elihinze's review against another edition
4.0
Check out more of my reviews here!
This novel was a pleasant surprise! I’m usually a bit apprehensive when it comes to romance books, fearing tropes and common plot structures, but I’m glad I picked this one up.
The writing is simple and has a nice momentum to it. It doesn’t have any complex syntax or particularly beautiful word choice to it, but even so, the writing didn’t get monotonous or dull. The special thing with Brodi’s writing isn’t beauty, but rather how clearly it conveys emotion.
The characters were another strong point of the novel. Nikki is a wonderful, strong female character. Too often female characters in YA romance books are being manipulated by the guys in their lives or having their choices made for them. Not here! Nikki is decisive and perfectly aware of what she wants. Her choices aren’t always perfect, but they’re realistic, and most importantly, they’re hers. Which is important once you bring character number two into the equation; Cole.
I’m not even sure how he’s considered a love interest, given how he is. Is it just because he said he loved her? Yeah, he also expressed affection towards her before he dragged her underground to literally suck the life out of her. Why should now be any different? Because he discovered that she ? Jerk.
Jack, however, is awesome. He loves her truly and deeply, never having forgotten about her during her entire absence. Never betraying her or deciding to save himself instead. I also like that the normal guy in this whole “”"”love triangle”"”", (note my snark), is the one who has her affections.
I adore mythology, so what with all the mentions of Egyptian and Greek mythology, the plot was right up my alley. It had a nice, constant flow, compelling me to read through the night. Also, I like that the novel started in medias res, putting the reader right in the middle of the action and filling in the gaps as things progressed.
Good writing, a nice use of storytelling techniques, solid characters and a great concept made this a highly enjoyable book. Ideally, I would’ve liked more descriptive, well crafted writing, plus just a little more substance in the middle, though I’d only dare to dock a single point for that, leaving Everneath a four out of five.
This novel was a pleasant surprise! I’m usually a bit apprehensive when it comes to romance books, fearing tropes and common plot structures, but I’m glad I picked this one up.
The writing is simple and has a nice momentum to it. It doesn’t have any complex syntax or particularly beautiful word choice to it, but even so, the writing didn’t get monotonous or dull. The special thing with Brodi’s writing isn’t beauty, but rather how clearly it conveys emotion.
The characters were another strong point of the novel. Nikki is a wonderful, strong female character. Too often female characters in YA romance books are being manipulated by the guys in their lives or having their choices made for them. Not here! Nikki is decisive and perfectly aware of what she wants. Her choices aren’t always perfect, but they’re realistic, and most importantly, they’re hers. Which is important once you bring character number two into the equation; Cole.
I’m not even sure how he’s considered a love interest, given how
Spoiler
manipulative and deceitfulSpoiler
can get him royalty statusJack, however, is awesome. He loves her truly and deeply, never having forgotten about her during her entire absence. Never betraying her or deciding to save himself instead. I also like that the normal guy in this whole “”"”love triangle”"”", (note my snark), is the one who has her affections.
I adore mythology, so what with all the mentions of Egyptian and Greek mythology, the plot was right up my alley. It had a nice, constant flow, compelling me to read through the night. Also, I like that the novel started in medias res, putting the reader right in the middle of the action and filling in the gaps as things progressed.
Good writing, a nice use of storytelling techniques, solid characters and a great concept made this a highly enjoyable book. Ideally, I would’ve liked more descriptive, well crafted writing, plus just a little more substance in the middle, though I’d only dare to dock a single point for that, leaving Everneath a four out of five.
xtsukix's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
There were parts of this that worked well and parts that (imo) worked less well. Really the relationship between Nikki and Jack was the highlight of this book for me. Their reason for initially parting was never fully fleshed out and I would have liked to see that be better resolved, but there was definitely a chemistry between them. On the other hand there was basically negative chemistry between Cole and Nikki, which I feel was definitely supposed to be there but wasn't. I didn't find Cole compelling at all as a character, he kinda just seemed like a pushy jerk 90% of the time. Furthermore I really didn't care about the fantasy aspect of this book, it worked well for the ending , but the start was incredibly confusing to get through and the middle just was not intriguing for anything but the romance between Nikki and Jack. I'm not going to continue with the series because of these reasons, but I don't think this was a bad first book, it was (for the most part) enjoyable.
