Sky of Seven Colors

by Rachelle Nelson

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798886050585
Publisher:	Enclave Publishing
Publication date:	08/08/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	423,797
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Rachelle Nelson grew up reading fantasy novels and getting her clothes muddy in the pine forests of Idaho. These days, she still loves hiking through mountains and libraries, though she is a bit less fond of mud. She doesn't write true stories, but she writes about truth. When Rachelle is not reading and writing, she sings in a band with her talented husband, who makes her happier than should be legal. If you like adventures, good food, and honest conversations, you are her favorite kind of person.

Editorial Reviews

06/26/2023

After her best friend and crush, Andrew, falls into a coma following a hiking incident, 17-year-old Meg returns to the woods where it happened. There, she encounters a pair of gray-skinned giants from a parallel fantasy world who claim they’ve summoned her to fulfill a prophecy: their monarch must take a human bride to revive his magic and save their people from a terrible fate. Hopeful that the king might be able to heal Andrew, Meg agrees to help them. Upon entering their world, she finds a stark, monochrome realm, where her chestnut hair and “eyes of hue” are uniquely prized. But the air is slowly poisoning her (“humans weren’t created for our earth,” the giants explain), and she can’t return to her world on her own; the only thing keeping her alive is her stern, inscrutable betrothed’s healing magic. Now she must find a way to awaken Andrew without marrying the king, who holds her life in his hands. Via evocative prose, Nelson skillfully portrays the unsettling world and its deep sense of place and history. Themes of love, loyalty, and sacrifice reverberate throughout this quietly gratifying debut. Human characters cue as white. Ages 13–up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Rachelle Nelson weaves a fantasy whose familiar elements like magical races, otherworldly portals and chosen ones are colored by vivid descriptions and bright variations. 
 

Lorehaven

2023-05-24
Seventeen-year-old Meg has already lost her mother, and now she is about to lose her best friend, Andrew, to college.

But Meg never imagined that she might lose her whole world. When a terrible accident leaves Andrew clinging to life by a thread, Meg is blindsided by grief and guilt. Hiking back to the site of the accident—where Andrew at last confessed his love for her—she is suddenly transported to a space between worlds, unable to return to her own. Trapped in a strange, colorless land among giants who believe she is the key to the salvation of their kind, Meg must fight to save those she loves, possibly even at the expense of her own life. Ironically, the bookends of the narrative set in the human world feel less vivid than the gray world of the giants. There’s something ineffably beautiful about the whimsical and wild fantasy world and culture Nelson has created. Meg is an interesting narrator, defined more by her circumstances and choices (or lack thereof) than her personality, though her stubborn determination to remain true to herself and her principles makes it easy to root for her. Her struggle for personal autonomy in a world that has stripped her of it will ring painfully true for many young readers. Supporting characters are vividly portrayed: alien without falling into caricature. Meg and Andrew are cued White.

A wonderfully strange debut. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews