Book Synopsis
In the land of Sempera, time is extracted from blood and used as payment. Jules Ember and her father were once servants at Everless, the wealthy Gerling family’s estate, but were cast out after of a fateful accident a decade ago. Now, Jules’s father is reaching his last hour, and she will do anything to save him. Desperate to earn time, she arrives at the palace as it prepares for a royal wedding, ready to begin her search into childhood secrets that she once believed to be no more than myths. As she uncovers lost truths, Jules spirals deeper into a past she hardly recognizes, and faces an ancient and dangerous foe who threatens her future and the future of time itself.
Book Review
In the ever-evolving world of YA books- Everless was a “Good not great” for me. Personally, a good YA should captivate me from the beginning with its unique plotline and its ability to keep me on my toes and constantly guessing. The characters should weasle their way into my hearts without meeven knowing so at the end they aren’t just characters in a book but they become something more, something real.
Everless fell just short of this for me because even though the depiction of time as a currency was interesting enough, the novel’s execution left much to be desired, especially the main characters.
The rich live forever and, the poor are forced to skim hours and days off their life to afford necessities. While not unique, I do, believe there was the potential to explore this separation of power a bit more to add some much-needed tension.
It was obvious that Jules’s purpose from early on was to save her father who was slowly running out of time by returning to the Everless manor, which they were forced to flee many years before. This purpose quickly falls flat which does not bode well for strong MCs. Jules is possibly the worst “secretive” character as she constantly defies common sense and finds herself in situations that could have been avoided had some logical thought been employed. I do not like MCs, especially females, to be vapid in their thinking.
I honestly could not connect with Jules and her attempts at romance were laughable. There was a need for more character development for main characters such as Ina and Roan. Even the interactions between the main characters needed to be expanded more for me to buy into the scenarios the author was trying to depict.
The issue with the writing for me is the “trope skimming”, by this I mean skimming over tropes but not fully committing- this is seen in multiple scenes from the attempt at the love triangle, friends to lovers, best friends to enemies, it was all over the place.
There were also several instances of info-dumping that honestly added nothing to the overall story and only served to confused me even more. To say this book had one major plotline would be unfair to the author and the groundwork laid out for the tale of the Sorceress and her enemy, the Alchemist, however, the link between that and the original story of Jules took so many pages that by the end I was over it and ready to move on.
The secrets are perhaps what saved this book for me the lure of the unknown tragedies that lay within the castle and indeed Jules’s past was what kept me going. The author kept us guessing right up until the very end and for that I say- Bravo! The ending, however, felt rushed and I did not appreciate how open-ended things were left.
In the end for me, it comes down to- would I read the sequel? Honestly, I would just because my OCD will not allow me to leave a story untold, but also because I feel there was huge potential and, with the right plotline, the story could be phenomenal.
About the Author
Sara Holland is the New York Times-bestselling author of EVERLESS and HAVENFALL. She grew up in small-town Minnesota among hundreds of books. She worked in a tea shop, a dentist’s office, and a state capitol building before heading to New York to work in publishing. These days, she can be found exploring the city’s bookstores or finding new ways to put caffeine in her bloodstream. The sequel to Everless- Evermore has been released and is available for purchase at all major book sellers globally.
Jessica Reads It 