theestherhadassah's review against another edition
5.0
5 of 5 stars! I am not usually into the reincarnation kind of plot, but the way the author twisted it and how it was written, she had me sold from the start! I was up and down. People! Gabriel was my favorite from the moment he was introduced. C.J. . . . He is as slimy as his ancient self. I skipped ahead . . . there came a point where the author makes you believe the opposite of what you were led to believe, and I wanted to give myself some reassurance, because I was about to lose my mind over the fact that this character might not be what I expected, and then it all turned out fine. But I can solemnly that I shall never skip ahead EVER again.For those of you who visit my blog, and know when I am this excited about a book, I go visual crazy. I might have visualized Gabriel and Annabeth so easily while reading. So, here is the cast I see in my head. I did not visualize C.J. . . probably because he had someone's else's body. . .
My full review can be read HERE. Warning: There are spoilers in the post.
dani_reviews's review against another edition
2.0
See this review in its natural environment, Dani Reviews Things.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book in any way.Rating: 2.5 stars
Annabeth Neverending is a young adult paranormal historical romance. Yes, that is a lot of genres. Narrated in first person present tense by Annabeth, interspersed between flashbacks to her previous life as Ana, daughter of Ramses II, it tells of a girl's struggle between two guys that follow her from lifetime to lifetime. The premise and subject matter set my expectations rather high, and I'm sorry to say that they were not met, as the story lacked consistency, coherence and believability. I ended up skim-reading from about a third of the way through until the end. The romance was a bit too cheesy and like insta-love for my liking, even given the circumstances. I did enjoy the history lessons, though!
Best and worst
The best thing about this book: I learned a lot about the time of Ramses II and was inspired to look up more!
The worst thing about this book: The plot jumps from idea to idea without proper development or consistency.
First impressions
I don't know if I've shared this with you yet, but I had a serious thing for ancient civilisations growing up. I loooooved Social Studies in 6th grade, as we spent the year learning about civilisations like the Babylonians, the Roman Empire and...yup, Ancient Egypt. I also still love playing the computer game Pharaoh. (It's a city builder, and I have yet to enjoy a game like it.) SOOOO this book popping up in my emails was a no-brainer. Give me some of that Egyptian history mixed with YA PNR!
So what did I expect going into this?
- A little bit of an education (or maybe a refresher in my case)
- A love triangle
- Magic!
And yes, I totally went into this rooting for the dark, magical guy. I feel like this is obvious given my history with paranormal/fantasy guys. (Aldrik, Damon, Spike...the list goes on...)
Plot
Days before her 16th birthday, Annabeth begins her job as a salesgirl for her neighbour's flea market stall. While wandering the market during a break, she is drawn to a pendant – a gold ankh – and buys it from a clueless owner for pittance. Holding the pendant, Annabeth is transported back to Ancient Egypt in the body of Ana, a daughter of the Pharaoh Ramses. Through a series of trips, she learns of Sethe – Ana's slave bodyguard and object of her forbidden affections – and Kha – a high priest advisor to the Pharaoh, who also happens to practice dark magic.
Back in present day, Annabeth is set up by her neighbour to meet Gabriel, her new coworker and 17-year-old college student (he's a genius). Funny thing is, Gabriel looks a lot like Kha...and his brother happens to look identical to Sethe. Torn between the feelings she experiences through Ana for Sethe and her own growing feelings for Gabriel, Annabeth isn't sure which of the brother's she should want. If she's Ana, does that make Gabriel a reincarnated evil sorceror? Or does the past have no bearing on the present?
Final impressions
The story was written from the first person perspective of Annabeth using present tense. This doesn't always work for stories, but I could appreciate its value in this book, as it allowed us insight into her thoughts, feelings and reactions.
The book had potential, but it could have used some more editing, and not just from the author. The plot was like an old rope bridge with broken and missing boards. I felt like I was jumping from idea to idea. One second, Annabeth has had her first flashback and has met Gabriel, the next she's learned and accepted that she's reincarnated and that she cares about Gabriel after two dates and a week.
