I've never read any mythology fiction before but this book is the perfect place to start in my opinion! Some side notes: the book is written in British English (was published first with a UK publisher) and has a British narrator (Susan Momoko-Hingley) that does a good job, however, Sora isn’t British, so it was a little jarring and had to remind myself a few times while listening, so it was a minor distraction.

Since then, the hardest-hit areas have fractured into zones, each flowing at a different pace of time.Due to the devastation, as well as the time-anomalies, these zones are off-limits to anyone but a restricted few governmental scientists.

The timeline jumps back and forth through different periods of her life so the reader is putting the pieces together as they do.It’s not easy to pen a novel swimming in magical realism and dream-logic that is also highly influenced by science and philosophy- but that’s exactly what Clara Kumagai has done. But unlike most, they are studying time and the areas, venturing secretly in when no one is allowed.

while the main character Sora was in Tokyo) I genuinely had to force myself to keep reading and to stay invested. Sora grew up with the legend of the giant catfish that lives under the islands of Japan; a creature of magic and myth responsible for earthquakes and tsunami’s by flicks of its tail. Up until then, i was also quite annoyed by Sora because she just came off as a bland, no-personality character (which I thought was a pity since I was SUPPOSED to be able to relate to her quite a bit). I understood the basics of the whole time zones, but I think the terminology was little confusing and could have been a bit clearer overall. The prologue grabs with the first scene as Sora and her father experience the earthquake, and the world turns upside down around them.Her bestfriend, the only friend she had, Koki, would be pursuing his studies in Tokyo and leaving her too. A father and daughter are left puzzled and intrigued by the unusual and mysterious shaking, which causes the mother to disappear.

That catfish took everything dear to Sora: her beloved home, her sense of happiness, and most devastating of all, her mother. Whilst she struggles to socially connect with her peers, she discovers a unique ability to travel in and out of the zones, able to feel the distinct shifts in time. The way the zones warp time is very similar to the effects that grief can have on our perception- and memory of time. View image in fullscreen Simon James Green, author of the ‘timely’ Boy Like Me, photographed at home in south London. This would appeal well to readers that love a slower pace story with some magic realism and digging deeper into Japanese mythology and culture, but not if you need an epic fantastical “save the world” plot, but you’ll get something out of it if this is for you.Inspired by the fate of Penelope’s maids in Homer’s The Odyssey, this is a lavish epic of power, vengeance, love and fate.