“DANGER LURKS BEHIND EVERY COLOR
When Ava Locke was five years old, she began a journey to join the Benefactors—the leaders of the magical continent of Magus. Twelve years later, she unwittingly started down the road to betray them.
On Magus, where colors fuel magical abilities, yellow is banned in an effort to protect people from its mind-controlling capabilities. When a rogue Yellow magic-user named Elm escapes imprisonment, Ava becomes innocently fascinated with his story. Once this mysterious Elm shows up at her school, Ava pushes her interest to the next level by helping him evade the Benefactors. Ava grows increasingly conflicted as her intrigue leads her down a dark road of secrets about her world. As she learns more about Yellow magic’s potential to control its victims, Ava now must question whether her rash decisions are all her own or if someone else is pulling the strings.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Color Theory” series.
Spiritual Content- A mention of praying that someone doesn’t notice something;
*Note: There are magic and spells in this book: Everyone is classified into a type of color magic (Red, Blue, & Yellow) and have a special stone they wear to be able to draw from it’s power; When all three color magics are used together, it creates White Magic; Those with Yellow magic are able to get into someone’s head and plant suggestions to do something (similar to mind control and are able to permanently destroy someone’s mind) and also do illusions; Because of Yellow magic users’ abilities they have been outlawed/banned; It’s said that any magic can be dangerous and throughout the book, there’s those who use it for good and for evil (and for self-defense and priorly used in a war); Ava casts spells for agility, strength, & healing (for herself and others, up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of Ava wondering if destiny or “the hand of a higher power” is leading her down a certain path (later she wonders if it’s fate, even though she’s never believed in it before, but there has to be “something stronger at work”); A few mentions of someone being called a demon or that a group of people were demonized or considered to be evil; A few mentions of a man being called a devil & evil; A couple mentions of magicians; A mention of Ava feeling “reborn” after healing an injury; A mention of Ava trying to find a “grain of enlightenment” in books about a topic; A mention of a devil-may-care attitude; A mention of playing the devil’s advocate; A mention of Mother Nature.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘hush up’, a ‘shoot’, two ‘blasted’s, two forms of ‘darn’, three ‘drat’s, three forms of ‘idiot’, and ten ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling; Being tortured, Being attacked, Being held hostage, Fighting (including in a test, for self-defense, and fighting against a bear), Injuries, Pain, & Passing out (all up to semi-detailed); Vandalism, Stealing, & Lying (Ava to authority figures and to a school, *Spoiler* It turns out the adults at the school are lying about many things, so this behavior is deemed for the good *End of Spoiler*); Throwing up; Ava and some of the other Red Magic students have to cut themselves in a class to be able to learn how to heal (one girl struggles with it and passes out after seeing the blood, it’s said that “only in a healing class would this sort of mutilation ever be condoned”, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Ava wonders if Elm is going to kill her (a few times including a fight scene of him forcing her to hold a knife to her chest and warning her about Yellow magic, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Elm causes a woman’s (who was torturing Ava) mind to be destroyed (he didn’t want to do it, but lost control seeing Ava hurt; border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of a war, deaths, violence, & slaughters (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of murders/executions & a body-tearing spell (and someone seeing it happen to loved ones, Ava is shocked to learn about such a spell, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of criminals, crimes, & attacks; Mentions of vandalism & a break-in; Mentions of fighting, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of someone being held hostage for years; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deceit; A few mentions of suicides (some believe they are caused by those with Yellow magic); A few mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of Red Magic users doing dangerous things and their bodies not being able to handle it (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of vomit; A couple mentions of hunting; A mention of a hanging;
*Note: Ava stays with a family on holiday break, but an adult at her school tells her that they’re only taking care of her because she asked (which hurts Ava and she thinks about it again later); It’s said in a book about Yellow magic that for “every good deception, there is an inkling of truth”; Mentions of prejudice towards those with Yellow magic & hatred.
Sexual Content- About seven hand/finger kisses, a cheek kiss, two almost kisses, and two barely-above-not-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth/Heat, Nearness, Smelling, & Butterflies (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Elm changes his shirt in front of Ava, so she turns around & contemplates taking a peek or not (she does not, but does blush over it happening); A handful of mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends & dating; A couple mentions of some girls finding Elm (who has Yellow magic) attractive and saying they would be fine if he put them under a spell; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of a married couple kissing; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions.
-Ava Locke, age 17-18
1st person P.O.V. of Ava
304 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Ratings are based on content, not the magic elements as every family has different views on magic in books. Please do note our comment in the {} below on a possible trigger.}
I feel like I start off all of my YA Fantasy reviews with the word “interesting” in the first sentence, so I’ll try to avoid using it in this review. (Even though it fits perfectly.)
I love boarding school/academy books. I’m not sure what it is, but that instantly pulled me into this book and kept my attention. (The name Prism? As a school for learning about color magic? Brilliant. I loved it.)
There was some teen angst in this. That can be a positive or negative note for some. Some days I dislike it and other days I crave an angsty YA book. (Not sure why, actually. Hmm.)
Ava didn’t bother me much, though, I wish she would have thought things and plans through a bit more before jumping in since she didn’t always make the wisest decisions, but she’s seventeen. And it’s a YA book. I kind of expected that and gave her grace in those moments. Though, this was definitely one of those books where I don’t recommend doing what she’s doing because some of it aren’t the best ideas (but they work out fine because it’s fiction), but it was entertaining to read about.
There were a few parts where it felt like “magic” was the answer to how or why something happened, in the sense of things not being explained clearly. But I suppose that’s how it could be? It is magic after all. (The logical side of me wants real answers, though.)
I was a little disappointed that I was able to guess the twists I had heard other rave about, but I’ll chalk it up to reading a lot of dystopian books over the years.
About 50% in, I sent a request for the second book in this series, so needless to say, I’m looking forward to reading the next book soon. I do appreciate that this first book didn’t end on a cliffhanger, but a “there’s more to come” style.
{Trigger Note: There is one scene where those with Red magic have to cut themselves to be able to practice their healing magic. Ava has no problem cutting herself or healing the wound, but another girl struggles with it and Ava does the cutting for her. The girl passes out because of seeing blood and is treated by a Healer.}
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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