Everything was too quickly developed and accepted, making the story a little more difficult to digest. Annabeth too easily figured out she was a reincarnated Ana and then didn't appropriately freak out. She then easily shared her theory with her neighbour within days of her first flashback. Within a week, she was already discussing with her neighbour that she cared about Gabriel after only two dates and that she wanted to be with him.
And let's not forget that Gabriel, at the age of 4, watched his mother die and could philosophise about death and reincarnation at such a young age. Instead of that being a natural, believable thing for him to do as a toddler, it was clear it was just a convenient factoid to throw in so he could disagree with Annabeth about reincarnation.
I can only imagine how the book came to be. The author came up with her plot outline and decided that Annabeth would develop feelings for Gabriel. She then simply wrote out these things without giving them a chance to fully develop. Instead of a smoothly flowing story with conflict and slowly growing relationships, the story jumped ahead from bullet point to bullet point in the outline. That or the story was written in chunks and then stuck together without having someone else read for consistency. (I feel like I've been doing this a lot recently, but...authors, I'm here to help do these checks before you publish your story!) There were so many twists, and I'm sad that they couldn't be more fully realised, as the potential for a great story and great romance was there!
I would say my favourite aspect of the book were the tidbits about Ancient Egypt. Ana was a daughter of Pharaoh Ramses II, who reigned from 1279-1213 BC. While reading about her experiences, I couldn't help continuously looking up more about the things she mentions, like her father, the temple where she first sees Kha practicing magic (which is at Abu Simbel, FYI) and the Sed festival.
In the end, while I enjoyed the gist of the book, it didn't quite meet my expectations in execution. It would have benefited from an editor to address the problems with consistency and believability. That being said, it was certainly an interesting idea, especially with the history lessons, and I'll be following the author to see what else she comes up with!
writetoexpress's review against another edition
1.0
NetGalley Review
I had such high hopes for this book. There are many books about Egyptian mythology; however, in the young adult community, your options are limited. I couldn't wait to begin reading this book. The premise, history, and characters sounded appealing. The story had great potential, just not enough editing, world building, and character development.
Immediately, it is obvious that Anna and Gabriel were going to end up together. For one, Annabeth couldn't get over his 'deviously handsome' looks. We first meet Gabriel after Annabeth's first strange vision. Waking up in his arms, she doesn't seem to mind the fact that she had just fainted and neither does anyone else. How long was she out for? Why is no one concerned?
Another thing that aggravated me was the dull writing style, lack of solicited words, and detailed descriptions and actions. Short and simple sentences carry the characters actions throughout the book. They are often followed by a blatantly obvious observation. For example, after Annabeth's uncritical fainting spell, Gabriel drives her home.
I had such high hopes for this book. There are many books about Egyptian mythology; however, in the young adult community, your options are limited. I couldn't wait to begin reading this book. The premise, history, and characters sounded appealing. The story had great potential, just not enough editing, world building, and character development.
Immediately, it is obvious that Anna and Gabriel were going to end up together. For one, Annabeth couldn't get over his 'deviously handsome' looks. We first meet Gabriel after Annabeth's first strange vision. Waking up in his arms, she doesn't seem to mind the fact that she had just fainted and neither does anyone else. How long was she out for? Why is no one concerned?
Another thing that aggravated me was the dull writing style, lack of solicited words, and detailed descriptions and actions. Short and simple sentences carry the characters actions throughout the book. They are often followed by a blatantly obvious observation. For example, after Annabeth's uncritical fainting spell, Gabriel drives her home.
It was obvious where the story was heading. The fast paced, instant love immediately turned me off. As did the love triangle.
jarlina's review against another edition
1.0
"Review to come" Oh hey look I actually wrote the review!
I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So, as a huge Ancient Egyptian fan I was more than excited to read this book. I absolutely love history (hell, I just started uni where I plan to major in it), and it was Ancient Egypt that got me into it. So yeah, I was more than excited for this book.
The first thing I'd like to point out that I noticed was that everything jumped around. Nothing followed a set plot that made sense. Ideas were thrown in at random times and old ones were almost forgotten. It felt like I was reading a first draft where you'd expect ideas to jump around because it hasn't been properly edited.
