Everneath by
Brodi Ashton
My rating:
2 of 5 stars
Nope. This was absolutely not for me.
With writing, there’s diving right into the action to grab everyone’s attention in a good way, and then there is diving right into the middle of something too fast without making the world, parameters, and situations clear enough for the reader to easily follow along. This book falls into the second category, and while I applaud that it wanted to grab my attention right from the start and power forward with only the most relevant action, it fell short of being clear and cohesive, so the start was rocky, which meant it actually took me longer to settle in and become invested in this one.
I initially thought this was a decent read, but that opinion degraded the longer I read. The transitions between sections and scenes feels rough and too abrupt at times. Sentences are often very clipped, which makes this book a hard to listen to. It also was hard to remember the information presented, and because I had to interrupt myself at chapter 7 to finish up three other books, I had to go back and start this book over again when I returned to it after only a 4 day break from it (as nothing stuck out or stuck with me).
Once I restarted it, I fared slightly better. I think the best solution for new readers would be to block out a decent amount of time to read and get fully invested in this story before you put it down for the first time, so that you don’t risk getting confused, or irritated, and becoming unwilling to return to it.
For someone who lived 100 years in the underworld, this MC feels pretty immature, not to mention Mr. 1000 years old. And seriously? She pined for some old boyfriend for all 100 years? I’m the queen of hanging on long past the point in which you should in regards to feelings and relationships, but even I draw the line well before a decade, let alone a century. While her voice may be appropriate for YA, something about this whole setup rang false for me.
Plus, her old boyfriend is just all kinds of boring. Meh. No thanks. I still do not even understand why she is obsessed with him, or why he even loves her, and the side characters have very little depth. I can barely even tell them apart. Most of the character development is weak, and there is no real character growth.
Also, most of the mythology is shared through long-winded sections of telling, which is about the most boring way ever to hear it, especially when the majority of it all seems to come at the end of the book, which is way too late to be interesting or relevant.
I have read far better YA paranormal novels about the underworld (Give me Sarah Fine, or give me Death—preferably both), so I don’t plan to continue on in the series. Honestly, I was ecstatic when this finally ended. I think at the end of the day, it just feels more contrived than authentic, and that made me hold the book at an arm’s length, rather than want to pull it close and get invested in the characters.
Book 26 in 2019
Pages: 370
