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Aditi Khorana’s novel, Mirror in the Sky, is a journey through the life of scholarship high school student, Tara Krishnan. Tara was in the midst of an astounding discovery from NASA,  a message has been delivered from an alternate Earth, a few light years away, meaning that on this new Earth, there is a another version of Tara that she believes is living life better and is more fun and outgoing.

As more news about this mirrored life on “Terra Nova” emerges, Tara’s life begins to change drastically too. She unknowingly attracts the attention of the most popular group at her school and soon finds herself a member of the clique. The start of her junior year at Brierley, appears to be headed in a good direction. However, Tara soon realizes that not everything is what it seems. First, her mother comes to a decision that could tear her family apart. Additionally, Tara realizes that the perfect image the popular high school clique displays is not as perfect as it  seems. She is soon caught up in a whirlwind of deception, betrayal and hurt as the story unfolds.

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Mirror in the Sky is a novel that perfectly captures the feelings and emotions one would feel at the height of adolescence and the news of such life changing events. Khorana’s writing embodies the raw spirit and change that Tara experiences  throughout the year, from her highs to her lows. On that same note, it is exciting to see that Khorana strays  away from the typical protagonist and expertly portrays what it is like as a mixed, low income teen living in and attending a school in a predominantly Caucasian community. Khorana carefully helps us understand the issues of race, culture and class from the eyes of Tara, a young half-Indian and half-caucasian female navigating her way through her years at high school.

 

I really enjoyed reading this novel, but I would have loved to have more of an idea of what became of Terra Nova and how it affected everyone. I liked the cliffhanger effect, but I feel as though new information and updates about it abruptly ended near the last third floor the book and it never really concluded as to what it's effect was. I also feel like the book did not have a clear genre as there was a lot of science fiction and drama and mystery, so at times it was hard to really define a clear theme. In the end, however, all three of these genres were identified.

 

I found this book was very real and genuine even though it was a fictional material. Sometimes I do find that in fictional reads, the author tends to over exaggerate or display a false sense of reality to the reader. However, in Mirror in the Sky, I found that with most of the issues Tara and her friends were dealing with, except for the alternate Earth, the reader could really relate and make connections with her.

 

I believe that  this is a good read to anyone who likes science fiction and drama or who would like to know more about Terra Nova, the alternate Earth. Who do you think you would be on this mirrored Earth?

 

Rating: 8/10