I saw this book recommended months ago, so I can't remember where. At the time, I requested it from our library and all three of my younger kids read it (14, 12, and 10 years old). Then I started recommending it, but decided I really needed to read it myself.
It's a middle grade fantasy novel in which some people wield unexpected powers, set in a world the inside flap calls "Thai-inspired." A young boy escapes from prison but has to return to his city to learn who he really is. It raises questions about justice, mercy, forgiveness, and love.
A wise Buddhist monk in the book asks, "Is happiness the goal of a person's life?"
Later, when the girl, Nok, is trying to arrest the boy, Pong, she argues:
You don't get to break the law just because you think it's not fair. You don't get to just decide for yourself what's right and what's wrong!"
And he responds, "Then who does?" And suddenly, a question that might surface in a meaningless classroom debate startles her for a moment out of her comfortable convictions.
In the end, it is only by looking for what is good and bright in the world that we can make anything better.
It's also a deliciously fun book to read.
There are some mystical elements, and the only religion portrayed is Buddhism, or a semblance of it. I don't know enough about Buddhism to judge how accurate it is. An extramarital affair is a part of the plot, though it is something that happened in the past and is portrayed as a terrible mistake.
I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I checked the book out from the library. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.
