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Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
young adult mythology fantasy published by HarperCollins on 24 January 2012

first book in the Everneath series

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

THE RATING


THE REVIEW

I went into Everneath with a very particular mindset: I wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary. I added it on my to-read list because of the mythology aspect as the story of Persephone and Hades is so intriguing. However, Everneath surprised me. A lot. Brodi Ashton captured the essence of the characters perfectly. I could feel the emotions that made Nikki go over the edge. I could feel Jake’s hurt and I just couldn’t bring myself to hate Cole.
At the beginning of Everneath, Nikki is waking up after lying in an uncomfortable position for a long time. She doesn’t want to let go yet a face is compelling her to. It made me curious. I like reading books where the main character’s fate is already written and the story is really a story of accepting that fate. Redemption, regret and the desire to make everything right drove Nikki. The core of Everneath is what humans go through: realizing the value of something after it’s gone.
Nikki is a complex character from the very beginning. Life has been tragic for her and she had to get away. The backstory is told in pieces; what happened in the past is synced with what’s happening in Nikki’s life now. It provided a refreshing perspective on how Nikki’s life took such a sharp turn. From having a whole life to feeling empty of emotions. I just felt that more focus should’ve been put on Nikki’s best friend, Jules.
Jack is the one who got left behind. He acts pretty normal when he sees Nikki after six months. He went through a hard time when Nikki disappeared but Nikki doesn’t know that. Their relationship dynamic is done so beautifully by Brodi Ashton: there are questions, there’s hurt, there’s love but there’s also patience. The true love of Eurydice and Orpheus shines through in Everneath.
Cole is as dark and hell bent on convincing as they come but he isn’t broody. He has accepted the sacrifice of humans in order for the Everlivings to survive which is where Nikki disagrees with him. I understood where he was coming from and how he tried to stop Nikki from spiraling into the Everneath with him in the beginning. So I know he’s just looking out for himself. However, I could feel his defences lowering when it came to Nikki. He’s deep that way.
Everneath is beautiful. The writing sucked me in, all the emotions in the book overwhelmed me and the characters felt real. The character of Mary was perfect the way it was and she added a little more substance to the essence of Everneath. A fantastic start to a series! Brodi Ashton weaved a perfect modern day mythological story. I’m glad to have read it. More, please.

THE QUOTES

‘Sometimes, when something hurts us, our hearts break a little-in a slightly more … literal way than for humans. Our pain sort of spills out and onto anyone around us. We call it a cracked heart.’
‘We’d both been stripped of all the evasiveness, all the lies, everything we’d ever kept from each other. Layer by layer, we had given up our defenses and our excuses and our demands for whys and hows, and what was left were two broken beings. Clinging to one last shred of hope. Tethered to each other.’
I read Everneath as part of Secret Readers feature by Paperback Princess.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I went into this one with low expectations, too. But it was really good! And Cole was my favorite character. I liked Nikki, but I was a little 'meh' about Jack (I barely remember him).

    Huh, your review reminded me that I read it in April (I think) and still have to read the second one!

  2. I went into this with moderate expectations. Jack disappointed me, but I loved Nikki's character. Her growth is really great, especially as she regains her emotions.

    Sara at The Page Sage

  4. I've heard some pretty bad things about Everneath so I didn't plan on reading it but then I won a copy so I sort of "had" to aaaand it was surprisingly good. In fact, Everneath was totally my kind of book. I think it worked so well for me because I was always interested in greek mythology and then there was Cole (<333)… so yeah I really enjoyed it 🙂 And I agree, the writing was beautiful. Great review! 🙂

  5. I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I really loved both the mythology and Cole 😉 I gave Everneath the same rating as you did, but the second book is even better. It was so fun to be a "secret reader".

    Montana @ The Book Belles