nannasa16's review against another edition
2.0
Now you have all to explain me what is "amazing" about this book.
babsthebatgirl's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the concepts behind this story, but the teen angsty love got to be a bit much at times.
gabydeppe's review against another edition
2.0
I’m on the fence about this one - I liked the mythology aspect of it. But Nikki and Cole were really annoying as characters to me. However, I love Jack and Nikki in the end came through a bit more but I still find her an empty shell. I might give the second a chance, mostly because I want to see Jack coming out of this alive.
mergilly's review against another edition
3.0
"Just ok." I didn't like it enough to finish the series. It was a struggle for me to even finish this book. I think the biggest problem I had was Nikki's character voice. I just couldn't create a relationship with her character because....well because she was just a giant baby the entire book. I loved all of the other characters, but when you dislike the main character it just ruins everything.
cancourtneyread's review against another edition
4.0
Not gonna lie I got a lil teared up at the end of this.
ellenpenleysmith's review against another edition
5.0
I seriously have no idea why it took me this long to get around to reading Everneath. It's one of those books where I think 'Yeah, it seems good. I'll get around to it.' I read other books then by the time I finally get to this book, I realise it blows other books.
Seriously. It blows.
Ashton has twisted Greek mythology and created something unique. Something that hasn't been done before or isn't a variation of something that's been done before, while managing to stay in the Greek trend for when this was published. I loved it.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Greek mythology novels, but Everneath feels that new and unique that I didn't really notice. It focuses more on Persephone and a side to the Underworld. You don't have to be a Greek geek to understand it.
From page one, I can safely say I loved all characters. Nikki is so strong and doesn't give up, but has her head grounded in reality and knows what she wants and what she'll have to do or give up to get it. And I really appreciate that in a character. That understanding creates maturity and I can respect her.
Jack and Cole are both lovable characters. The debate on the love triangle is a bit wishy washy because Nikki knows who she wants (not spoiling anything here). Both guys are three dimensional, showing anger, hurt, happiness and maybe even a pinch of psycho.
The tension is high as Nikki counts down her time on Earth. She has six months to decide between going to the tunnels (which needs some fleshing out, but it's basically eternal pain) or become an Everliving and feed off human emotions to survive.
Ashton has created such a fantastic adventure in Everneath. The only upside to not reading this sooner is that for me there's less of a wait until its sequel Everbound!
Seriously. It blows.
Ashton has twisted Greek mythology and created something unique. Something that hasn't been done before or isn't a variation of something that's been done before, while managing to stay in the Greek trend for when this was published. I loved it.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Greek mythology novels, but Everneath feels that new and unique that I didn't really notice. It focuses more on Persephone and a side to the Underworld. You don't have to be a Greek geek to understand it.
From page one, I can safely say I loved all characters. Nikki is so strong and doesn't give up, but has her head grounded in reality and knows what she wants and what she'll have to do or give up to get it. And I really appreciate that in a character. That understanding creates maturity and I can respect her.
Jack and Cole are both lovable characters. The debate on the love triangle is a bit wishy washy because Nikki knows who she wants (not spoiling anything here). Both guys are three dimensional, showing anger, hurt, happiness and maybe even a pinch of psycho.
The tension is high as Nikki counts down her time on Earth. She has six months to decide between going to the tunnels (which needs some fleshing out, but it's basically eternal pain) or become an Everliving and feed off human emotions to survive.
Ashton has created such a fantastic adventure in Everneath. The only upside to not reading this sooner is that for me there's less of a wait until its sequel Everbound!
its_tara's review against another edition
4.0
This review and others like it can originally be found on my blog, Hey, Tara.
Firstly, I am totally in love with the cover of this one – I’m a complete sucker for the current trend of pretty dresses on book covers. Obviously, there’s also been a lot of hype around this book lately, and that’s usually a good sign, and so I had to buy it.
Firstly, I’ll start with the parts of this book that really worked for me. Firstly, it was the way the book was written. The prose flowed well, and it made the book enjoyable and easy to continue reading throughout. Also, in the same sort of way, the book really manages to tackle some emotional topics, and do it well, without getting too overemotional or skimming the details. For example, there’s everything in here from young love, to heartbreak, to the death of Nikki’s mother and back again, and I felt that each part was tackled well. The stand-out scene for me in terms of emotions has to be when Nikki hears her Dad talking to her Mother – it was one of those bittersweet book moments.
