Review: Daylight Chasers by Rue Sparks
Daylight Chasers went on my wish list the moment I saw it. Rue’s artwork for this little book was so striking, my gut told me it could only contain good things. My gut was very much correct.
At around 40 pages long, Daylight Chasers follows Keenan and his colleague Billy as they attempt to make Isabella’s dream of an almost never-ending day come true. It is not a story with a great and mysterious plot, but that’s not the book it was intended to be.
Instead, Rue has written a book about traversing grief, and the great jumble of emotions that come with it. Despite its dark subject matter, Daylight Chasers is littered with powerful images of joy, triumph and comfort.
At first, I was a little confused (but intrigued!) by the choice to tell the story from Keenan’s perspective, but the reason for this quickly became clear. His journey with Isabella is painted with bold strokes, and the bizarre and impossible scenarios they find themselves in act as a perfect metaphor for the sometimes alienating experience of watching someone learning to cope without a loved one.
As someone who’s experimented with the concept of ‘chasing daylight’ in writing myself, it was also really interesting to see how it was used in this book. I felt like it did an excellent job of representing the longing for things to never end and compulsion to run away from day-to-day life. It’s strange to think that standardised time – something that’s only really existed for 140 years – is now so engrained into the way we think, that abandoning it in fiction can be used to create a fluid and magical version of the reality we know. This Rue does masterfully, and I’d love to see how else they might apply this idea.
All in all, Daylight Chasers is a sweet and powerful. It’s a very heartfelt and careful expression of love and loss. I honestly can’t wait to read more from Rue Sparks.
If you’re interested in picking up a copy, you can find it on Amazon here in ebook and paperback formats.
Author Spotlight:
As mentioned earlier, Rue designed the cover for Daylight Chaser’s themself. On top of being a great author, they’re also an AMAZING artist. If reading is not your thing, you can check out their Etsy here, where they have prints, cards and commission slots. You can also follow their blog, subscribe to their newsletter and find all sorts of other goodies on their website here.
A Short Post-Amble
Hello! It’s been a while! Lots of ups and downs occurring, but I’m still writing away and surviving 2020, I promise!
I wanted to drop a quick note to say I’ve decided that I’d like to do more reviews of self-pubbed and indie-pubbed books. If you have a novella/novel you’d like me to look at, drop me a message. I’m particularly interested in science-fiction, but will read basically anything. Be aware, though, that I’m reading heckin’ slowly at the moment!
Love and Stars,
EM