Synopsis from Amazon:
"When my father's hand had brushed over the paper, I used to wonder about what had influenced his drawings. What gave him inspiration? He used to show me drawings of a city, pointing out where the mage had built a wall or designed a tower. I know none of it is real, but… what if it is?"
Five years after her father's death, Mara Danarko believes everything is going great. Her mother has a wonderful boyfriend, Bryce, and Mara is getting used to small-town life.
Her world is turned upside-down when she comes home one day to find Bryce trying to kill them and an old family friend mysteriously appearing out of nowhere. Injured, Mara passes out only to wake up with a strange new power called Source which supposedly originates thousands of years ago from a biochemical called Voyana.
She has to learn how to harness it before she hurts someone by accident. However, not everyone wants her to master her newfound power.
Will she be able to control her Source in time to keep it from being used against herself and those she cares about?
>>>>>>>>>
My Review:
You know that feeling when you have this idea that pops into your head and it just FEELS brilliant and amazing and you just want it to spontaneously exist because it’s so awesome that any attempts to convey it to others fall sadly short of the mark?
This is how I felt about reading Danarko. I can tell from the vivid descriptions and the intricate world-building that Storibrook’s imagination was absolutely running full-tilt, and she made some fascinating attempts at perhaps drawing from her own real-world experiences in the way that she developed her main character to make her more relatable, such as the fact that MC Mara studies Judo… But at the same time, there were just too many instances of information supplied in just the wrong way to hit the emotional marks they should have.
Characters arrive and disappear at random intervals, offering little explanation and sending Mara on an emotional roller coaster every time they vanish and reappear as a “disguised” character with a different identity… which had me mistrusting if ANYBODY in the narrative was using their “real” name at some point!
One character in particular who I won’t name because of spoiler was somebody who we might assume was very close to Mara, but we barely hear about the fact that they went “missing” some time previously, and then they reappear and they’re in and out of the story so much that when the climactic scene happens and it’s supposed to hit the reader HARD… it doesn’t. I just didn’t feel it the same way Mara did, according to the narrative description. “Alas, poor soul… we hardly knew ye!”
That, and the fact that a side character exhibits more development than Mara does in this book. The narrative does some things in an attempt to avoid the “Mary-Sue” cliche by allowing Mara to make mistakes and have moments of weakness… but End-of-Book Mara is not much different than Beginning-of-Book Mara, personality-wise… She’s just better informed, more aware of what’s really going on around her. But she kind of behaves the same, still.
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s a terrible book! I would rate Danarko a modest ****4 STARS****, for the world-building, central conflict, a handful of really stellar, visceral scenes, and the distinctive array of side characters alone! Does it make me interested enough in the survival of the main characters to read on? Ehh, I’d probably have to be in a specific mood for that to happen—and perhaps someone reading this review happens to be in that very mood, for which I would say “Go for it! You might enjoy it!” If you’re looking for a new kind of “Chosen One” adventure tale, and a completely original world/magic system that will excite your imagination, then Danarko is waiting for you!
Further Reading: (Portal Fantasy/Chosen One/Young Heroines)
-The Way
-The Truth
-The Lie
-Foul is Fair
-Street Fair
-A Fair Fight
-All's Fair
-Girls Can't Be Knights
-Backyard Dragons
-Escape From Neverland
-Dance Into The Wyrd
-A Keeper's Destiny
-A Halloween's Curse
-Frost Bitten
-Dangerous Ways
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