Mina is so excited to be bonded with a storm beast. These guardians of the weather in her home country spread just the right amount of rain, wind, and other elements to keep crops growing and people happy. But when Mina discovers her storm beast, Pixit, is one that harnesses lightning, she’s worried there’s been a mistake. She quiet and shy, while most storm guardians are bold and brash. Yet Mina’s quiet ways are exactly what she needs to bring about important changes when she discovers all is not right with her world.
Spark by Sarah Beth Durst gives affirmation to quiet children that just because theirs is not the loudest voice in the room, it doesn’t mean what they have to say isn’t important. Mina’s gentle ways help lead her to speak out in a way that’s true to her nature while letting people know about the injustices she discovers. It’s a great lesson for anyone who fears that they can’t speak out about something they want to change.
Mina’s relationship with Pixit, her storm beast, is sweet and gentle, and even though Pixit longs to be more adventurous than Mina wants, he coaxes her along gently to realize her potential. Spark is a great book for anyone who loves a grand adventure set in a fantasy world. I recommend it for readers aged 9 to 12.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
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Spark is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it twice, in the middle of my third read, and it’s still good.
First off, I love Mina’s siblings’ description of Pixit, Mina’s telepathic dragon that was bonded to her. They are very young, and since Pixit is a dragon with a puppy face, they describe Pixit as a “sparkly puppy with wings.”
The characters are amazingly developed, and they are easy to connect with. Their ambitions make sense, and their character traits are believable and work together. The characters give just the right amount of humor and sarcasm, and they are actually human.
They never really call the storm beasts — Wind, Rain, Sun, Snow, and Lightning beasts — dragons, but they are dragons. I found that kind of cute.
The history of Alluria is really well made, and according to Professor Dino — I’m sorry; DANO — it all came down to chance. Mina’s parents told her that Alluria’s founding fathers had foresight and knew that the first storm beast egg would help all of Alluria, but Professor Di-Dano said otherwise. I’m not going to give full details, because I want people to read the book.
Alluria isn’t perfect like they say they are, witch is very relieving, and may make this book a dystopia. I’m not sure. I’ll need a second opinion. I won’t say how they aren’t perfect, because, again, I want people to read the book.
Mina (the main character, in case you couldn’t tell) solves the problem in her own way, instead of becoming someone she wasn’t. She’s a shy girl with a big heart with the best dragon ever (Imao). I think that the theme is really good, too, because instead of Spark being about a shy girl learning to be loud, it’s about a shy girl learning to be stronger than others BECAUSE she’s shy, and can do things her own way.
TLDR: 10/5 stars 😀
Told you there would be spoilers.