“In a strange part of the forest, the divide between worlds grows thin.
After the accident, Meg would do anything to wake her best friend from his deadly coma. At least, that’s what she whispered into the woodland shadows. She never imagined her wish would trap her in a gray other-earth, void of any color.
Meg's vibrant humanity is a priceless artifact in the gray kingdom, coveted by the royal court. All she wants to do is find a way back home. Until she discovers the other-earth contains healing powers that can save her friend. But only if Meg becomes what the gray people need—a human bride for Kalmus, the powerful king of the capital city.
With her heart torn between earths, Meg’s choices may cost more than she knows.”
Series: No, a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- Meg thanks God once; In a scary situation, Meg says a prayer for someone to be okay even though “[her] prayers had [never] been answered before” & repeats it again, noting that she tried that before when her mom was sick [and it didn’t help]; When Meg views herself through another’s grey eyes, she notes that she looks like “a fairy. An angel. Or worse”; It’s said that the gifts and the Writings of the other world come from an unseen power who was alive long before the current Croppers and Regents were born (all of the ‘H’s are not capital when referring to this unseen giver); Meg wonders if the giver of the Writings can see the future and could see her as well, so she whispers a thank you;
*Note: The word ‘magic’ is not said in this book, but there are “gifts” in the other world that Meg goes to & the people there use their gifts to heal injuries, move objects, make others sleep, grow plants quickly, & make a blind person see again (all of these are on-page and most are used on Meg, up to semi-detailed); After the accident, Meg has dreams of a voice in the forest and goes back there; When she gets there, she hears two voices and something touch her which makes her unable to move and pass out (this is the two voices bringing her with them to the thin meeting place of the earths & it causes her pain, partially due to the poison in the air; The poison continues to affect her throughout the book and she thinks she is going to die a couple of times because of it); In the other world, there are Croppers who handle the crops and can sing to use their gifts & Regents who are the leaders and use their gifts in other ways; Both of these are much taller than humans and Meg calls them giants often; The Croppers sing a song honoring the ones they are eating with before eating; The Croppers have a hibernation-like event which their Regent king blesses them with that can last many years; In that world, there are The Writings which are revered & has a prophecy that some believe to be about Meg (it is said that words of The Writings came from the same source that gave the Croppers and the Regents their gifts); The longer Meg is in the other world, the more of her memories of home disappear; Meg is told that the Regent king could heal Andrew (*Major Spoilers* But he never does; Towards the end, Meg, with the help of another, uses all of the color in her hair to heal Andrew and her hair turns white *End of Major Spoilers*); The King of the other world is able to read Meg’s mind, so she constantly tries to keep a wall up to keep him from doing it; The King also tries to call items over from Meg’s world into the other world (*Spoilers* Later, he shares with Meg his plan to be able to bring over human girls like her so that his kind can marry human girls as they can have more children they the females of his kind; Meg is horrified by this idea because it means that other girls will be kidnapped and held prisoner like her; Towards the end, Meg learns that the king’s gifts have been breaking away from him due to him twisting the purpose of the gifts *End of Spoilers*); The Regent King has special gifts that are supposed to be used to help his people and the Queen Regent would have special ones as well (*Major Spoilers* Because Meg is unable to receive the gifts because of being a human, the king believes he will receive both; Meg is able to call the king’s gifts and another’s gifts to her and use them for what she wants, however, due to her color attracting the gifts; Towards the end, during the ceremony to call the Queen’s Gift to the king in place of Meg, it causes Meg major pain and she feels like she is going to die; The second attempt also causes major pain, but she tries to fight against the pain of the gifts which causes a viewer of the ceremony to be badly hurt and his leg ripped off; Meg takes the gifts and controls them to heal the viewer, but he is still missing a leg and will be unable to walk (all of this up to semi-detailed) *End of Major Spoilers*; The palace of the Regent king has halls that change and move depending on who is walking through them and their intent; A gifted tool is used to find the book on the topic the user wishes to know about; Meg is still about to feel connected to Andrew in the other world & speaks to him through his dreams; *Major Spoilers* At the very end, Meg goes back to the place where the original thin area of the earths was and is able to go back to her world *End of Major Spoilers*; Many mentions of other earths, thin places where the earths meet, & crossing over; Mentions of miracles (regarding to things happening thanks to the gifts of those in the other world); Mentions of prophecies; Mentions of rumors about ghosts & ghost stories (but Meg says she isn’t the kind of person who believes in ghosts); A few mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of the number seven being a blessed number; A mention of someone in the other world “seek[ing] the spirits in the mountains”; A mention of the long life of those in the other world originally being a curse; A mention of a children’s story about giants eating the bones of humans.