The first two novels, The Bastard and The Rebels focused on the life of Philip Kent as he journeyed to America and began his life in the printing trade.
The Seekers begins with the story of Abraham Kent, Philip's oldest son and ends during the youth of his two grandchildren, Amanda and Jared.
Feeling no desire to enter the printing trade with his father, Abraham ventures out onto the frontier in the woods of what is now Ohio to combat Indians under General Anthony Wayne. Abraham Kent is living a life of confusion; not knowing what he wants to do or who he wants to be. He suffers under the thumb of his father who has become a Federalist as he gained prosperity and aged. Abraham still has the idealism of youth and has trouble understanding that his father means well, even if that doesn't come across all the time.
Upon his return from battling Indians, Abraham is seduced by his step-sister, Elizabeth Fletcher. Elizabeth was sired by Judson Fletcher in the last book and much is made of the "bad blood" of the Fletcher family.
Elizabeth is a vengeful creature. It almost seems as if her only motive in going after Abraham - and eventually marrying him - is because she knows she can take him away from Philip that way. It seems as if she takes great pleasure in doing anything and everything she can to go against her step-father. Although he was overbearing at times, Philip was always kind to all of the children under his roof and really gave Elizabeth no cause to feel this way. I found the character to be a bit perplexing and one I didn't care for. It's a credit to Jakes writing that he can give you these sort of hints about this character without having to be obvious about it.
Though she is sickly, Elizabeth manages to convince Abraham that they should try to make their way back in Ohio and they journey there. What happens to them during this time is both as a result of Elizabeth's physical and mental weaknesses as well as the problems that come with working the land. At the end, only Abraham and the one surviving child of his union with Elizabeth return home to Boston, defeated.
Both Elizabeth's mother, Peggy, and Philip have died and the printing house is now being run by their son, Gilbert. Though frail of health (it seems as though he has asthma from the description), he is running the business very well at a young age.
Gilbert Kent was a great character to read. A shrewd businessman, yet he had a well-meaning heart of gold and stuck to his principles even if it cost him status as well as business. Gilbert loves both his brother and his nephew without reserve and tries to help out his depressed brother any way he could, until circumstances force his hand. Even then, he will not turn his back on his nephew. Gilbert gives Jared the love that Abraham either can't or won't.
Abraham and Jared put a crimp in the machinations of Gilbert's wife, Harriet, however. She is not a nice woman. For every nice and genuinely good-hearted turn Gilbert has for his nephew, she has a mentally destructive one. At every opportunity, she tells Jared that he is no good and will amount to nothing; his parents were failures and he will be too.
This is where I think Jakes ends up completely dropping the theme of the "bad blood" of the Fletcher family. For Jared is anything but a failure. He is strong of character and manages to survive despite the odds on several occasions. I felt the only flaws in his character were there as a result of his aunt's mental abuse and hatred. Though possessed of the usual impetuousness of youth, he takes his responsibility to his family seriously.
One thing Jakes does is almost force a coincidence where it is not really necessary. At the beginning of The Seekers, Abraham serves in the Army with a man named Stovall. Well, guess who Jared ends up serving with in the Navy? The supposed son of a liason between that same Stovall and his sister.
The coincidence was not necessary, to begin with. There were no hard feelings between Abraham and the first Stovall, so there was no point. The second man could've been a character independent of the first just fine.
The other problem is that Jakes seems to say that it was all right that Abraham and his step-sister married and had a child, but it was bad that Stovall's parents did. Abraham and Elizabeth were not part of a family that was blended as teens or older; they were a family from when they were very young, so they grew up as brother and sister for all intents and purposes.
Stovall, through another series of circumstances after Gilbert's death, manages to become owner of the printing house and then convinces Jared that he's murdered a man.
Fearing for his life, Jared and his young cousin Amanda (Gilbert and Harriet's daughter) run away from Boston.
Along the way they are taken in by a series of families and a few notable figures. Again, some of it seems too coincidental. As they are journeying through Kentucky, they just happen on the cabin of the Lincolns when Abraham Lincoln is but a young boy. How many other log cabins in Kentucky could they have happened on?
I suppose that in some way this was the whole idea of these stories; to show one family's intertwining with the history of our nation. But some of the events - such as this - come across a bit too gratuitous.
After Amanda is abducted, Jared lands at the plantation of Andrew Jackson who assists him in starting out to rescue the young girl. Though both are alive, they each honestly believe the other to be dead.
This book moved at a much faster pace than the last two, jumping through two generations in the Kent family and covering a span of about twenty five years rather than the ten to fifteen of the first two novels combined.
Jakes leaves us with a sort of cliff-hanger at the end of this novel, as to whether Amanda and Jared will find their way back to each other again. It was a nice set-up for the next novel.
I think perhaps reading these books all at once, back-to-back is more trying than when I read them as they came out all those years ago. The series is definitely worth reading, but don't hesitate to pick up something different in between.
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