JUSTYCE SCALES OF THE OTHERLY AND OBSCURA

A YA fantasy novel about a teenage girl who finds herself trapped in a strange place—or maybe just a hallucination of one.

Debut author Rrae’s protagonist, Lucille “Luci” Amberly Flask, has just turned 16, having celebrated her birthday by going on a trip with her mother, Ruth, to Liard Hot Springs. She received a Canon Rebel T3i camera with which she snaps pictures as her mom drives them home. Then she sees something odd on the roadside: a missing person poster on a billboard with her face on it. Soon, a dense fog rolls in and the car crashes. When Luci can’t find her mother, she wonders if this is all really happening or if it’s just a “daymare”—hallucinatory events that she experiences on occasion. Soon, Luci is talking to someone who calls themselves Grentsth, the gatekeeper of “The Otherly,” a parallel world that features magic and talking animals. She’s told she can’t leave The Otherly until she completes three trials, but all she really wants to do is find Ruth and go home to her father, brother, and friends. However, Luci is also informed that her mother is actually someone named Keres, who has history in The Otherly. Rrae has Luci interact with numerous strange beings on her quest, from a man who speaks only in questions to an elephant who wears jewelry and warriors made of sticks and stones. While the querulous man is about as frustrating as one would imagine, the environment in which he and the others live offers readers a seemingly endless supply of surprises, and Luci moves through them all at a swift, consistent pace. Although the main character’s goals seem simple enough at the beginning, events take a truly unexpected turn when Luci is finally reunited with Keres. This plot turn does require an explanation that readers may find a bit lengthy, but it effectively breathes additional life into an already imaginative tale.  

A twisty, lively romp through a bizarre world.