2 out of 4 stars
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Art shows us worlds beyond our own. We can imagine the different worlds and feelings around us, but in Patrick Borosky’s The World of Ato, the teenage lead character is able to enter these other worlds. The World of Ato centers on a fifteen year old girl, named Ato, who is a dedicated artist. She and her friend, Reed, search for adventures around their home, the Crimson Kingdom. Their newest venture to the Azure Ruins proves to be the beginning of an unexpected to journey to another world. In the Azure Ruins, Ato frees a magical dragon, with one quality unlike what one expects from a dragon. The dragon, named Iro (among other names), and Ato form a friendship that is more like a family bond. With Iro’s help, Ato and Iro are able to enter one of her paintings that reveal it to be a whole other world with a dark kingdom in need of light.
As Ato and Iro explore this new kingdom, known as Myr, they discover the kingdom is plagued with dark creatures known as the Scarred. They learn that a witch is using dark magic to create these creatures and kill the people of Myr to feast on their souls. After she is saved from her first encounter with the Scarred, Ato befriends the Iron Knight, named Ferrin. Ferrin has been tasked to locate and kill the witch responsible for these creatures. Ato decides to help the people of Myr and sets out to find the witch so that Ferrin can destroy her. The witch, named Violet, turns out to be a protector against the Scarred and the four of them set out to discover who really is responsible for the Scarred.
Ato decides to enter the black castle to speak to the king about the dark creatures plaguing his kingdom. She learns that the king, named Fennick, is actually a young boy that has been confined to the castle for the past four years and had no idea of the suffering of his people. He asks to secretly go with Ato to see the darkness over his land. In the meantime, Ferrin is told of a rebellion planning to overthrow the king. Ferrin, Violet, Fennick, Ato, and Iro flee from one of the rebellious knights and return to confront the villain, named Shi, who used and betrayed the Archduke Alexander Grant, who wanted to overthrow the king. Shi, the creator of the Scarred, escaped the world of Myr after losing a battle against Ato. She then rescued the young king from darkness and the kingdom of Myr was saved…for now.
Art is a major theme within the book, The World of Ato, which is one of the main aspects I enjoyed about the story. The author does a great job of painting the tale with descriptive and colorful words. The characters, locations, and actions were all described with specific detail that allows the reader to visualize what is actually taking place as they read through the story. The book also reads very well. The author did a great job of placing hooks appropriately to keep the reader wanting to read more. The flow of the story was smooth, like the images described in the book, and easy to follow.
The storyline of the book was well developed. The dynamics among the characters worked very well within the book; however, there is one character that is an outlier from the others. The villain, Shi, feels like an underdeveloped character. The author builds up excitement and suspense leading up to the climax of the adventure, and then describes the villain as a hooded man acting like a pre-teen boy. Shi jumps around and acts very silly and I am unable to take him seriously as a villain. Shi is more of an immature troublemaker than a villain that brings fear of death to everyone. I was disappointed with the book once the villain entered the story. The disappointment I felt ruined my enjoyment of the climax and ending of the book.
I rate the book, The World of Ato, 2 out of 4 stars. I do not feel the story deserves four stars for two main reasons. First, there were several grammar errors throughout the book and the quantity increased as the reader proceeds through the story. Most of the errors were either missing words or duplicate words. Reading the book aloud, or by a second person, most likely would have eliminated these errors. The missing and duplicated words interrupted the flow of the story which made them stand out more. The second reason for not giving the book four stars is mainly because of the villain. He was more annoying than scary, and I feel he could be written more sinisterly to enhance the story. I do not feel the book deserves less than two stars because the main character and supporting characters were very interesting and had great chemistry; they added to the value and enjoyment of the story. Each character’s personality was distinctive and fit well with the others. Also, the author does a great job of storytelling and that is enjoyable to the reader.
As the book is written, I would say this story would work well with pre-teen children. Though I am not sure if this audience would understand some of the adjectives used in the book, the story fits well with this age group. The book has adventure to excite pre-teens, but is not scary. There are aspects of the story that would speak to both boys and girls, such as the knights and the female heroine. If the villain were to be re-written to be sinister, intimidating, and fearful, then the book would appeal to older audiences. I do feel that either audience will enjoy the colorful worlds that the author has painted with this book.
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The World of Ato
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