Tagged: ever
Evermore by Alyson Noël
(Cover picture courtesy of Alyson Noël’s website.)
After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people’s auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone’s entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact to suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school — but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.
Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He’s the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head – wielding a magic so intense, it’s as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she’s left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is – or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she’s falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.
For a couple of years now I’ve seen Evermore floating across the blogosphere but dismissed it because the blurb sounded so ridiculously cliché. I mean, a near death experience, a girl with a weird name, a mysterious wealthy boy and soul mates? I don’t think you can possibly fit more clichés into one blurb if you tried. Still, I saw it in the used section of my bookstore when it was having its closing sale so I decided to pick it up anyway. For $2 it wasn’t much of a gamble I’ll admit.
Imagine my surprise when it was better than I expected! I actually sort of enjoyed reading it and wanted to know what happened next. The plot was pretty cliché but I was actually invested in the characters who were somewhat genre-savvy. Ever knows that it’s kind of crazy to be attracted to a guy she just met and that there’s obviously something off about him but she just can’t deny that attraction. She’s not totally naive and eventually she realizes she’s making excuses for why Damen is so different from other teenagers. Sure, she’s stupid sometimes but I like how she’s not your typical YA heroine simply because she does question things.
And yes, Ever does have psychic powers but Alyson Noël made them a burden more than a gift. Her senses are constantly overloaded and she tries her best to avoid touching people because when she does she’s tortured by their thoughts. Her psychic abilities are actually more of a disability in that they really do weigh her down and make her unable to function sometimes (and not just when it’s convenient to the plot). I can completely understand Ever’s little pity party toward the end of the novel; I’d probably end up doing the same thing if I had her curse.
Some of the plot twists were fairly transparent while others were unexpected. Alyson Noël hasn’t really done much new but at least she took the time to put some twists on old tropes. We don’t really get to see much of the abilities of immortals in this novel but we do see some and they were enough to make me want to read the second book in the series. Is this the most original novel ever? Heck no. But it’s not a bad novel and I actually didn’t mind indulging in a little guilty pleasure this time around. Basically, if you’re going to read it keep in mind that this will likely be guilty pleasure rather than high literature and that’s perfectly okay.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Ever by Gail Carson Levine
(Cover picture courtesy of Life Simplified.)
Falling in love is easy…
…for Kezi, a beautiful mortal, dancer, and rug weaver, and for Olus, Akkan god of the winds. Their love brings Kezi the strength to fight her fate, and it gives Olus the strength to confront his fears. Together—and apart—they encounter spiders with webs of iron, the cruel lord of the land of the dead, the mysterious god of destiny, and the tests of the Akkan gods. If they succeed, they will be together; but if they fail, Olus will have to endure the ultimate loss, and Kezi will have to make the supreme sacrifice.
Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens. Her story of love, fate, and belief is spellbinding.
Based on Mesopotamia, the world Gail Carson Levine has created in Ever is a nice chance after reading a lot of Euro-centric fantasy lately. It follows that familiar mythic structure you find all around the world while still remaining free of too much cliché. When you enter the world of Kezi and Olus, you realize just how much effort Gail Carson Levine put into world-building because of the social structure, religion and history we learn throughout the novel.
One of my main problems with the novel is that I couldn’t really connect with Kezi or Olus. I know I am far from the target age group of Ever, but even so, I should have been able to connect with them on some emotional level, but I couldn’t. As they struggled through their challenges, I really found myself not caring what happened to either of them. To me, they seemed like flat, one dimensional characters, even though common sense says they shouldn’t because of their believable motivations and backstories. Perhaps it is just me who couldn’t connect with the characters (it wouldn’t be the first time), but it’s something to keep in mind.
Ever is told from the points of view of both Kezi and Olus, which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that Gail Carson Levine writes such short chapters. It doesn’t build suspense when it’s done this way; it’s simply annoying and more than a little bit confusing. Yes, I know it’s an ages 10 and up book, but give your readers some credit here! The shortest chapter I saw was one line and one paragraph long (chapter 53, by the way). Now that is getting ridiculous, don’t you think?
I give this book 2.5/5 stars.