REVIEW: Adora and the Distance

Adora is about a world on the approach towards its own apocalypse. The only thing that can save the world is a 9-yeard old named Adora, who must sacrifice herself to save her world from an entity known as the “Distance.”

Story Thus Far:

The story is centered around Adora, the adopted daughter of a Vizer. Each night in her dreams, she is haunted by the feeling of something try to hurt her. Her uncle consults the mystics and can determine that, an entity called ‘the Distance’ is coming for Adora. Legend says it is like a storm of dark that it will destroy anything its way.

To defend the city Adora devises a plan to flee the city before the Distance arrives. So, to aid her on the journey her uncle assembles a team of adventurers and soldiers to escort her to the end of the world.

Dialogue:

To put it bluntly, Adora thinks she’s grown! It starts out informational, but once the ball gets rolling the dialogue gets outlandish for a 9-year-old. Especially for one that has been trained in etiquette. Some of the moments meant to endear the character as wise and compassionate comes off as privileged, and sassy.

Script:

Geographically located in a classical Ottoman society, the story flows like an adventure fantasy more than an apocalyptic story. There are some campy moments, but not too preachy. but they are more confusing than anything else. There are 10 characters that we get to know, during the story, but ultimately, I hope there are some follow-up stories on these guys.

Adora and the Distance does well to escape a lot of tropes. Frankly, there have been lots of stories hoping to demonstrate how people with conditions like Adora endure. Most of these stories do not bring any insights into the state of modern disorder therapies and the how parent must hope on hope. At best, they have the unambitious aim of shocking readers into sympathy. The thing that will hit readers towards the end is the realization that this a book about a child and her world and not a children’s book.

ART:

I put the onus for Adora and the Distance, masquerading as a children’s book on the art team. The art was drawn by Ariela Kristantina and colored by Bryan Valenza. Great work all around, and way better than most of the adventure fantasy out there. But the art dismisses the other possible genres that this could fall under.