REVIEW: "Radiant" by Ashley Bustamante
About the Book:
✦ Title: Radiant
✦ Author: Ashley Bustamante
✦ Genre: YA romance fantasy (marketed as Christian but no faith content)
✦ Series: Book #2 in the Color Theory trilogy
✦ Recommend for: 14/15+
My Personal Rating
3.5 ⭐
📖 Synopsis
Secrets Come in Every Shade
After the introduction of Yellow magic in a society accustomed to only Red and Blue magic, the world inside the barrier has become more complicated than anyone imagined. Ava, Elm, and the former students of Prism navigate life in hiding. They face discord, secrets, betrayal, and danger that looms ever closer as the Benefactors narrow in on their hideaway.
Ava is determined to keep everyone protected, even at the cost of her own safety. She explores dangerous aspects of her new Mentalist abilities—against Elm’s dire warnings.
Tensions escalate when a new visitor arrives claiming to know a way out of the barrier. While this may be the only way to escape the Benefactors, what awaits them on the outside? Will they gain allies or make an entirely new set of enemies?
After the introduction of Yellow magic in a society accustomed to only Red and Blue magic, the world inside the barrier has become more complicated than anyone imagined. Ava, Elm, and the former students of Prism navigate life in hiding. They face discord, secrets, betrayal, and danger that looms ever closer as the Benefactors narrow in on their hideaway.
Ava is determined to keep everyone protected, even at the cost of her own safety. She explores dangerous aspects of her new Mentalist abilities—against Elm’s dire warnings.
Tensions escalate when a new visitor arrives claiming to know a way out of the barrier. While this may be the only way to escape the Benefactors, what awaits them on the outside? Will they gain allies or make an entirely new set of enemies?
💭 My thoughts
Not too many thoughts on this one, but it was a fun read. The romance was nice and Elm was great as always. The whole thing about them living in the Bermuda Triangle was a really interesting aspect, and though this book was a little slower compared to the first one, I did enjoy reading about the group's adventure outside of the Barrier.
I will say that I did NOT like Ava and her decision making. She seemed to be wholly driven by her feelings and emotions, and she definitely got on my nerves at times. Hopefully there'll be more character growth in the third book. Aside from that, the only other thing that annoyed me a bit was the moral grayness of Mentalists using their power to overpower their enemies...I'm really not sure how I feel about that yet, but maybe the third book will help with my qualms.
After that ending, I am extremely curious about where the story is going and need to read the third book as soon as possible!
⚠️ Some broad content notes
Minor "language" like blast and heck; up to semi-descriptive violence throughout; mentions of mental illnesses; a few non-detailed kisses; jealousy; color magic (for info about the magic in this series, see review for book 1.)
Bookishly yours,
Lottie M
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