Saturday, April 28, 2012

The White Oak by Kim White


Genre:  YA Fantasy
Imperfect Darkness Series, Book 1

Description (taken from Kim White's website):
Cora Alexander falls through a sinkhole and enters the underworld still alive. Her living presence threatens the tyrannical rule of Minos and the infernal judges who have hijacked the afterlife and rebuilt it, trapping human souls in a mechanical, computer-controlled city that lies at the core of the earth. To survive, Cora must rely on her untrustworthy guide, Minotaur, an artificial intelligence built by Minos. She is helped by a mysterious voice, and by Sybil, underworld librarian and author of each person’s book of life. Sybil’s collection holds the key to humankind’s intertwined life stories. When Cora’s own book is destroyed, Sybil gives her a magical golden pen and sends her to the underworld city to write her own destiny. Along the way, Cora finds the ghost of her dead brother, Lucas, a genius programmer who alone is capable of finding the chink in Minos’s armor. But will he be able to get Cora out alive, or will they both succumb to the seemingly inescapable underworld trap? In book one, Cora and Lucas begin their epic adventure to master the underworld’s monsters and the inner demons of their troubled family history.

This is something like ancient mythological view of the underworld meets the twenty-first century of computers and machines.  The descriptions of the underworld and Cora's journey through it are really good.  However, I felt like there were way too many questions coming up and not enough answers.

I never really got a feel for Cora's character.  I figured she was a hard person who could take care of herself, but I didn't see much of it.  It was based off of the stories and memories that other characters had of her.  But these stories left me with more questions.  And then the ending comes.  I think this is one of those books where you'll need to pick up the second one right away to see if anything gets answered.

The descriptions, mythology, and fantasy in this book were beautiful.  However, I felt like there wasn't enough character development.  I'm not sure whether or not I want to continue.  The curiosity is there, but I don't feel like I was invested enough with Cora to continue.


Thanks goes to Story Machine Studio and Netgalley for providing me a review copy.

Challenges:  Debut Author Challenge, YA Mythology Challenge, and Young Adult Reading Challenge

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