Mirrorscape is a novel by MIke Wilks.

Plot:
Mel is a poor boy with a big talent: he can draw. That’s why he is recruited as an apprentice to one of the greatest artists around. Mel is excited, not only because it means moving to the big city, but it also means that he will finally be allowed to use color, since pigment is strictly limited as a Pleasure by the Fifth Mystery. But trouble is brewing in Mel’s world and as he enters the world of paintings – quite literally – he gets more and more drawn into said trouble.

Mirrorscape starts with a couple of interesting ideas but unfortunately doesn’t manage to handle them very well. The writing feels like the author confused “written for children” with “written for stupid people” – which is especially annoying when you read it as an adult.

I read a lot of young adult literature, and Mirrorscape is written more for the preteen than actual teen audience (despite being really long for that crowd). And I can see children enjoying the story. It is well-placed and there are enough creative ideas to keep it exciting.

But honestly so much of it was just a little insulting to the reader’s intelligence, no matter the age. Everything that could be inferred from context is pointed out explicitely and often more than once. Other things – as the political system or how the apprenticeship works – are superficially explained and then handwaved away. The plot twists and turns where announced too loudly, the characters too stereotypical and without any development.

Plus, Wilks spends a lot of time describing paintings, and honestly it just made me want to have illustrations instead of lengthy and a little boring descriptions. Especially since everytime he talks about art, I could see the teacher inside of him putting on his glasses and starting to lecture the reader. Not interested, thank you very much.

I also hated that there was practically only one female character in the entire book – Wren,  a friend of Mel’s – who is artistically just as talented (or almost as much because there was so much protagonist SPESHULness, it was hard to stand), but of course, girls are not allowed to be painters. Even if this institutional discrimination is overcome in the end (at least for Wren), is it really so hard to imagine a world where that just wouldn’t be an issue? Just like that?

It just feels like the book is made up of missed opportunities, mostly character (development) opportunities and wordlbuilding opportunities.

Summarizing: Eh. Let’s just not.