The beginning of The Colour of Her Magic starts with hope. Erin, a humble chicken farmer, is ready to take on the impossible and free the Princess of Undersunne from the cruel reign of the High Sorcerer. But nothing is what it seems.
A reader reached out to me saying “they nearly put the book down on the first chapter because they were so taken aback when they read about Erin’s mum’s lost arm“.
It is confronting when you expect a nice farmhouse scene and suddenly you read that the characters have been maimed. It is uncomfortable to realise that the cruel world these people live in has left permanent, visible scars. It can be a surprise, and not a nice one.
But it gives reason as to why Erin decides to take on the task of rescuing the Princess. She has seen her family, her district, her neighbours, all go through terrible times, and she wants to do something about it. She wants to change what they have, so that no more people have to suffer as her family and friends have suffered.
But Caro! This is a book for young adults. Isn’t it too confronting? Won’t they be repelled by this quietly grim situation?
To that I answer no. All worlds, and ours is certainly no exception, have their own examples of darkness in everyday life that appear, scars from cruelty and trauma that shows, or worse, does not show. Many young adults read to escape, and to read a world that has terrible secrets can seem like you’re replacing one thing for another, and yet the difference is that you know the character is going to act on what is around them. You know there is going to be some hope, and that alone can push you past that initial WHOA factor and into the story.
The Colour of Her Magic starts with hope. Erin has seen some terrible things, but she is willing to step up and do what is right to change the world around her, and that is worth reading about.
