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.

Meg promised she would do anything if only her friend would awaken from his coma.¹ Now she is being put to the test in her world of the gray earth, where healing comes only by magic and at great cost. In Sky of Seven Colors, Rachelle Nelson weaves a fantasy whose familiar elements like magical races, otherworldly portals and chosen ones are colored by vivid descriptions and bright variations. Gray earth proves a fascinating and authentic place whose people are drawn with sharpness and complexity. Written prophecy suggests a sacred text, and characters discuss the purposes of the unnamed giver. Some may feel unconvinced by the villain’s defeat, yet Sky of Seven Colors paints an enchantingly imaginative story.

Best for: Fans of young-adult fantasy.

Discern: Mostly mild violence, characters show carelessness that leads to a severe accident, an adult plots to marry a seventeen-year-old girl, someone else joins a wedding but doesn’t intend to live as married, implied extramarital sexual relationships, and one ambiguous situation suggests bigamy or adultery.