Darkness has come unto the land. What is left of earth’s civilization is concentrated into towns, reduced to living a life like that of the middle ages, but this is in the future. Demons have risen from beneath the surface of the earth and plunged humanity into a serf-like existence where modern comforts are only remembered by the oldest still living. The demon overlords of each village decide the “destiny” of every woman when she reaches twenty-one years of age. What befalls Athena, the protagonist, proves unexpected and monumental.
This is the setting for an interesting and personal journey as the tale is told entirely from Athena’s perspective. She is an inquisitive, stubborn, and practical young woman, and she never strays far from her ultimate goal – somehow restoring the light to the surface and hopefully displacing the despotic rule of the demons.
The story is intriguing and deals not only with these strange situations but also more mundane matters. It is all woven against the overwhelming backdrop of humanity’s new existence beneath its powerful masters. The story paints a picture of depth, even as it dances with cliché ideas that would be welcome in a fairy tale. I liked that these tropes were sometimes inverted or presented in a not so clean context. The tale is not clean; it is, just like life, complicated.
I will confess I grew somewhat impatient during some portions. The setting pulled me in with wonder as to what had happened and what would befall this poor girl. Things never calmed for her, but things sometimes felt tiresome. I will say that this was well indicative of Athena’s plight, though I did feel myself eager to get on with it.
As the story progressed, things changed, alarmingly, and we’re met with another sort of beginning. It does not take long for everything to become more and more threatening for our unique heroine, and though we are again met with a potential cliché in the end, things are not at all going to be left “happily ever after”. A tremendous revelation comes to light, and we’re shown how things will be very different and dangerous going forward. I am eager to continue the story in volume two.
Dance of the Butterfly 