I forget at this point how I stumbled upon this book. I think it may have just floated by in my twitter feed and I was immediately enamored with Sarah’s art style. It’s a style I’ve long wished I could emulate, knowing full well that I just haven’t put in the time to really learn.
But the premise of Shimmerdark drew me in immediately and she was having a sale for the book’s launch, so… the paper white had a new book to read within a few moments, even though I had no business loading it up with something else. I hadn’t finished Circe but I just finished Season of Crows (more on that later)
I’m not normally a fan of first person stories. It took me a little while to get used to, and the beginning felt slow. But that didn’t keep me from reading. By the middle of the book where we’ve gotten a bit more insight into what’s going on, who Xylia is and her family, the first person just worked and I realized that I wasn’t going to stop reading this book at this point. I’m not a fast reader, mind, but I knew I had to finish it.
And it only got more intense and better from there. It came to a bit of a fast ending, I think, but nonetheless a satisfying one. Throughout the whole thing I imagined scenes and animation, which makes sense because Sarah is an illustrator and animator. When it was done I was kind of surprised she hadn’t done this is a graphic novel, but then it worked just as well in my imagination.
There’s some muddy parts here and there; but that may have just been me reading while tired, unable to stop flicking to the next page. I hope she writes a sequel in this world she’s created. Meanwhile, I might pick up her other book Currently, and study her art some more because I really love it.