sunlight and shadow

this book is part of the "once upon a time" series made up of re-told fairy tales...many of them by cameron dokey as this one is. the story line is from the opera "the magic flute" which i thought was interesting. i have heard of this opera by name only but had no idea about the plot or any of the characters.

mina is the daughter of the mage of the day and the queen of the night and mina's marriage, as foretold by a prophecy, will alter the world. mina is raised by her mother in the dark and, though it had been arranged that she would live with her father as of her sixteenth birthday, her father forcibly removes her from her mother so he can arrange her marriage. as mina tries to escape her father and find her own way, a number of other characters enter the story - gayna, mina's father's foster daughter, lapin, who plays the bells that can call one's true love, statos, the husband mina's father chose for her, and tern, the prince who carved a magic flute.

the novel is short, not even 200 pages so there is not much intense character development. the story is told from many points of view and sometimes it was a bit confusing figuring out who was talking. it was a fast read and as often happens in these books, the romance doesn't begin until right before the ending. not bad though, not bad at all.