Colorworld Readalong: Colorworld Chapters 1-11

Hey all, Dani here.

Oh man, I’m excited and nervous about starting this blog series today. This is a book series that has meant so much to me for so many years, and my desire to talk about it just keeps going. It’s like how there are people out there who talk about the Shadowhunter books non-stop, or how there are still some people out there who can and will go on-and-on about Harry Potter. We all just want to talk and discuss and gush about these books that have had such an impact on our lives.

So I’m hosting a readalong for the Colorworld book series. This event will actually take us through the rest of 2020, which gives us all something to look forward to. Hopefully we’ll get to finish this readalong by reading Waterworld, Volume 4, which should be coming out at the end of 2020. Then we’ll all get to wait together for Waterworld, Volumes 5 and 6, and then the final book in the series…which I don’t know the name of yet. I know I’m excited to read these books again, this time with other readers, both old and new to the series.

Colorworld is 352 pages long (the original version anyway) with 45 chapters total. There is also an illustrated edition, the e-book, or the audiobook. I do definitely recommend listening to this book if you are someone who enjoys audiobooks. The voice actor cast is absolutely incredible. This first book just features Todd Haberkorn and Cherami Leigh, but they have also added Brittney Karbowski, David Wald, and Chiemeri Osemele.

The readalong for June 1-June 29 will cover Colorworld, the first book of the series. I’ll have the book details below the cover image.

And you can check out my post with the full readalong details here.

June 1-8: ———Read Chapters 1-11

June 8-15: ——-Read Chapters 12-22

June 15-22: —–Read Chapters 23-33

June 22-29: —–Read Chapters 34-Epilogue

Wen knows what love looks like. Since her mom died over a year ago, she’s seen it every day on her orphaned younger brother’s face. Wen’s made good on her promise to her mom that she’d take care of Ezra, even quitting her carefree party-girl ways to become a hard-working college student so she can provide for him.

Wen knows what love feels like, too. Because when she touches people, she feels what they do. “Uniquely perceptive” is what her mom called it, and Wen’s not going to argue; she doesn’t know any different.

But an energy therapy study changes not only what Wen knows about her unusual gift; it also changes her. Now, instead of feeling emotions, her touch brings death to others. No one is safe around her, especially Ezra.

Wen turns to energy healers for help. And that’s where she meets him: Mr. Tenacious and Audacious, Gabe Dumas. He knows about love, too; he speaks it in ways Wen has never experienced. And he’s never even touched her.

With her heart unraveling, Wen discovers a world only she can see. It may offer hope for her condition… or it may be better left hidden. *Intended for 16 and up

Be warned…the rest of the post (and the comments) are likely to contain a deeper discussion of the story, including potential spoilers.

Chapters 1-11

1. We meet a lot of characters in these opening chapters (Wendy, Ezra, Dina, Randy, Gabe, Louise, Letty, Robert, Kaylen). What are your first impressions of them?
2. Thoughts on Wendy’s first energy therapy session from Chapter 5 and the effects of the session as detailed in Chapter 6?
3. This series as a whole deals with a lot of life-force abilities. Wendy asks Louise about the rarity of natural abilities, and Louise responds by saying that most are so subtle that they wouldn’t be noticed. Let’s be a little silly, fun, and personable with this one…do you have any skills that are heightened beyond the average?

From the beginning, I loved Wendy and Ezra’s sibling relationship. Yes, Wendy has put herself under a whole lot of pressure and it causes her to sometimes panic and be ridiculous, but Ezra balances that out with his humor and geeky moments. We get very little of Gabe here in the beginning, so aside from judging him from Wendy’s lusty observations, I don’t feel like I can say all that much in regards to him just yet. Dina, Randy, and Louise can all be filed in the informative but dodgy category. They are the ones with more information about what is happening than Wendy does, but they aren’t telling her that much, which just ends up being frustrating. Okay, yes, any more information from them, particularly from Randy or Louise, and it would definitely venture into info-dumping territory. But it does make me want to keep reading to find out more. What about you? Actually, I think Robert could potentially be filed under dodgy, though mysterious would probably be more appropriate. We only get the letter, a brief phone call, and then a single chapter of an in-person meeting and that’s it. I feel like there’s a lot more to learn with him. Finally there’s Kaylen, who does seem like a typical teenager, and honestly she seems like the perfect welcome wagon for the Pneumatikon compound.

What did you guys think of that first energy session? I’ve read it a few times and listened to it when I made my way through the audiobooks, and honestly the deep breathing and relaxation techniques did sound quite soothing and relaxing. I mean, just laying down and relaxing for 30-60 minutes and get paid for it? I would have jumped on that kind of job and easy money too. But you can tell when the sensations from being under hypno-touch start to get more overbearing and severe. Reading Wendy’s experience as she begins to hear and smell and feel things more intensely was that moment as a reader of thinking “Okay, now it’s getting good.” And that thought isn’t wrong at all. Because after the soothing calm of hypno-touch in Chapter 5, we go into the destructive aftermath that is Chapter 6. This is where Dina touches Wendy and then falls down dead. You can just feel Wendy’s panic as she tries to figure out what is going on, because at this point she knows nothing and can only react on feeling and instinct. But she’s a 19 year old young woman and she’s freaking out. And moments after experiencing Dina’s demise, Wendy has to watch as Derek has a negative reaction to touching her as well.

The book summary talks about Wendy walking into an energy therapy session and walking out with death touch, so that’s not even a spoiler moment. But reading it in a summary versus actually reading the experience is something completely on a different level. From here on out Wendy has to adjust to a vastly different lifestyle, and she ends up becoming hyper-aware of how casually people touch others, and in true Wendy fashion based on what we know of her already, she worries and panics about the possibility of having someone accidentally touch her, and having to experience their deaths. It is a rather intense knowledge and realization to carry around.

On this fun and silly side of talking about our talents, I don’t exactly know what to say for myself. I have a weird memory for random details regarding books/movies/TV shows, and at one point I had like 4 different library card numbers memorized. I’ve also learned to play a bunch of musical instruments (flute, piccolo, oboe, and I taught myself piano, a little trombone, a little guitar, a little harmonica, and I’m working on learning ocarina and bagpipes). Does that count as an above-average skill?

I can read a lot, and quickly. I’m already up to like 130 books read for the year, but I think my reading speed is a product of a lifetime of practice reading, and not some particular talent. When I do 24 Hour Readathons I tend to read like 8-10 books in that time. I just really enjoy reading.

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All right, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these first chapters in the comments. Feel free to pose your own questions for the rest of us participants as well.

Oh…and take a photo of you and your copy of any of the Colorworld series and post it on social media, tagging @colorworldbooks, and ask to join the ColorworldLive VIP group on Facebook. I’m also hosting a weekly Colorworld book video chat on Wednesdays from 7 pm – 9 pm Eastern time.