An Excellent Story
5 out of 5 stars
I went into this one fresh off of it was announced that this was included in the 2022 Audie Awards Finalists list. Now, that’s a feat especially because one of the best books I read in 2021 was on that list and another one I wanted to read was in there. But I completely understand why this was nominated and made it that far. It was an unbelievably well-produced and done audiobook – especially for being independently done. I speak to this having read LOTS of audiobooks in my time.
Now, into the story. I think that Pastel Pink really jumped out at me as a social commentary without trying. The world that Harlow lives in is ruled by a class or a caste system that basically assigns people to jobs that match their colors. Granted these aren’t the colors that you and I are used to but they are pinks and purples and so on. Early in the book, she’s thrown into a different role and things just take off from there.
I think this is probably one of the more bold usages of this system in a science fiction book I’ve ever read. In hunger games, there were the different sections – but that was more of a regional issue – this seemed to be all in the same area, but separated them based purely on color and not ability or skill.
I liked the jumping back and forth between Zadok and Earth as well – and the jumping between the two different lives. Also, for an audiobook – the little notes that would say something like Harlow and Harlow as Ruby. It feels dumb to call out – but wow was that helpful. A book that jumps around like this one does can get confusing when reading on a page. Once you add in the audio portion it gets even more confusing. So, A+ usage of chapters to make sure that the different characters were called out even though they were narrated by different performers.
I also had a chuckle because early on I could feel the “love triangle” that a lot of YA books had – but this one felt like it was going to be done right. I won’t comment on what I thought after the opening parts as to not sway a reader – but I thought that Minty did it well without it feeling too cliche.
Overall, I really enjoyed Pastel Pink – Minty’s world and character building were top-notch. I can’t wait to dive more into the rest of the series to figure out what’s going to happen to the characters involved. Throw in the excellent narration that I touched on earlier, and this was easily one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a while.
Book Description:
