“Secrets Come in Every Shade
After the introduction of Yellow magic in a society accustomed to only Red and Blue magic, the world inside the barrier has become more complicated than anyone imagined. Ava, Elm, and the former students of Prism navigate life in hiding. They face discord, secrets, betrayal, and danger that looms ever closer as the Benefactors narrow in on their hideaway.
Ava is determined to keep everyone protected, even at the cost of her own safety. She explores dangerous aspects of her new Mentalist abilities—against Elm’s dire warnings.
Tensions escalate when a new visitor arrives claiming to know a way out of the barrier. While this may be the only way to escape the Benefactors, what awaits them on the outside? Will they gain allies or make an entirely new set of enemies?”
Series: Book #2 in “The Color Theory” series. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- N/A;
*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 can summon 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 (including to deceive) and go into someone’s dreams; 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); Ava and other Yellow magic users are able to control someone’s mind or putting a suggestion in their mind to do something and create illusions; Ava goes into someone’s dreams & it has side effects (including seeing someone turn into “bloody nothingness”, barely-above-not-detailed on that and elsewise is up to semi-detailed); At one point, Ava struggles with the fact that those with Red magic (like her) could be the most powerful (*Spoiler* This is the side effect of going into someone’s dreams who has this opinion *End of Spoiler*); The school was indoctrinating and controlling the minds of their students; A few mentions of Elm liking to cook with a big black cauldron as it feels “mysterious”; A couple mentions of luck; A couple mentions of evil; A mention of someone’s devil-may-care attitude; A mention of the air in a place feeling magical.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dang it’, a ‘give a rip’, a ‘my word’, a ‘shoot’, two forms of ‘blast’, two forms of ‘heck’, two ‘idiot’s, two ‘shut up’s, four forms of ‘dumb’, nine ‘stupid’s, and ten ‘drat’s; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling; Being attacked, Fighting, Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Being locked in a prison; Seeing someone being attacked and injured by those with Yellow magic in a dream & that person injuring another in self-defense (recalling events that happened, up to semi-detailed); Ava and the group steal food to survive (she feels guilt about it, but as it’s the only option for them to get food other than to turn themselves in, she deals with the guilt and that maybe someday when everything is over, she will return to the story and repay what they took); Ava isn’t sure if betraying the bad guys “really counts as betrayal” but Elm says it does and is his favorite betrayal; Ava lies to keep secrets (a few times); Some of the group wants to kill the Benefactors for what they’ve done, but Ava struggles with that thought (*Spoiler* While at first she agrees, she changes her mind at the last minute because she can’t do that, even if it’s for the greater good because she doesn’t “want the weight of any lost life if [she] can help it”*End of Spoiler*); Going to a club & seeing others having fun (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of wars, rebellions, battles, people being captured, & murders/deaths; Mentions of others being held captive, tortured, murdered, & threatened (for their magic, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a body tearing spell & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of the possibility of someone getting seriously hurt or killed when messing with different magic; Mentions of fighting, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of attacks & vandalism; Mentions of a prison; Mentions of people disappearing; Mentions of stealing & stolen items; Mentions of lies, lying, & deceit; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of a club, tattoos, piercings, & someone having a fizzy drink and looking relaxed; A handful of mentions of grief (for a mother, for a normal childhood, & parents for their child/children); A few mentions of abusive parents (including a mother making her daughter punish her brother for breaking something); A few mentions of criminals & crimes; A few mentions of an analogy about a sheep being taken down by a pack of wolves; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of how some places have tried to commit genocide towards those with Yellow magic; A mention of a nightmare;
*Note: Mentions of mental illnesses (it’s said that mental illnesses were treated before with medicines and therapies, but “those were genetic and situational issues” and that the doctors who work with magic haven’t been able to fix a person’s mind *Spoiler* But they are able to heal Ava’s mental distress which was a side effect for using her magic in someone’s dream *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of prejudice towards those with Yellow magic; A couple mentions of a place being like a haunted house; A mention of Elm’s parents taking his mother’s name as their family name.
Sexual Content- A blown kiss, a forehead kiss, an almost (barely-above-not-detailed) kiss, five barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Jealousy; Seeing a couple embrace & kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of touches, embraces, dancing, & hand holding; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of crushes;
Some love, being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of a girl wearing a too-tight shirt; A mention of butting into a conversation.
-Ava Locke, age 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.}
Soooooo….when is the third book coming out?
(Please don’t say next year, I beg you.)
Compared to the first book, this second book fell short, but by the end I enjoyed it. I think my enjoyment was affected mainly because Ava annoyed me a lot more, to be honest. The character development took a while and I’m not going to lie, it was painful until we finally got there. It definitely had more YA angst than the first book. Unlike how I was expecting, there was no love triangle in this book, though, so yay for that!
As far as the magic and those elements, I do feel uncomfortable with Ava and the others using their powers to lie or get those on the villain’s side to do what they want (via their magic powers). Ava feels bad about it at times, but deems that it’s for the “greater good”. Which to be frankly honest, I don’t know how I would handle all of this if I was her, but I’m not a big fan of that phrase to begin with.
The magic system isn’t perfect in my opinion—but it could be my non-fantasy brain’s fault—and there was a few times that it felt like “magic” was the answer to whatever question, which I felt during the first book as well. I wish it was a little more fleshed out and detailed to be able to easily understand it, but can you explain magic well? I’m not sure. Some events and plans were a bit too easy for our main characters, however this book is barely 300 pages, so that makes sense, I guess.
All that said, it’s definitely an angsty YA book that some might like and others be annoyed at. But I’m curious to see what will happen next so I’m looking forward to the next book for sure!
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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