We’re back to YA fantasy this week. This one was published by my favorite name in Christian fantasy: Enclave Publishing! And it’s from a new author, which makes it even more exciting.
Title: Vivid
Series: Color Theory
Author: Ashley Bustamante
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 4/5 stars
Overview: What a sweet little story! I won this book in a giveaway (which is awesome, because I’ve never won a giveaway before), and I was excited to begin reading it. The cover was enchanting and mysterious, and the concept of a magic system based on color was most intriguing. The story quickly drew me in, leaving me eager to continue it every time I had to put it down.
Characters: I really liked Ava! She’s such a cute heroine, unsure of herself but also confident in her abilities. She was quite relatable and overall just fun to read about. It was a delight to experience the story from her perspective. Elm was definitely my favorite, though. He was so sweet and caring and just all-out adorable. I’d love to have him for a little brother. The villains are the kind of people you love to hate. They were well-written and believable, not exactly your typical maniacal villains. Their firm belief that they were doing the right thing made them even more frightening.
Content: The romance is clean; just a couple of undetailed kisses. It’s really sweet. No bad language, either. There are three or four uses of “darn.”
Writing: First person present needs to become a thing of the past. I will never understand why that’s still in vogue. But since it seems to be unavoidable these days, this book does a good job with it. Bustamante’s descriptions are vivid (see what I did there?), and it’s easy to visualize the world. She keeps the action going from the first page, and even the temporary lulls serve their purpose. I guessed the plot twist, but that’s only because everything was foreshadowed so well. It was one of those where I was excited to have guessed right instead of rolling my eyes at how predictable the twist was.
Summary: Enclave Publishing continues to impress me with their high-quality speculative fiction books arising from a biblical worldview. Vivid is no exception. These characters pulled me into their lives, and I’m left anticipating the sequel. Fans of dystopian, original fantasy aged 12+ will find much to love in this book.
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