Daughter from the Dark by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko - 2Star (Read 2/10 to 6/6)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

This is a translated work from a Ukrainian husband and wife team.  I will admit up front that I think due to cultural differences, some of the book really was baffling to me.  There are social graces or norms, that are probably normal in the Ukrain, but are odd to a US reader.  For example the interaction with the teenagers in the first chapter had a lot of cultural nuances I felt I was missing.

Aspirin is a DJ and he finds a 10 year old girl, Alyona, on his doorstep. She says someone is looking for her. She won’t talk to him though and he leaves her, then he runs into some teenagers about a block away, who chase him with their dog. He goes back for the girl,  as they flee she tosses her teddy bear back into the alley and it kills the dog. Aspirin takes her home, he really doesn’t know what is happening or what else to do with her.  In the morning she refuses to leave.  Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother.  And her is where it gets a bit more confusing.  I think she is an Angel, but who she is, is never fully explained.Be aware there is a lot of cursing, like every other word.  Also there are very violent scenes when Alyona’s teddy bear defends her.

This book took me a long time to read. I put it down and came back to finish it almost 4 months after I started it.  I really couldn’t relate to the characters in the story line wasn’t as enthralling as it sounded in the description. I don’t think that it’s because of the authors, I think that it had to do with the translation. I feel like there was some sort of heart missing from the story. It was an OK story plot wise, and I like some of the interesting factors.