The One People find guidance to peace and unity in the pages of their book Tranquility. Drethene views the methods prescribed in the book as hurtful attempts to escape their diverse ancestry. Such pain is personal, as her parents aim to conceal how different she looks from the rest of their people.

Even her job keeps Drethene quiet and secluded. While working in the Academy library, she secretly reads histories used only to teach future leaders to loathe the past. Drethene is inspired by these books filled with cultural variety. When she discovers another world as part of her people’s heritage, a well established enemy is revealed, and she rises to meet the truth and save both worlds.

Now Drethene must convince the One People that their lives are not as tranquil as they seem. They are being hunted and must reunite with a sister-world that has been erased from their past. If they choose to remain in the comfort of their rewritten history and false sense of peace, they will be dragged into the maelstrom they have forgotten to fear.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man gets his eye ripped out because he is different. In the human world of Christa Conklin’s Tranquility, similar differences are not welcomed. Drethene is a young lady whose red eyes stand out, and although she tries to hide her differences, others view her with suspicion and find her guilty of a crime in which she had no part. This is an arresting setup, but the story intervenes to downplay any struggles; that is, whenever Drethene appears to be in serious trouble, something happens to keep her from have too rough of a time. In the world of Tranquility, conflict and tension defer to the pleasantries of picnics with fairies and merfolk.

Best for: Teens and young adults.

Discern: Possible confusion about the message difference between two religious books, the Tranquility and the Sacred Writ.