Colorless | Review

Greetings readers!

With school starting, blogging and I have been very far from each other, writing reviews is almost at a minimum. Still I have responsibilities so I must meet those!

First, let me tell you about the #struggle in writing this review. If you didn’t know I’m Canadian and in Canada we spell colourless with a U! And writing this entire review was tough because I would try to spell it the American way, forget and then remember and well I just gave up altogether in trying! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So if you see a mix of both….oops.

Colorless by Rita Stradling

via Goodreads

In Domengrad, there are rules all must live by: Fear the Gods. Worship the Magicians. Forsake the Iconoclasts.

To Annabelle Klein, the rules laid down by the Magicians are the mere ramblings of stuffy old men. As far as she’s concerned, the historic Iconoclasts, heretics who nearly destroyed the Magicians so long ago, are nothing but myth. She has much more important matters to worry about.

Heiress to a manor mortgaged down to its candlesticks and betrothed to her loathsome cousin, sixteen-year-old Annabelle doubts the gods could forsake her more.

Then Annabelle is informed of her parents’ sudden and simultaneous deaths, and all of the pigment drips out of her skin and hair, leaving her colourless. Within moments, Annabelle is invisible and forgotten by all who know her.

Living like a wraith in her own home, Annabelle discovers that to regain her color she must solve the mystery behind her parents’ murders and her strange transformation.

Meanwhile, hundreds of the Magicians’ monks, with their all-black eyes and conjoined minds, have usurped control of Annabelle’s family manor. An Iconoclast is rumored to be about—a person who they claim goes unseen, unheard, and lost to memory, yet is the greatest threat to all of Domengrad. For the first time in a hundred years, the monks plan to unleash the dire wolves of old.

*I was provided a free digital copy from the Publisher via Net Galley. This in no way affects my opinion!*

First of all: Cover = Gorgeous. Secondly, the synopsis of this book really intrigued me. I mean a person who had no colour, who was invisible, but still very much alive! Hello intrigue. I liked this book, it was not what I was expecting especially with the whole magical system and religion, but there were a few things that I felt it was missing.

What I liked

Characters:

Annabelle: She was a good MC. She had to learn how to navigate herself in a society that couldn’t see her but was desperately trying to hunt her down. She was tough and a thorough thinker in her plans….they might not have always gone as planned but at least she thought them through! I liked that she was stubborn and a hard head but still believed she was ever so patient and what was “lady like” in her time. She was not outstandingly amazing, but she wasn’t completely annoying either. And easy medium really.

Dylan: Again nothing utterly amazing about him, but he did add a lot of humour and mystery as well. I don’t know exactly how I feel about him in terms of putting him at boy toy level…or just not. He was a renowned “rake” to many of the maids of the stable, but he wasn’t a complete asshole. How do I put this into words…he was tired of being perceived as solely a sex object and wanted to he treated as someone who has feelings and wanted a real relationship. Yeah….something like that. Well he fought his “rake” title, but good reputation is hard to build!

Other characters… There were Dylan’s brothers who added more mystery and intrigue. As the only people (plus their grandmother) who could see Annabelle without her colour they had to figure out ways to help her. One brother was slightly less inclined to help and often caused a hard time for our poor, colourless Annabelle. There was also Tony who actually was an asshole but for *reasons* so we kind of forgive him…?

Descriptions & Settings: The world that Annabelle lived in was really set out. Despite the fact that she was colourless, everything else was filled with colour and there were very beautiful descriptions of the scenery and people. Even when she became colourless I could clearly visualize the colour melting off of her as it was described so I really enjoyed that.

Those Snippets of Religious Text: What I really liked is that there were mini paragraphs every few chapters that explained some of the gods that were mentioned in this book. It gave insight into exactly what was being dealt with which I liked, especially since the gods aren’t really present in the story so we get to know them through other means. It also added more structure to the society that the characters were living in and what the beliefs of the people were.

What I Disliked:

A Whole Lot of Confusion: I was thoroughly confused at some parts of the story. I knew that the monks were bad and that they had the people very controlled with the magicians and fear of the gods. Still why did the author need to add in these wolves? *But Rendz they are mentioned in the synopsis* BUT I DON’T GET IT! Where did they come from? How is it that you are chosen to become a dire wolf? Like why are they relevant? To chase down the iconoclasts? Okay…and…? My second complaint. These iconoclasts, so they lose colour…okay. I’m following. How come only some can see them? Annabelle’s transformation into being colourless still confuses me!! I still don’t get why they are so evil in the eyes of the magicians. I know why the magicians are evil but still their motives for targeting the colourless confuses me.

And don’t even get me started with the printing press. I didn’t get that, not at all.

Memorability: Even though the story was super cool and there were some intriguing elements, the story fell flat in being memorable. Like it’s been a few days and I’m already starting to forget character names,  events that are important parts of the plot. Maybe that’s why I’m having such a hard time answering those questions! It’s just not sticking to me and I wish it would because the ending was left open for a possible sequel….but I don’t exactly recall the actual ending of the book.

Yikes.

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Overall, I did enjoy the book in the moment. It was magical, mysterious and very twisty. I did enjoy the magical elements and some of the more suspenseful events. Not to mention those monks were insanely creepy, but if I’m honest this book had me hooked in the moment not the moments after…sigh.

Rating: 2.75-3 / 5 Stars (In the moment 3…in the moments after 2.75)

Recommend: Sure. (Actually can someone read it and then explain things to me? Thanks)

Let me know what you think! How good are you at remembering stories? If you read this one, what did you think?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz