Friday, February 17, 2012

Query #40: "The Girl in the Mirror" by Sara (YA Fantasy)

This query is from Sara for the YA fantasy The Girl in the Mirror. Thank you, Sara, for the honour of allowing me to work on and post this!

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ORIGINAL QUERY

Daela Stark has no magic in her, a revelation which plunges her status from noble to the scrap on every beggar’s shoe. When she witnesses her half-brother’s kidnapping by an enemy long forgotten, no one believes her -- no one except Trey, her brother’s favorite smuggler and sometimes friend. But help is scarce, and even a coward who turned on his people’s faith to escape imprisonment is better than nothing.

With Trey as a guide, Daela tracks her brother into Ethra, the desolate world where Trey’s people have been incarcerated for centuries. There, they learn that the spell used to create Ethra has become unstable, and that the world itself is consuming its inhabitants. With death courting their every step, Daela finds herself growing closer to Trey, and must let go of her prejudices and realize that neither he nor his people are the vile monsters she’d grown up believing.

But getting into Ethra turns out to be the easy part. Now they have to get out, and Daela’s escape plan is still a work in progress. To make matters worse, Daela finds out that her brother’s kidnapper plans to sacrifice him in a dark ritual that will unravel the spell and free everyone from the lethal world. Daela must make a choice: let her brother die, or condemn a race she once despised to the same fate.

THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR is a 70,000 word YA fantasy with series potential.

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GOBLIN-EDIT

When Daela Stark witnesses her half-brother’s kidnapping by an enemy long forgotten, no one believes her except Trey, her brother’s favorite inter-dimensional smuggler.

With Trey as a guide, Daela tracks her brother into Ethra, the desolate world where Trey’s people have been incarcerated for centuries. She learns the spell used to create Ethra is unstable, and the world itself is consuming its inhabitants. Daela also realizes she's developing feelings for Trey, which makes her dilemma all the worse when she learns the kidnapper's plan is to sacrifice Daela's brother in a dark ritual that will unravel the spell and free everyone from Ethra. Daela can either let her brother die, or condemn Trey's people.

Even if she does the selfish thing, there's no guarantee she won't get Trey and her brother killed anyway. Getting into Ethra was the easy part. Daela hasn't admitted to anyone that her escape plan is still a work in progress.

THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR is a 70,000 word YA fantasy with series potential.


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