I was extremely annoyed with Annabeth. I'm not sure how annoying fifteen olds are today, but I swear to god I don't remember them acting like seven year olds. I mean, what fifteen year old would say, "I’m practically sixteen"? No one would. I'm more than positive you stop saying "and a half", "nearly __" at like 9 years old okay.
I think everyone knows I hate instalove more than anything. I can stand love triangles, but instalove is a HUGE no for me. I was barely 20% into the book when I stopped reading, but I'm pretty sure they were already at the falling in love stage when they'd known each other a week. Get real guys, you're not going to meet the love of your life at fifteen! Not to mention, I think there was the startings of a love triangle with the Sethe guy (I can't even remember his reincarnation name).
On the subject of reincarnation, which I thought was a cool concept, except for the fact that Annabeth seems more than fine with the idea. It's crazy. If I found out I was reincarnated, I'd probably quickly move past the idea, maybe go see one of those crazy people helpers and ask for the help I clearly needed. It's not something a few seizures and flashbacks will make you become comfortable with immediately.
I'd also like to talk about the white washing of certain characters. If you're reincarnated and you have the whitest skin and ginger hair, how do you expect any reader to believe your ancestors are from anywhere other than Scotland? You're probably the whitest person ever but your family is from Egypt (completely believable, right???). I'm not sure if the author was against the idea of having a POC main character but what??? Why not? It's not that hard to say they were adopted from Egypt and make it somewhat believable. Also, the Sethe guy is white af too (because his brother is). According to character descriptions, he looks identical to the way he did in Ancient Egypt and she recognised him within seconds (except he's white), surely she'd have noticed that he wasn't the same, and that he, like her, has no Egyptian features at all???? I genuinely got so angered by this. Like, yes it's highly possible that over thousands of years their families can become white due to interracial relationships/breeding, but as a reader it sounds unlikely and just another excuse for white washing your characters and minimising the actual people of Egypt.
Sorry, I ranted there a bit.
One thing I loved about this book is that it was filled with history. I'm no historical researcher, so I don't know how accurate the history is, but from what I remember learning many many years ago in my beloved childhood, it looked pretty legit. Some of it was a little boring as I already knew it, but other people who don't know much about Ancient Egypt will love this book and learn many things (and hopefully encourage you to go on and learn more in your own time!).
I'm a little sad that I didn't finish this book as I really was looking forward to reading it, but I did love the history side. I wish it wasn't filled with this white washing. Am I overthinking it? Or am I right to question it? I know many people agreed with me on twitter, but they hadn't read the book so I'm not too sure if it really counts. Overall, I guess I would recommend this book to others unless they have a problem with annoying 7yr old protagonists and white Egyptians.
I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So, as a huge Ancient Egyptian fan I was more than excited to read this book. I absolutely love history (hell, I just started uni where I plan to major in it), and it was Ancient Egypt that got me into it. So yeah, I was more than excited for this book.
The first thing I'd like to point out that I noticed was that everything jumped around. Nothing followed a set plot that made sense. Ideas were thrown in at random times and old ones were almost forgotten. It felt like I was reading a first draft where you'd expect ideas to jump around because it hasn't been properly edited.
I was extremely annoyed with Annabeth. I'm not sure how annoying fifteen olds are today, but I swear to god I don't remember them acting like seven year olds. I mean, what fifteen year old would say, "I’m practically sixteen"? No one would. I'm more than positive you stop saying "and a half", "nearly __" at like 9 years old okay.
I think everyone knows I hate instalove more than anything. I can stand love triangles, but instalove is a HUGE no for me. I was barely 20% into the book when I stopped reading, but I'm pretty sure they were already at the falling in love stage when they'd known each other a week. Get real guys, you're not going to meet the love of your life at fifteen! Not to mention, I think there was the startings of a love triangle with the Sethe guy (I can't even remember his reincarnation name).
On the subject of reincarnation, which I thought was a cool concept, except for the fact that Annabeth seems more than fine with the idea. It's crazy. If I found out I was reincarnated, I'd probably quickly move past the idea, maybe go see one of those crazy people helpers and ask for the help I clearly needed. It's not something a few seizures and flashbacks will make you become comfortable with immediately.
