Sunlight and Shadow: A Retelling of "The Magic Flute" (Once Upon A Time)

Reader reviewed by Lynette

        Sunlight and Shadow is an excellent romance/adventure that truly touches the heart. With an excellent sense of humor, and a satisfyingly happy ending, as well as several twists of plot; it makes for a fairly simulating read. It presents the point of view of several main characters without disorientating the reader. The story its self is wonderful, with strong female characters that combine both traditional and contemporary views, and music that is described so well that you can almost hear it for your self. All in all it has unique characters, a great plot, and a happy ending that ties the who thing together.

A Great Read.
92.833% Recommendation

Reader reviewed by Alli-chu

 Pamina the Queen of the Night and Sarastro is the Mage of the Day are joined together Moon and sun,wife and husband.They are both stubborn,even more when their Daughter Pamina(mina for short) is born.The king and queen came to an agreement ,For the first 16 years of her life she would be raised by her mother and the night,but the day she turns 16 her father would take her and find her a husband and introduce her to the kingdom.

Mina has never talked to her father and has only seen him from afar.For when she was born her parents agreed that her father was not to look apon her,see her, or speak to her untill the day of her 16th birthday. The night before the set time Sarastro takes his daughter and  leaves his wife heartbroken.In order to save her daughter she must find a husband that will love her daughter for who she really is and not force her to marry someone not of her choice.....what will happen??

I loved this book, i love fairytales.I recommend this book and give it a 5out of 5.

Reader reviewed by EshInoBi

Uhm, well, liked this book... uhm, well... . The
characters were very nice to be with and very detailed, but it just
sort of dragged on through a very long start. Mina, short for Pamina,
lives with her mother, the Queen of Dark, until the day of her 16th
birthday, when her father, the King of Light (or something like that)
is supposed to take her to get a husband. However, her father breaks
the agreement and gets her the day before her 16th birthday to be
married to his assistant, who I think was named Helos or Helios or
something lighty like that. xP Anyways, she becomes really good friends
with this other girl who is jealous of her because the other girl likes
Helios/Helos/whatever, but they become friends and help each other.
With the help of the ringing of bells from Mina's friend, Lapin, she
finds her true love and they go through trials to prove their love.
Those parts were a bit... cheesy.

Reader reviewed by artemis

I had high hopes for this one, I really did. But after reading this, I was very disappointed. The so-called remake of "The Magic Flute" didn't really fit well in novel form. The opera itself was amazing--it's nearly impossible to turn it into a book. The cover is pretty and the whole night-day-sun-moon thing was really cool. But I felt the story was lacking something. The shifting characters and their point of views got really annoying.

You can predict everything by the book's end. This didn't really wow me and I was bored at times. The romances are a bit much--they focus more on other characters instead of just the two main ones. By the middle of the story, they're easy to forget since they're pushed in the back. Not enjoyable. The Magic Flute is way better.

Reader reviewed by Mandy

This was the first Cameron Dokey book I've read and it makes me want to pick up the others and read them as well. I've always loved a good fantasy romance book and this was what I was looking for. Sunlight And Shadow is a great tale that is much like the world. There are evils in the world, but they have reasons for appearing evil to us. Also it shows how separation affects your children even if she wasn't trying to teach us that.

You can't force someone to do something they won't, like Mina wouldn't allow her father to. The real meaning of home caught my eye, and I think it's very true. You can live in any house, but it's only a dwelling place. It's not a real home. I would tell anyone who loves fantasy books to read this and hope to get others that she's written. Keep up the good work Cameron Dokey!

Reader reviewed by Ria

Pamina is the Queen of the Night and Sarastro is the Mage of the Day. When they got married, they had a daughter, Mina. The two had made a deal saying that Mina would stay with her mother until her 16th birthday, when she would go live with her father for the very first time.

On the fateful night before her birthday, Mina and her mother had ventured over close to her fathers dwelling so that Mina could learn about the father she had never met. But Lord Sarastro broke his promise and took Mina before the appointed date.

Lord Sarastro had been planning to wed Mina to the man of his choosing, Statos. There was a proclamation saying that the whole world would be changed when Mina got married. To get revenge, Queen Pamina enlisted the help of Lupin, a longtime friend and servant of both Mina and her mother. Lupin has a special skill, for when he plays his special set of bells, he can call forth the person who he is meant to be with by playing the song in his heart. But Lupin is asked to play the song of Minas heart to find her one true love. A prince by the name of Tern answers the call.

But Mina has her own plans. Aided by Gayna, the foster daughter of Lord Sarastro, Mina runs away. Mina runs into Lupin and Tern, but unfortunately, Tern and Mina are caught by the Kings men. Lord Sarastro offers Tern a deal, if he can survive the fires of hell, he can marry Mina. Mina demands to go along with her prince. Its up to Gayna and Lupin to find a way to save them.

I thought that this was the best book in the series. Sunlight and Shadow was a great retelling of a fairy tale that I hadnt known about before. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what character was speaking in the beginning, but it was easy to figure out once you started reading. Once I started reading this, I couldnt stop. This was a great fairy tale and I recommend this to everyone, even if you disliked the other books in the series. Sunlight and Shadow is definitely worth reading.