I also loved Jack – typical knight in shining armor type adoration here, but there you have it. For me, he was a much better written character than I felt Cole was, and I liked the way he gravitated towards Nikki. I also like how they had enough backstory that there was definitely no chance of instalove, which as some of you know, I don’t particularly enjoy.
I also liked the ways that the author tried to tie different mythologies together – for example, the links to both the Greek and Egyptian legends about the underworld, and recognizing the similarities between the stories within them. I think it was a fairly ambitious thing to do to try and mix them both up, and manage to pull off a modern day retelling to boot, but clearly the subject was well-researched, and it pretty much worked.
So far this sounds like a very good review, and I expect some people will have noticed that whilst I’ve been positive, this one didn’t get a five star rating, but a firm four.
There are a few reasons for that. One was the pacing of the book. At some points time seemed to be moving along slowly, with several parts of the story told in the same week, or same month, and at other times it jumped ahead, skipping large parts of time. I mean, I understand that that was to keep the story moving along at a good pace, and not make it ridiculously long, but I sometimes felt a little like I’d missed large parts myself, because they just weren’t there.
Also, there was no description, really, given to her Dad and brother about where she’d actually been. I know for a fact that my mother would have gone mad, and asked at least a thousand questions – it just felt like a bit of a hole to me, but I think I’m the only one with this niggle!
Similarly, there wasn’t enough depth for me given on how the Queen works, or how the Feed works. I mean, I understand that this is going to be part of a series, so it’ll probably come up later, but still.
That all said, overall I enjoyed this book, there were just a couple of things that stopped it getting the top rating. However, overall this was a very good debut, and I’d recommend it to both people who like contemporary fiction and those who enjoy paranormal books.
Firstly, I am totally in love with the cover of this one – I’m a complete sucker for the current trend of pretty dresses on book covers. Obviously, there’s also been a lot of hype around this book lately, and that’s usually a good sign, and so I had to buy it.
Firstly, I’ll start with the parts of this book that really worked for me. Firstly, it was the way the book was written. The prose flowed well, and it made the book enjoyable and easy to continue reading throughout. Also, in the same sort of way, the book really manages to tackle some emotional topics, and do it well, without getting too overemotional or skimming the details. For example, there’s everything in here from young love, to heartbreak, to the death of Nikki’s mother and back again, and I felt that each part was tackled well. The stand-out scene for me in terms of emotions has to be when Nikki hears her Dad talking to her Mother – it was one of those bittersweet book moments.
I also loved Jack – typical knight in shining armor type adoration here, but there you have it. For me, he was a much better written character than I felt Cole was, and I liked the way he gravitated towards Nikki. I also like how they had enough backstory that there was definitely no chance of instalove, which as some of you know, I don’t particularly enjoy.
I also liked the ways that the author tried to tie different mythologies together – for example, the links to both the Greek and Egyptian legends about the underworld, and recognizing the similarities between the stories within them. I think it was a fairly ambitious thing to do to try and mix them both up, and manage to pull off a modern day retelling to boot, but clearly the subject was well-researched, and it pretty much worked.
So far this sounds like a very good review, and I expect some people will have noticed that whilst I’ve been positive, this one didn’t get a five star rating, but a firm four.
There are a few reasons for that. One was the pacing of the book. At some points time seemed to be moving along slowly, with several parts of the story told in the same week, or same month, and at other times it jumped ahead, skipping large parts of time. I mean, I understand that that was to keep the story moving along at a good pace, and not make it ridiculously long, but I sometimes felt a little like I’d missed large parts myself, because they just weren’t there.
Also, there was no description, really, given to her Dad and brother about where she’d actually been. I know for a fact that my mother would have gone mad, and asked at least a thousand questions – it just felt like a bit of a hole to me, but I think I’m the only one with this niggle!
Similarly, there wasn’t enough depth for me given on how the Queen works, or how the Feed works. I mean, I understand that this is going to be part of a series, so it’ll probably come up later, but still.
That all said, overall I enjoyed this book, there were just a couple of things that stopped it getting the top rating. However, overall this was a very good debut, and I’d recommend it to both people who like contemporary fiction and those who enjoy paranormal books.
kenzierenee51's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the book but the ending was horrible. I mean it made me cry. :'( Awww its so sweet. Brodi Ashton Hurry up with the next bok.