I'd also like to talk about the white washing of certain characters. If you're reincarnated and you have the whitest skin and ginger hair, how do you expect any reader to believe your ancestors are from anywhere other than Scotland? You're probably the whitest person ever but your family is from Egypt (completely believable, right???). I'm not sure if the author was against the idea of having a POC main character but what??? Why not? It's not that hard to say they were adopted from Egypt and make it somewhat believable. Also, the Sethe guy is white af too (because his brother is). According to character descriptions, he looks identical to the way he did in Ancient Egypt and she recognised him within seconds (except he's white), surely she'd have noticed that he wasn't the same, and that he, like her, has no Egyptian features at all???? I genuinely got so angered by this. Like, yes it's highly possible that over thousands of years their families can become white due to interracial relationships/breeding, but as a reader it sounds unlikely and just another excuse for white washing your characters and minimising the actual people of Egypt.
Sorry, I ranted there a bit.
One thing I loved about this book is that it was filled with history. I'm no historical researcher, so I don't know how accurate the history is, but from what I remember learning many many years ago in my beloved childhood, it looked pretty legit. Some of it was a little boring as I already knew it, but other people who don't know much about Ancient Egypt will love this book and learn many things (and hopefully encourage you to go on and learn more in your own time!).
I'm a little sad that I didn't finish this book as I really was looking forward to reading it, but I did love the history side. I wish it wasn't filled with this white washing. Am I overthinking it? Or am I right to question it? I know many people agreed with me on twitter, but they hadn't read the book so I'm not too sure if it really counts. Overall, I guess I would recommend this book to others unless they have a problem with annoying 7yr old protagonists and white Egyptians.
bookbriefs's review against another edition
3.0
**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**Annabeth Neverending is a debut young adult novel by Leyla Kader Dahm. This book really hit all the right points with me. I love books that focus on different historical societies, and Egypt is one of my favorite. Instead of a traditional review, I am going to give you a list of reasons why I enjoyed this book. If you are like me, and these are selling points for you, check out Annabeth Neverending.
Egypt setting- As I just said, I love all things Egypt. I loved how the author Leyla Kader Dahm integrated historically accurate facts into her story. I thought it added a layer of depth to a great young adult romance.
Reincarnation- I don't get to read too many young adult books that focus on the concept of reincarnation. (In fact, I think the last book I read about the subject was Michelle Madow's Remembrance)The main character is the reincarnation of an Egyptian Princess and the two guys I am going to mention in my next reason, are the reincarnation of Annabeth's bodyguard and the other is the evil ruler Kha. Oh the intrigue! (I really mean that- I ate it all up.)
Hot twin brothers- C.J. and Gabriel are along for this adventure with Annabeth and I loved them. (even when I hated them, I loved to hate them.)
A great adventure through ancient Egypt! The plot of Annabeth Neverending moved right along and the adventure the three charcters went on was a ton of fun and completely riveting to me.
The cover- Yes, yes I know this should technically be a reason to read a book, but I do. I just love how pretty the cover is. I think it also does a great job depicting the story. I think the reincarnation image was beautifully done.
Bottom line: Annabeth Neverending is a really great book for fans of reincarnation romances and of Ancient Egypt and the time of Pharoahs. Author Leyla Kader Dahm does a great with her debut novel. It is a lot of fun to read.
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
Egypt setting- As I just said, I love all things Egypt. I loved how the author Leyla Kader Dahm integrated historically accurate facts into her story. I thought it added a layer of depth to a great young adult romance.
Reincarnation- I don't get to read too many young adult books that focus on the concept of reincarnation. (In fact, I think the last book I read about the subject was Michelle Madow's Remembrance)The main character is the reincarnation of an Egyptian Princess and the two guys I am going to mention in my next reason, are the reincarnation of Annabeth's bodyguard and the other is the evil ruler Kha. Oh the intrigue! (I really mean that- I ate it all up.)
Hot twin brothers- C.J. and Gabriel are along for this adventure with Annabeth and I loved them. (even when I hated them, I loved to hate them.)
