I want to be Lillian Hunt when I grow up. She’s exactly the right kind of protagonist I love to read about: approachable, mixed up, earnest, and good (but not so good she’s boring or bland). I like to think that if I were introduced to the world of the supernatural the way she was that I’d react as she does. In reality, I’d probably curl up in a ball and cry the first time something indescribably weird and scary happened to me…but Lily is my template.

When we are introduced to Lily at the beginning of Seers of Light, she’s living where she grew up with her grandparents and late father. Her past is largely a mystery: her father died when she was young, and she has only the vaguest of memories of her mother, who left her daughter and husband early on. Unexplainable things happen around and to Lily, and just when it seems like it might be too late, she’s pulled out of her mundane life. She discovers the world of Sentients, people with certain gifts–or endowments, as they are called–who travel the world helping normal people cope with things as “simple” as hauntings or as dangerous as vampires. They’re the awesome version of television’s ghost hunters, and oh so much more interesting. Lily’s journey into discovery, both of herself and her talents, is a lovely one.

Along with finding out more about her mysterious mother and her own potential, Lily meets a whole group of people who become an extended family for her, and though had a tough time keeping them all straight because Lily is introduced them all pretty much in one fell swoop, the ones that come into her orbit most–therefore the ones I remembered from scene-to-scene–were great personalities. If DeLucy spent time on a character, that character sparkles with a life of his or her own. With the story told from Lily’s perspective and therefore focusing closely on her, I felt like fuller development of the surrounding characters was lacking, but I’m hoping, really really hoping, that the sequel I’ve seen mentioned will give us more of the people orbiting Lily. The more I think about the story, the more I want to know about all these people in her life. They’re too interesting to just let alone without further development.

I’ve seen Seers of Light classified as a paranormal romance, and between you, me, and the Internet, I don’t think of it that way. Paranormal, yes, but to me the romance in the story takes a back seat to Lily’s journey of discovery. With the romance angle in mind, I have to say that I’m pleased as punch that Lily never defines herself by her relationship; she and her romantic interest blend well together, not least because they have a profound respect for each other, and their partner’s abilities. It is a grown up relationship between two multifaceted and complex adults. There is a love triangle, but think the characters are the only ones who have any doubt about how that will end up; there wasn’t much tension or “who will she choose?” worry there for the reader. I was happy to see that most of the cliches that seem to define the paranormal romance genre didn’t show up in Seers of Light. Maybe that’s why I think of it more as a straight urban fantasy or supernatural novel.

Seers of Light isn’t necessarily profound, though the characters do have some interesting discussions on spirits and souls that would be fun, in an intellectual way, to examine and learn more about. In the end, this is a good story. It’s engaging: once I got to reading, I couldn’t put it down, and devoured the almost four hundred page novel inside of a day.