Aphotic

An Adventure Tale

D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review - 

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"Ko and Aileen don't anticipate anything more than a quiet visit to Stono Beach when they begin their day, but when loved ones are kidnapped and taken to the Aphotic, a hidden layer of the universe, everything changes.

Kids ages 10-12 will find much to like about this fantasy as Ko and Aileen find not only the boundaries of their world challenged, but their role in it.

D.R. Mattox uses the first person narrator Ko to capture this world and his relationship to it and his sister. This lends an observational immediacy to the tone and experiences which draws in young readers; especially since Ko is much older than his sibling and holds rationales and insights that come with the wisdom of age: "Aileen was nine years old, six years my junior, and beautiful. It was obvious she would one day be a very pretty woman. However, her current beauty was less about appearance and more about her being. She was innocent, glowed with youth, and concerned herself only with the next adventure or game. Society had no hold on her yet, as it had nothing to offer that could garner the attention of her blue eyes."

His ability to perceive possible futures and scenarios in present-day incarnations and experience gives Aphotic such a deliciously analytical tone, yet keeps its experiences in logical sync with its young protagonists.

As events and perspectives move from Ko and Aileen to Sam, Joan, encounters with the Light Reaper's possibilities, and more, readers are led into a full-fledged fantasy that holds a quest, a challenge, and many battles.

Mattox moves from the first person to a third person narrative, but by then young readers are thoroughly immersed in the situations, perspectives, and struggles of a myriad of characters.

As various prisoners of the Aphotic search for a way out, the story is reminiscent of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, but with a broader cast of would-be heroes and children who struggle to make sense of this new world and their place in it.

The safety of a galaxy lies in these young hands and the choices they face to preserve it. Middle grade and older readers with a special interest in fantasy quests will find Aphotic a marvelous saga of courage, self-resilience, and change."

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Illustrations by Kate Huelsman. Graphic design by Warren Publishing.