A great adventure through ancient Egypt! The plot of Annabeth Neverending moved right along and the adventure the three charcters went on was a ton of fun and completely riveting to me.
The cover- Yes, yes I know this should technically be a reason to read a book, but I do. I just love how pretty the cover is. I think it also does a great job depicting the story. I think the reincarnation image was beautifully done.
Bottom line: Annabeth Neverending is a really great book for fans of reincarnation romances and of Ancient Egypt and the time of Pharoahs. Author Leyla Kader Dahm does a great with her debut novel. It is a lot of fun to read.
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
adkwriter15's review
2.0
This review originally appeared on My Life is a Notebook.
Two and a half stars
Thanks to Leyla and NetGalley for this free review copy! Annabeth Neverending is available for purchase now.
Full disclosure: I read this book while recovering from wisdom teeth removal. However, I still don’t think that that impacts just how rough the first part of this book was. The romance–and the way Annabeth talks about the romance–was sometimes uncomfortable. While it began to redeem itself in the middle, the ending was also weirdly rushed. Still, I picked it up because I will read anything vaguely related to Ancient Egypt, and that’s most of what kept me going.
Like I said, the book starts off really weirdly. You spend the first chapter with Annabeth and this old lady named Ms. Lansing at a flea market, and you learn a bunch more about how fleas work then you probably ever cared to know. Annabeth finds the ankh at a stand because it calls to her, she buys it, and then immediately starts having visions about her past life. When she does this, she faints, being rescued from smashing her head against concrete by Gabriel. He immediately asks her out and she accepts. (Also, random moments of slut shaming.)
Gabriel doesn’t immediately appear in her Ancient Egyptian visions. Instead, there she is Princess Ana who is in love with her slave body guard, Sethe. Sethe looks nothing like Gabriel, but Anna decides that the past is the past and the future is the future–and that is that. Honestly, though, it’s weird how quickly Anna jumps to thinking about herself as reincarnated, and how easily she talks about it to Ms. Lansing who automatically believes her. Neither of them question it for a second, which–frankly–seemed completely unrealistic to me.
Then come the wrinkles in the story. The flashbacks begin causing seizures, which alert Anna’s parents that something is wrong. Then–surprise!–Gabriel’s twin brother CJ shows up, and he looks exactly like Sethe. And it turns out the Gabriel is the incarnation of the black sorcerer Kha, who tried to force Ana to marry him in a past life. Present Anna wants to be with present Gabriel, but she can’t forget the past and she feels drawn to CJ because of their connection as Ana and Sethe.
Now here’s where things get even weirder. At one point, Anna’s best friend suggests that she juggle both brothers, and Anna says that that sounds like an okay idea. She keeps having sexy thoughts about Gabriel, but goes on dating CJ. When CJ’s behavior starts getting a little odd, she forgives him because of the person Sethe was. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the bottom line is that the way that Anna talked about the love triangle, and the way that it was presented, made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times.
However, the middle-end of the book really did some great work in redeeming the book from an unforgivable place. It becomes clear that Leyla is really trying to create a more complicated plot that I had thought, and also that there is something very important being said about the nature of love triangles and the romance trope of reincarnation. I appreciated that, given the way that I, personally, feel about both tropes.However, since the writing wasn’t the strongest to begin with, and I was already kind of weirded out by everything that was going on, it didn’t impress me the way that it could have.
I did, however, really enjoy the flashback sequences and the Ancient Egyptian history that got thrown in. I will read ANYTHING that has to do with Ancient Egypt, and it was clear that Leyla really did her research into the time period. The characters and plot might not have been the best, but in this the writing was quite strong and enjoyable for me.
The ending tried to present an action filled twist that I mostly saw coming (except for the cat. The cat really got me). I think I might have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been so rushed. Again, no spoilers, but the whole situation just flip flops so fast that I got some very uncomfortable whiplash that ended up feeling more cliche than anything else. It seemed to be set up for a sequel, but it also could just have ended there, which made the ending weirdly unsatisfying.
