The Splintered Light

Johnson, Ginger. The Splintered Light. 2018. 404p. ISBN 978-1-68119-623-7. Available at FIC JOH on the library shelves.

Ishmael lives in a gray world. His life has been drab since twin tragedies struck his family. His father died when the well he was digging collapsed, while Luc, his older  brother, disappeared shortly afterwards. Life is always the same on their farm, and consists of hard work and too little food. His world completely changes when Ishmael catches glimpses of a strange color on one of the stall of the barn. With possibilities of a better world out there, Ishmael decides to leave the farm and search for his brother to bring him back home.

A door in a stone wall outside his village takes him to a new world, the Commons. The Commons is the space where all other worlds are created, and every sense is represented in a Hall. Ishmael finds his brother in the Hall of Hues, where all color apprentices reside. Other Halls include the Hall of Gustation, the Hall of Motions, and the Hall of Shapes. When the Commons produce a new door, one apprentice from each Hall are appointed to work together to create a new world, and will be it first residents. Luc has just completed his new world, and is ready to become one of the founders. Unfortunately, Ishmael causes Luc to miss the gate closing on his new world. Luc is now worldless, a condition that has never happened in the history of the Commons.

As Luc falls deeper in despair, Ishmael is appointed by the Hall of Hues to color a Jubilee World, an occasion that happens only once every twenty-five years. Angry at not being selected, Luc is determined to undermine the efforts of his brother’s team. Ishmael himself remains conflicted between returning home to help his mother, and heading out into this new world when it is finished. Facing demands from his past and an uncertain future with an increasingly irrational brother, Ishmael must decide whether a world with colors is worth sacrificing his old life.

The Splintered Light offers a unique fantasy world building by allowing Ishmael and his friends to build their own world. Fans of fantasy will appreciate the well-defined environment in which the Commons’ apprentices operate and the depth of details required to build a successful world.