3 out of 4 stars
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What if your dream world suddenly became a reality? How would you handle being asked to fight for a people that are not your own? Would you risk everything you know and love to help someone that couldn’t help themselves? How could you use your talents and abilities to help those around you? These questions and more, are answered in The World of Ato by Patrick Borosky. Borosky creates a world where there are dragons, knights, witches, kings, and evil creatures. He weaves a story that draws the reader in from the very beginning and keeps them hooked.
The story’s main character is Ato. Ato is a strong young girl who is living on her own because her parents have disappeared. She loves nothing more than to create beautiful art. Ato spends most of her time in her house on the hill, in her art studio painting. She loves creating so much that she often goes deeply into her own little world and forgets all about the outside world and the people in it. The other thing that Ato loves doing is going on adventures with her friend Reed. She uses these adventures to find more inspiration for her art work. Ato carries some of her favorite art supplies with her to record what they see. One day, while out exploring the Vale forest, Ato falls into a deep cavern. It is in this cavern that she meets an unlikely friend and her adventure truly begins. Ato and her new friend Iro have so much in common that their friendship is inevitable. Their mutual respect for each other deepens as their stories intertwine. They find that they need each other.
In The World of Ato the author delves into some deep subjects, but he does so in a way that doesn’t seem overwhelming. Ato deals with her parents’ disappearance and comes to terms with the fact that they may never come back. Other characters must work through their pre-conceived ideas about people who are different from them. The story line speaks to the dangers of letting sadness, hopelessness, and anger take over our lives. Ato is constantly placed in situations where she must decide whether or not to do what she feels is right. People are often trying to persuade her to do otherwise.
The World of Ato also shows the deeper meaning of art. Ato pulls inspiration for her paintings from so many different places. One of those places is her dream world. When Ato has a vivid dream about a place, she wakes up and hurries to paint it on canvas before the world fades from her mind. Despite the beauty of Ato’s paintings, she always feels like they are missing something. To anyone else her paintings would be beautiful pictures of otherworldly places. To Ato they always seem to be lacking something that she can’t quite put her finger on. Her friend Iro helps her to see that art is subjective. One person can look at a painting and see hope. Another person can look at the same painting and see only despair. Our inner worlds influence our experience. Sometimes what the artist wants people to see is never seen by anyone. Even while painting, the picture may change as the artist creates it. What they thought they were creating becomes something drastically different by the end.
I highly recommend The World of Ato to anyone who enjoys a story about adventure or fantasy worlds. When I first started reading this book, I thought that it would only be appealing to young adults. As the book progressed, I saw that adults would enjoy it as well. Patrick Borosky’s story telling abilities immerse the reader in a world unlike any other. I wanted to give The World of Ato 4 out of 4 stars. The story draws you in from the beginning. You find yourself in a world that you want to explore and know more about. The characters are very well written. Ato will inspire you to be a better person and make your dreams a reality. The only other thing that could have made this book better is if there were illustrations. Even without illustrations, you can easily imagine the colors, the people, the settings, and the smells in Ato’s world. The author’s descriptions of Ato’s paintings and the places she finds herself in, are so vivid. If I could, I would rate this book 3.8 out of 4 stars. There are several mistakes throughout the book that kept me from giving it the full 4 stars, but I feel like the story is much better than 3 stars. My official rating for The World of Ato by Patrick Borosky is 3 out of 4 stars. I would love to read a sequel to this book.
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The World of Ato
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