Font contrast - bright/dark

I figured it out! I didn't realize there were more settings to the general iPad brightness. When I hold it down, 3 modes pop up. If I turn on the Night Shift mode and lower the brightness, then when I'm in Apple Books, the font color isn't white anymore, it's got a tint to it, plus then lowering the brightness dulls it so it's so much easier on the eyes. It's the night shift mode that made it look like the old font color!

Thanks, but none of the themes change the font/text brightness, only the background. I read at night in the dark so I liked making the text very dim on the old version so it didn't hurt my eyes. This high-contrast is very dangerous for eye health so I can't believe they removed a way of adjusting the text brightness where we could make it fade into the background more and not be so black/white, sharp and overbearing high-contrast.

I've tried that, it's still not dulling down the text at all, changes the background but the text is still too bright. I miss the setting and layout of the old way. But thanks for trying to help ☺️

This is how I used to read it vs. now. It's very harsh on my eyes when I read in the dark. I want the circled control back.