Rating: 3
Description: Mina is a girl born from the union of day and night, light and darkness, and for her entire life she has lived with her mother, Queen of the Night, her only friend a peasant boy named Lapin who is able to play a set of magical bells said to be able to call the musician's true love to their side. It was agreed at her birth that, upon Mina's sixteenth birthday, she would go to live with her father at his court. He wants to choose a husband for her. However, King Sarastro, fearing that his wife won't hold to her end of the deal, breaks the bargain himself by stealing Mina away the evening before her birthday. In revenge, her mother asks Lapin to play the bells on behalf of Mina, calling her true love and spoiling Sarastro's plans for her marriage. At her father's court, Mina meets the man her father intends her to marry, as well as the girl who loves him, Gayna, who Sarastro has raised since her parents died when she was an infant. In the meantime, Tern, a young prince, is called away from home by the sound of bells. Can Mina escape the fate her father wants for her and live happily ever after?
Review: This book is one of the better ones in the Once Upon a Time series (see "Midnight Pearls" and "Scarlet Moon"), but it is still a very fluffy fairytale. The book is too short and could benefit from a much more involved plot (though I've never seen the opera the book was based on). However, despite its length (or lack thereof), "Sunlight and Shadow" manages to incorporate quite a bit of character development, and we get to know and love all of the main characters, who take turns narrating the book (Mina, Lapin, Gayna, and Tern). Each of the four main characters are strong and likeable, though Lapin and Tern are a little too similar. "Sunlight and Shadow" is definitely worth the read for anyone interested in a light reworking of a great story.