you are not careful, you may care just a bit too much and could suffer for it... but even that is worth it and part of a truly memorable reading experience.

"How does he make his hands do that?" "Too much Fairport Convention in his youth..."

Emma Bull suprises you. She continually finds new paths to explore and new emotions for the reader to experience. FINDER literally takes a fantasy realm and drops it into your backyard to explore. Within she mixes a werewolf, an absent-minded artist, an elven mechanical genius, and our hero, whose talent for finding things cannot help him in a crisis where his courage and his friends are all he has. What is best about her books is that in a few lines she makes you care about the people within; you may love, pity, or despise some of them-but you won't be indifferent about any of them.

Somewhere there exists the city known as Bordertown. Once part of The World as we know it, the lands of the Faerie have encroached -- magic and technology share a sporadic and uneasy co-existence. And it is here that Emma Bull takes us -- to follow the lives of Orient, Tick-Tick and Sunny Rico. One part murder mystery, one part drama, one part thriller, one part tragic romance, Finder mixes all of these to a smooth whole. Orient, the title character, is a young man with a tragic past; then again, everyone in Bordertown has some pain in their background. It's the one thing all the citizens have in common. He and his best friend, Tick-Tick, the Elf, stand shoulder to shoulder against the rising tide of prejudice surrounding the murder of Bonnie Prince Charlie and subsequent events. Bull gives tantalizing glimpses into Orient's past, Tick-Tick's, as well as that of Sunny Rico, making them seem more acquaintances you've lost touch with than merely characters in a novel. Their pain is tangible. The story is gripping; the ending bittersweet and far too soon. Finder leaves you wanting more

A who-dun-it cop mystery isn't generally my cup of tea. But when you throw a writer like Emma Bull into the mix, it really doesn't matter. Anyone who enjoys urban fantasy would thoroughly enjoy this.

Bull does an amazing job creating a world that's half faerie, half human, and then blended until smooth. As a writer, she clearly knows it inside and out. The streets, the inhabitants, the culture and stories. My only critique is perhaps that she knows it too well, leaving readers with the vague, tantalizing knowledge that there's quite a bit of backstory to a minor character or reference made by one of the main characters.

What made me such a fan of this book were the characters. You get to know and care rather deeply for them. A reader can find themselves becoming attached very quickly to the sudden ups and downs of this mystery. Not only are these characters likable and easy to relate to, they're complex as well. Bull creates unique, strong individuals with their own personal conflicts, as well as subtly playing with a bit of traditional gender-role reversal.

As I said, I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy.

One of the things that got me hooked the most about this book is that Bull really makes the reader do the thinking. She doesn't just lay everything out easily for us to accept, but she gives us smart clues and bits of info to let our minds fill in the blanks. Not everything has to be perfectly spelled out for the reader in order to enjoy and understand the meaning and purpose. Writing style aside, Bull gives us a workable and thought-provoking fantasy/mystery with very unique and interesting characters that keep you wanting more and more. My only problem with this book, was that it ended. Emma, please give us more!

I've been a fan of Emma's since _War for the Oaks,_ and I'm enamored of the Borderlands stories, which are urban fantasy set in the uneasy crease between the human world and Faerie, which has returned suddenly to our plane of existence. Any city has teenage runaways who start their lives over among their own kind (their "kind" being, basically, "not parents"), but Bordertown gets both human and elvish runaways, plus "halfies" (a human-elf mix) and your occasional unique oddity like Wolfboy, who appears here in a supporting role. Orient is a finder. That's his talent: If something is known to exist, he can find it. He can't just tell you where it is, though (like "your keys are behind the couch") -- he has to actually follow his internal compass and go and find it personally. That's fine if someone is looking for a place to buy, say, heirloom tomato plant seeds, but suppose they're looking for a particular explosive device? In this case, he's asked by the police -- such as they are in Bordertown -- to locate the source of a new and extremely dangerous drug plaguing the city. Orient's very best friend and sort-of partner is Tick-Tick, an elvish girl his age in self-imposed exile from the storied lands beyond the Border, where humans literally cannot go. And when she takes ill, the search for the drug turns into something very much more. Besides having a knack for Chandler-esque dialogue, the author is terrific at constructing unusual characters and all of hers fit very nicely within the shared universe of the Borderlands. This is the third time I've read this book in the past twelve years and I expect to enjoy it yet again in the future.

if you have visited the border,you will have to check in with your old friends at Danceland....Terri Windlings shared world series ranks highly with all who read it...be prepared for razor wit and puns when you least expect it,also an emotional attachment to the characters