I bought my own copy of this book and reviewed it for my stop on the blog tour at Donnie Darko Girl.
Love fantasy? Love epicness? How about parallel worlds? Then Orenda will be right up your alley. One of my bookish goals is reading all of Ruth Silver's books, and this is my second one by her. I recently read Dead Girl Walking and loved it. I'm happy to find out Orenda is the first in a series - when I initially added it to my to-be-read list, I thought it was a standalone - and after reading it in one sitting, I need more of Lil and Willow.
Lil thought she was having a dream when she finds herself in an alternate reality - she's still in her house but her family photographs have been replaced with pictures of her with a little boy. No photos of her parents or sister can be found. She's can't find her parents or her sister anywhere. When she wakes up, a small clue leads her to believe it was more than just a dream, and she's right.
It's up to Lil to save Willow in Orenda, the world parallel to Lil's, and if she doesn't, her own world will be in danger, too. I can understand her trepidation in helping out virtual strangers in a world she didn't know existed until a day or two ago. I think for me, I probably would have been like, "Yeah, let's go beat that demon sorceress!" I'm always looking for adventure though - one of the reasons I love reading and losing myself in books. I've never read about a demon sorceress, so that was fresh and original - and I LOVED IT!
When Lil finds out her friend Bray has been kidnapped along with Willow, I admired her for taking up training with a sword to make the rescue. I love reading about romance, adventure, and kick ass characters, and Lil and Willow are definitely both kick ass ladies.
While the pacing was a bit quick for me, I still enjoyed Orenda immensely. It was a breath of fresh air, and I can't wait for more!
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