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: An ‘idiot’, two ‘dumb’s, and six ‘stupid’s; Lies & Lying (due to keep secrets, including from untrustworthy characters); Meg also tries to eavesdrop but is unable to; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Nearly dying, Stabbing someone, Being kidnapped/taken, Feeling like a prisoner and being locked in a room, Being poisoned, Being choked, Pain (including major pain that Meg calls torture), Injuries, Blood/bleeding, Passing out, Being chased, & Running away (semi-detailed); Witnessing a death & blood (semi-detailed); Seeing someone with his leg ripped off & badly bleeding (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Seeing someone fall multiple feet, become unconscious, be in a coma, & bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a youth also fall from many feet (up to semi-detailed); Meg’s mother passed away prior to the book starting from cancer & Meg is grieving (including comments about her difficulty being in the hospital for someone else); Meg feels like a prisoner in the other world and like a possession of the king; Meg is given a alcohol-like drink and told it will help her be carefree (she doesn’t take another sip after the first one); Mentions of deaths, grief, someone in a coma, & the strong possibility of someone dying; Mentions of kidnappings (including Meg’s own); Mentions of criminals, thieves, & stealing; Mentions of injuries, blood/bleeding, & pain (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol-like drinks & drunken behavior after having too much of it; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deceit; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of possible wars & slavery; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A couple mentions of someone struggling with phantom pain after losing a limb; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of a rumor of a man taking his life after his wife’s death;
*Note: Meg asks the Regent King if couples in his world ever split up if their marriage isn’t working and the King says that would be a failure, so Meg adds that “Marriage isn’t easy for a human either. If life’s short, you don’t want to waste it on the wrong person.”; Some prejudice from the Regents towards the Croppers (because they believe themselves to be better than them); A few mentions of Meg and Andrew calling their hikes “tree therapy”.
Sexual Content- A barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Flutters, Warmth, & Nearness (including many unwanted ones, barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Meg wants to be more than just friends with Andrew because she loves him; In the other world, Meg faces many comments from others about her bearing children for the king after their marriage, including from him (which makes her think that her body won’t be her own, that humans and Regents have had children before so they “weren’t completely different” from each other, other Regents touch her abdomen and bless her, & later Meg feels like someone else is talking about her like she is an animal “meant for breeding” and only wants her for her fertility); Meg wonders if after the ceremony, will the king and her being expected to sleep in the same room (also thinking about how he wants children, but she hasn’t promised anything to him beyond the ceremony); After noticing that Meg has been unable to sleep, the king wants to use his gift to put her to rest, but Meg doesn’t want to be alone with him in her bedroom (she goes to put on her most modest nightgown and covers herself with blankets on the bed; He only touches her forehead); The king makes a comment about wanting to be alone with Meg [at night], but it doesn’t happen; The king often touches Meg and finds any reason to touch her; A female Regent shares about having the chance to have a “time” with the King (which did not result in her hopes of a child; no details besides this wording); *Major Spoilers* Towards the end, Meg discovers that the prior Queen isn’t dead, but that the king had her locked in a tower and stared rumors about her death, so he could get the Queen’s gift for himself by marrying a human girl like Meg (which would be bigamy in Meg’s world, but is never said in the book) *End of Major Spoilers*; A Cropper says that her kind do not have children as fast as humans, so Meg teases and says she should get started then; Mentions of jealousy; A mention of wanting to kiss someone; A mention of an adult man probably being at his girlfriend’s place for the night;
*Note: Meg is put into dresses that she is uncomfortable in due to them hugging her curves and chest, their low necklines, showing her shoulders and thighs, & low backs (the Regent king stares at her when she wears some of these dresses & one of them is very revealing for her tastes); Meg notes her chest has always been fuller than she liked; A mention of having the usual weird dream of going to school and realizing you’re naked; A mention of most Regent men having the “secret fantasy” of having a human wife.
