Review: Fantastical mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2011
Draykon is a story which revolves around a girl named Llandry. She is portrayed as being extremely socially awkward to the extent that she starts having panic attacks when she is among anything resembling a gathering. Llandry is a jewellery maker and is relatively unknown until she stumbles across a new stone which she calls Istore. This stone makes here instantly famous as the stone captures the imagination of the world and becomes the most sought after piece of jewellery after Eva is seen wearing it.Eva, who is the other main character in the book, is a woman of high social standing and is a high positioned `government official'. She is in many ways the exact opposite of Llandry. She is charming and beautiful and knows just the right thing to say at the right moment.The story is set in a fantasy world. This world is not like ours, where night follows day. The world is divided into Daylands and Darklands, which perpetually lie in light or darkness. This is just one of the intriguing aspects of the world. There are a number of amazing creatures throughout the book. Each of these creatures has been created beautifully and this portrayal really brings them to life. Although the author has been inspired by real world animals, she has enhanced or modified their abilities enough to create an array of creatures which is quite impressive. Oh, another thing is that some people here have wings and can fly. How cool is that!As the book continues, it starts becoming apparent that Istore is much more than a simple popular gem. The story takes a mysterious turn when people who have Istore jewellery, start turning up dead. This is where Eva steps in to investigate and is pulled into the fantastical world which comes up next. The point at which the true nature of the `stone' is revealed, the story turns into an all-out fantasy novel.The novel ends with a cliff-hanger with a number of questions left unanswered, the answers to which, I suppose will be revealed in later books.I did have trouble initially following the structure of the world and was expecting a map to make things clearer, but none was forthcoming. However, as the story progressed, things started to clear up, and I realised that a map would have been quite difficult to make, considering the twists the story goes through.I really liked the story-telling style of the author and the two different story-arcs run smoothly along till almost the end when they collide magnificently and culminate in a crescendo. Now, all I can do is wait for the next instalment in the story.