Colorless

De: Rita Stradling

Narrado por: Lauri Jo Daniels

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, 16-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 colorless. 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 100 years, the monks plan to unleash the dire wolves of old.

Their only target: Annabelle.

©2017 Rita Stradling (P)2017 Rita Stradling and Lauri Schroll

Caught me by surprise and kept me enraptured

This book was utter surprise for me. The summary made me curious so I gave it a try, and WHOA was it so very worth it!
The heroine is relatable and admirable, and the supporting characters are fleshed out and easy to love or hate.
We're not given detailed descriptions of how/why things are as they are, but that is just fine. We discover things as Annabelle discovers them, and we're presented idiosyncrasies of the world created by the author slowly.
Narrator was awesome too, she forced her voice a little for some of the masculine characters but did a wonderful job acting. I could tell the characters apart easily, and that was great!
I'm really looking forward to the sequel in audio, as I'd like to listen to all of the characters' voices again.

Colorless

What a story!From beginning to end there are surprises.Annabelles parents die and her life will never be the same.It is a journey story,a fairy type story and a Regent style love story.Read it! Lauri Jo Daniels is the perfect narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Enjoyable read

Interesting concept and world. Good character building and mystery. Would recommend for most ages.

Fantastic!

Any additional comments?

In this novel we are transported to a fantasy world of magic, religion and myths. The audiobook opens with a little bit of background information and the death of our main character, Annabelle's parents. Their death marks a huge turning point in her young life, a parent passing away is awful enough for a young child but in her case it becomes even worse. Annabelle begins to lose all of her colour - it literally drips off of her. To top it off anything she touches loses its own colour - her furniture, paintings - everything she holds dear. Slowly everyone forgets her and it is almost like she has never existed. What I found amazing was that animals could still recognize her presence and a few special people who want to help her.

The monks in this story are maddening and creepy. They make you feel angry and wish they would just leave Annabelle alone. She is fighting for her life against the monks and you want to be able to defend her every step of the way. You are constantly on the edge of your seat the whole book waiting to see what happens next for her.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel and I really enjoyed the narration of the characters. It was easy to identify by voice alone who was speaking and the narration really helped to bring the characters alive. The monks voices especially! They leave you with this yucky feeling and that you want to lash out at them on Annabelle's behalf.

This was a fantastic audiobook although the beginning left me a bit confused as I tried to follow the history, I would have loved to have known a bit more about the history and religious beliefs in the beginning but it doesn't affect your understanding of the novel throughout.

Imaginative and Original

Domengrad is a world where the four gods rule and magicians are worshiped. The magicians' monks rule over the congregation and teach the people to fear the gods and forsake the iconoclasts.

Lady Annabelle Klein thought her betrothal to her cousin Tony was the worst thing that could ever happen to her, but she's proven wrong one night when her parents are killed. After hearing the news of their death the next morning, she can only watch in horror as the color drains from her clothes, skin, and everything she touches. She becomes something she believed was only a myth, an Iconoclast.

After her transformation, Annabelle is not only invisible, she is forgotten. No one remembers she exists, not even her fiancee. She wanders the grounds of her home like a ghost, isolated from everyone she knows. Only a boy in the stables can see her, and he's drawn to help her as she searches to find out why this happened. But the monks know that there is an Iconoclast nearby, and they are relentless in their search to find and destroy her.

I thought this story was imaginative and original! The world itself was fascinating, a gritty contrast of dirty hovels and noble manors, buckets of body waste thrown into the streets and brilliant splashes of paint on canvas. The religion was creative, a god based religion controlled by the magicians and overseen by the monks. I loved the exploration of a genuine religion exploited for corrupt purposes. The monks themselves were a truly inspired creepy creation!

The cast of characters were well written. Annabelle was a strong resilient woman who consistently thought things through and cared about the people who served her. She was fiery yet vulnerable. Dylan's reputation with women brought up an interesting gender role reversal, and he shared a rare friendship with Jane. And Tony's story arc was wonderful, he quickly became my favorite layered character.

This isn't a book you can listen to with half a brain, I did spend most of the book wondering exactly what was going on. Rather than a series of large info dumps in the beginning, facts are slowly doled out throughout the story. By the end, the relationship between the gods, magicians, monks, iconoclasts, and dire wolves fit together solidly. It's really worth the listen.

The narration was done well, each character had their own distinct speaking voice that fit their personalities perfectly. They were consistent throughout the story. I thought it was a good match of story/narrator. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.