-Meg, age 16-17
1st person P.O.V. of Meg
368 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I start off a lot of my reviews of fantasy books with “it was…interesting”. Some take that to mean that I didn’t enjoy it, but I usually mean it in the way that the book was different than I expected or imagined. That’s definitely the case with this book. It was different. Interesting in some ways, but I’m also disappointed by the ending.
Going back to the beginning: I was surprisedly interested in this book shortly after starting it. I say surprisedly because while I’ve read a lot of fantasy books in recent years, portal fantasy books are always the ones my brain has a 404 error code about. They just don’t make sense to me—other earths and thin areas between them? Yeah, no, that’s super-duper fantasy talk to me. I think it would be fair to call this book high fantasy because of it? I’m not sure.
Despite my reservations about those elements, this book was written in a very simple and easy to read way. Perhaps it was because of the first-person POV, but I was able to follow along and actually read the book in less than a day in hopes of getting my reunion scene I wanted for Meg.
Which brings me back to the ending: I feel a little jipped by it. I was waiting for those scenes basically the entire book and there was barely anything? I try not to do spoilers in my final thoughts, but I’m going to have to for this book: *Major Spoilers* I needed way more of Meg and Andrew together at last! Having the last chapter be a single page, five years later and on their wedding day was so not enough for me. I wanted to know what she told him, how she explained her disappearance, the odd language she was speaking, how her hair was white, how she adjusted back, etc. There was no reactions or discussions except her writing out that she loves him. I assume her memories of her life came back in those five years, but how did they explain it to everyone? That she was held by a crazy cult? That would be more believable than the whole “other worlds” theory, I would think. But we get nothing and I’m honestly very disappointed and dissatisfied by it. *End of Major Spoilers* I was leaning to a personal rating of 3.5 stars, but with the ending, it became a 3 for me, I suppose. I was left with more questions than answers and I find myself grumbling when a book does that to me.
You could argue and say there was some very light, indirect references to God, but unless you’re looking for it, I don’t think you would pick it up. The books I’ve read by this publisher are often this way, so I was expecting to find some light hints to Christianity. I would personally call this book Clean Fiction rather than Christian Fiction. Usually, I wouldn’t review Clean Fiction books on BFCG, but because I don’t know until I start reading an Enclave book if there will be any Christian content, I often go ahead and review them on here anyway.
All of my minor dissatisfactions aside, I greatly appreciate that the main character, Meg, of this book doesn’t end up with the brooding creep. A reader can quickly tell he is manipulating her for her colors, but we’re not quite sure if he is a morally grey (no pun intended) male lead or not. I was more than ready to get rid of him, personally. I appreciate that she didn’t fall for him and it’s not a romance between them as I’ve had enough books lately where I don’t like the male lead or love interest options.
As I’ve finished this book, I’m struggling to find the point of this book. Maybe there wasn’t so much of a point rather than just an experience/escape through the fantasy elements. Because there were no Christian faith elements, though, it’s difficult for me to rate it for BFCG. I would suggest ages 15/16+, but only if the reader goes in aware that this book is on the cleaner side with no faith content.
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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