HOW GOOD WAS IT?

9/10

THE STORY 

The Missing of Clairdelune continues Ophelia’s story from the first book of the Mirror Visitor Quartet: A Winter’s Promise. Here’s basically what you need to know up to this point:

The world is divided into “Arks” – floating fortresses – in this universe.

Each Ark is watched over by an immortal guardian and houses many different clans.

Our female lead, Ophelia, is forced to leave her Ark (Anima) and move to the Pole when she is engaged to Thorn, the Pole’s Treasurer.

As this book begins, Ophelia is promoted to Vice-storyteller by the guardian of the Pole, Farouk.
Here, she continues to learn about the Citaceleste (the Ark) and its inhabitants. Gradually, Ophelia discovers more about the political machinations on her new home, a looming danger that threatens the safety of this Ark as well as her own Ark, and the reason why her fiance collects dice…

Yep.

THE GOOD THINGS

The world-building gets even better. In fact, it’s so good and complicated that I am going to dedicate a separate post to the characters and the details about this universe in the near future.

Thorn and Ophelia’s skills are an essential part of the story. Maybe I find this to be impressive because I’ve come across too many YA books and TV series where the consistency of the characters’ skills is secondary to their looks and tacky plot lines, and have learnt to expect random skills and abilities to pop up everywhere. Anyhow,  Christell Dabos managed to develop the skills of her main characters and weave them into the plot pretty naturally. Whatever rules that are set up in Book One, you can expect this book to follow them closely.

We see a lot more of Thorn – the guy I thought wouldn’t make it to the second half of Book 1. I mean… his relationship with Ophelia still doesn’t occupy that much of the book, and let me be very clear: this is NOT a romance story. It’s a fantasy and the possible romance takes up only about 30% of it, maybe even less. But we get a lot more scenes of them as Ophelia gets to know Thorn – her taciturn fiance – better. Yes, he collects dice and wears a heavy uniform in tropical weather; but trust me, there’s an explanation for all of that, OK!

To give you a rough idea of what’s going on between Thorn and Ophelia in this book – Thorn means to make amends because… well, he made a mistake in Book 1, an unforgivable one in Ophelia’s eyes. And now, due to the number of enemies that wait around to tear down their family, Thorn insists that Ophelia reconciles and cooperates with him.

And trust me… you’re going to laugh; because this guy’s attempts to apologize are as successful as Mr. Darcy’s first proposal. What makes it more hilarious is that he has no idea what he’s doing wrong and continuously uses logic to solve a problem of emotion. Occupational habit, I guess – the guy’s a treasurer.

Through these exchanges, their personalities are highlighted and the natural development of Thorn and Ophelia as individuals contributes to the believability of their relationship.

Ophelia is a reader, she loves to study artefacts and decipher things; and Thorn is by far the most complicated book she has come across. Thorn loves mathematics and he lives by the science of probability; therefore, Ophelia’s curiosity and tendency to dive headfirst into challenges destabilize him as much as they fascinate him.

In addition, Thorn’s history and his relationships with the other characters are explored in depth as well.

Ophelia stands up for herself – not by being suddenly so strong she can beat up a bunch of people, not by discovering a secret mine gold, not by marrying a dark and brooding guy with unlimited power and influences, but by understanding herself, what she wants, putting her considerable skills to good use, and wearing her compassion like a badge of honor.

The side characters are unfailingly charming. Berenilde, Thorn’s aunt, continues to be that classy French lady everyone keeps gawking at every time she walks in a room.

Archibald… Oh, Archibald, you’ve got to love his sense of humor and his savage exchanges with Thorn.

Mother Hildegarde – the architect who built every house and molded every key on the Citaceleste – has a lot of surprises in store for you.

Farouk, the immortal — let me tell you — he is one heck of a character: hilarious, scary, powerful, yet vulnerable at the same time.

The scarf. Yes, I’m aware that this sounds a little strange, but it’s not! Ophelia’s scarf is the most adorable thing ever. Okay, let me back up a little – Ophelia owns a scarf that acts as a pet to her. It warns her of incoming danger and protects her from being bullied. Well, it tries its best, anyway. The poor thing gets torn and put back together again so many times throughout the book. Its loyalty to Ophelia is on Doctor Strange’s cape’s level for sure.

You will likely be surprised. The majority of this book deals with the mysteries that happen on the floating fortress – blackmail letters, people disappearing, animals going wild, doors leading to rooms they shouldn’t be leading to, illusions turning people mad, Farouk’s forgetfulness… Yes, that is also a mystery. The twists and turns keep you on the edge of your seat and the guessers out there will have a lot of fun.

The good translation, of course, is a plus. Because, as I’ve mentioned before, this book was translated to English from French. But at no time did I feel like I was reading a translation – that pretty much says it all.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

Maybe the middle of the book could have been better paced, if I want to be really critical.

BOTTOM LINE

If it was up to me, I would just say: read this book! (Well… read Book 1 first, of course, and then read this book.)

However, because of the unique nature of the story and the characters, I believe it also depends on your taste. If you’re a fan of His Dark Material, The Chronicle of Narnia, or Ghibli films in general, though, definitely give The Missing of Clairdelune a try.