My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fantastic modern fantasy where the lines between an artist's webcomic and real life blur and crossover.
The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee is author Ellen Oh's magical story of a young artist drawn into her own webcomic with unforeseen results. With relatable characters experiencing extraordinary situations in a remarkable setting, I was riveted to the story from start to finish.
High school senior Mina Lee is a talented artist stymied in her desire to attend art school after graduation rather than going to college and preparing for what, in her father's mind, is a more practical future. Mina's artist mother had passed away a couple of years earlier, and both father and daughter are still grieving her loss. Mina's father has thrown himself into work and business travel, leaving Mina alone often. Mina misses both her mother and her father but is a capable young woman with a good head on her shoulders with definite goals. She hopes a successful webcomic will help convince her father of the merit of allowing her to follow her dream.Mina is surrounded by a diverse group of friends and classmates in both her reality and the webcomic. There are a variety of personalities and physical types for readers to meet, especially in her alternate timeline, and the magical powers they display there are imaginative.
The author is a wonderfully skilled storyteller, and she clearly conveys the intricacies of an alternate timeline: the mechanics, the collateral effects, and the rules of the new world, so I had no trouble understanding the action. The technical aspects were never overwhelming and were easy to follow. The grief the various characters experienced felt so authentic that some scenes were emotional reading. On the other hand, it was fun seeing the different storyline tropes identified and put into action as the story progressed. I thought the resolution/epilogue was amazing and was left wondering if there might not be more to this story in the future.The plot involves some serious scenarios, such as the death of a parent, the death of a child, and an abandoned child. These may be hard-hitting for younger readers or those sensitive to these situations. I recommend THE COLLIDING WORLD OF MINA LEE to upper middle-grade, young adult, and adult readers of fantasy fiction.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.