All in all, if you’re REALLY feeling a yen for something connected to Ancient Egypt, you might be able to put aside what the writing lacks to enjoy a few moments in the ancient world. However, you have to be ready to get past the beginning, which is really rough. If you can get past that beginning, you’ll be rewarded with some good ideas, even if they aren’t presented with the strongest writing. Leyla clearly has a lot of potential as an author, and I’m sure that the sequel–if there is one–will improve upon that.
Two and a half stars
Thanks to Leyla and NetGalley for this free review copy! Annabeth Neverending is available for purchase now.
Full disclosure: I read this book while recovering from wisdom teeth removal. However, I still don’t think that that impacts just how rough the first part of this book was. The romance–and the way Annabeth talks about the romance–was sometimes uncomfortable. While it began to redeem itself in the middle, the ending was also weirdly rushed. Still, I picked it up because I will read anything vaguely related to Ancient Egypt, and that’s most of what kept me going.
Like I said, the book starts off really weirdly. You spend the first chapter with Annabeth and this old lady named Ms. Lansing at a flea market, and you learn a bunch more about how fleas work then you probably ever cared to know. Annabeth finds the ankh at a stand because it calls to her, she buys it, and then immediately starts having visions about her past life. When she does this, she faints, being rescued from smashing her head against concrete by Gabriel. He immediately asks her out and she accepts. (Also, random moments of slut shaming.)
Gabriel doesn’t immediately appear in her Ancient Egyptian visions. Instead, there she is Princess Ana who is in love with her slave body guard, Sethe. Sethe looks nothing like Gabriel, but Anna decides that the past is the past and the future is the future–and that is that. Honestly, though, it’s weird how quickly Anna jumps to thinking about herself as reincarnated, and how easily she talks about it to Ms. Lansing who automatically believes her. Neither of them question it for a second, which–frankly–seemed completely unrealistic to me.
Then come the wrinkles in the story. The flashbacks begin causing seizures, which alert Anna’s parents that something is wrong. Then–surprise!–Gabriel’s twin brother CJ shows up, and he looks exactly like Sethe. And it turns out the Gabriel is the incarnation of the black sorcerer Kha, who tried to force Ana to marry him in a past life. Present Anna wants to be with present Gabriel, but she can’t forget the past and she feels drawn to CJ because of their connection as Ana and Sethe.
Now here’s where things get even weirder. At one point, Anna’s best friend suggests that she juggle both brothers, and Anna says that that sounds like an okay idea. She keeps having sexy thoughts about Gabriel, but goes on dating CJ. When CJ’s behavior starts getting a little odd, she forgives him because of the person Sethe was. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the bottom line is that the way that Anna talked about the love triangle, and the way that it was presented, made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times.
However, the middle-end of the book really did some great work in redeeming the book from an unforgivable place. It becomes clear that Leyla is really trying to create a more complicated plot that I had thought, and also that there is something very important being said about the nature of love triangles and the romance trope of reincarnation. I appreciated that, given the way that I, personally, feel about both tropes.However, since the writing wasn’t the strongest to begin with, and I was already kind of weirded out by everything that was going on, it didn’t impress me the way that it could have.
I did, however, really enjoy the flashback sequences and the Ancient Egyptian history that got thrown in. I will read ANYTHING that has to do with Ancient Egypt, and it was clear that Leyla really did her research into the time period. The characters and plot might not have been the best, but in this the writing was quite strong and enjoyable for me.
The ending tried to present an action filled twist that I mostly saw coming (except for the cat. The cat really got me). I think I might have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been so rushed. Again, no spoilers, but the whole situation just flip flops so fast that I got some very uncomfortable whiplash that ended up feeling more cliche than anything else. It seemed to be set up for a sequel, but it also could just have ended there, which made the ending weirdly unsatisfying.
All in all, if you’re REALLY feeling a yen for something connected to Ancient Egypt, you might be able to put aside what the writing lacks to enjoy a few moments in the ancient world. However, you have to be ready to get past the beginning, which is really rough. If you can get past that beginning, you’ll be rewarded with some good ideas, even if they aren’t presented with the strongest writing. Leyla clearly has a lot of potential as an author, and I’m sure that the sequel–if there is one–will improve upon that.
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