A review by poachedeggs
After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
3.0
This is the sequel to [b:Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie|935264|Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie |Jordan Sonnenblick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1215140202s/935264.jpg|2129865], with a much less adorable, more grown-up 'Jeffy', the angelic cancer survivor-brother of Steven from the first book.
I LOVED the first book and I think this sequel is a pretty good, no-holds-barred follow-up, detailing the uglier aspects of co-dependency between siblings, the harmful consequences of positive discrimination, and basically, the not-so-perfect life of a 13-year-old who struggles with mathematics and standardised testing.
Sonnenblick can write, and he can write for the middle-grade boys, which is a whole other form of rarity. I just wish some characters were more than just mouthpieces here - Tad (Jeffrey's best friend), in particular, is a little bit too much of a bitter, wisecracking spokesperson/genius for me at times. I found Jeffrey's biking-to-raise-money-for-Tad thing also a little flat near the end - it seemed the 'thing' to do, and things like that have already been done, both in this short series and in real life, many times.
I LOVED the first book and I think this sequel is a pretty good, no-holds-barred follow-up, detailing the uglier aspects of co-dependency between siblings, the harmful consequences of positive discrimination, and basically, the not-so-perfect life of a 13-year-old who struggles with mathematics and standardised testing.
Sonnenblick can write, and he can write for the middle-grade boys, which is a whole other form of rarity. I just wish some characters were more than just mouthpieces here - Tad (Jeffrey's best friend), in particular, is a little bit too much of a bitter, wisecracking spokesperson/genius for me at times.