Name: The Girl From Far Away
ISBN: 9781838097011

Jennifer Austin

Ella Day, the first princess of a mirror Earth known as Biack, is struggling to deal with mounting pressures while living in the spotlight. Jessica Durand, a teenage girl on Earth, has felt out of place her whole life and sought comfort in her regular dreams of Ella's life. But when Jess's life falls apart around her, she ends up trapped on Biack - a world that she isn't ready to accept as real - only to discover this world isn't ready to accept that she's real either...

The Girl From Far Away

** spoiler alert **
           3.5 stars (spoilers ahead!)


This story will keep you wanting to learn more about this mirrored world. I enjoyed the parallel universe aspect along with the side characters. It was interesting to see how this all starts out as a dream and then goes into what becomes their reality. The story follows Jess, a girl that has thought about a separate world called Biack, which mirrors the one she lives in. Jess ends up in Biack one day during what was described as a dream. Jess has a long journey ahead of her and learns that this world she thought was a figment of her imagination is actually her reality.



Here's what I liked: 

 ⁣I liked the concept of the "superhero" narrative, it's like a mix of Xmen and Care Bears (which I love). Reason why I say Care Bears is because each protector gets their power/origin from a gem, each gem comes from a tree. Although the characters were described vaguely, I kind of got an idea as to who was doing what. Finding out what the prophecy was kept me going, I was intrigued to find out why was it that this girl was needed all of the sudden in this land that she believed was make-believe. 



 I was not so sure if I liked this part 

The main characters weren’t my absolute favorite but like I said the mystery of the prophecy kept me going. 

Let's analyze: 



Jess - I will be honest, I kind of hated her in the beginning lol. But as I learned her story I realized why she was so dry, straightforward, and distant with her emotions. She hasn't had a good life overall. 
Ella - at times she sounded a lot like Jess, it's a bit unclear to me whether or not these girls were identical (maybe I missed something) 

I was a little bit sad about the ending, it was unexpected but I guess I can see why Jess made her decision. 

Overall, I think the story has a great premise. The flow was a bit sporadic at times, that's not necessarily a bad thing but in some cases I felt a bit lost. I totally recommend giving this read a shot! Biack is pretty intriguing, I would love to read more about the back story which was one of the highlights of the book. 

Thanks so much to the author for gifting me a copy of her debut! Looking forward to reading more!

The Girl From Far Away

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