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Book Synopsis:
When Ava Locke was 5 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.
My Review:
Everything that involves combat spells paints Augmentors and Shapers as peace-loving pacifists. Mentalists, though the information is vague and limited, are portrayed as the aggressors. It all feels one-sided. Does life work that way? Is any group of people all good or all bad?
4.5/5 stars. I loved a lot of things about Vivid. It has a unique concept, with a cool magic system and interesting world. There are also some great themes. The characters aren’t my favorite, but they’re interesting enough. As for the plot, it kept me pretty engaged the whole time with a few big twists. However, I did predict some aspects of the twist. There’s a small romance, which I wasn’t too invested in. All in all, I am looking forward to reading the sequel but don’t feel the need to pick it up immediately.
The most interesting part of this book to me is the magic system. I loved how each type of magic is represented by a different color, and each magic type relates to a different concept (the body, the physical world, and the mind). We see a little bit of how the different types interact, but I would be interested to see more of the cross-color dynamic, both fighting and working together. I also want to know more of the lore/backstory of how people get their color types. Some of those questions are answered, but there is still more to be explored.
Another great aspect is the underlying themes throughout. One theme is about how the winners write history. The people in charge choose how certain groups are portrayed in history and society, painting some as all good and others as all bad and ignoring nuance. That is an idea we see in our world today. Similarly, the book explores the idea of how anything can be used for good or for evil, and just because something has the potential for bad doesn’t mean it is inherently bad.
I have mixed feelings on the main characters. I liked the protagonist, Ava, although I did get frustrated by some of her decisions, especially later in the story. Elm, the other prominent character, starts out unlikable. I thought he was cocky and a bit obnoxious, and I didn’t like how unserious he was. He grew on me, but it took a while. I think the author is trying to make him charming, and he says and does sweet things, but something about his personality still rubbed me the wrong way. By the end, however, I liked him much more.
Vivid has an engaging plot. The pacing is great, never feeling too slow or too fast. There’s a major twist towards the end. I was able to figure out many details of it early on — not because it’s too predictable, but because the author does a good job of foreshadowing and hinting that not everything is as it seems. I think I figured out the twist earlier than I was supposed to, though. It’s revealed much later than I expected, and it results in some annoying character actions. I already knew what was really happening, so I could see how wrong some of Ava’s choices are. While I predicted some elements of the big twist, other aspects surprised me. My theory wasn’t 100% correct, and I was missing some details. The reveal still had enough new information I never guessed.
The ending resolves Vivid‘s major conflict enough to be satisfying but also leaves us with somewhere to go next. There is still more to be done and more world-building concepts to be explored. I am interested to see what happens in the sequel, but the ending didn’t leave me on a cliffhanger or shocking revelation that makes me feel like I have to pick up the next book right away.
Rated: Mild. No bad language; minimal kissing; a fair amount of violence, such as blood, wounds and injuries, death, murder, and kidnapping. Nothing is described in too much detail. A couple things to note are a scene where students cut themselves to practice healing, and a mention of someone wanting to end their life.
