Evermore

Read the prequel as well

I am disappointed. When this series was announced, it had shown great promise with its novel concept of blood irons and Jules' journey into Wireless seemed interesting. However, the second book hardly mentions blood irons but is a revenge plot where Jules seeks to murder the Sorceress who killed the queen and her childhood friend blaming Jules for the same.The book feels like a time machine where Jules is searching for memories as she is revealed to be the Alchemist.The book had ridiculous plot twists with memories surfacing at odd times which doesn't add much to the story. I felt it could have delved deeper into the Thief castle where Jules gets her first memory of the infernal dagger but that is left prematurely. Characters introduced in the storyline have hardly a role to play or adding anything substantial to the plot. The character of Stef could have been explored further. Even the Hunstman seemingly a terrifying assassin felt silly when the person behind the mask is revealed. Even the climax didn't do it for me leaving me disappointed. This book could have been better. So I give this book 2 stars.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book because I read the first one in the series, Everless, last year and absolutely loved it. However, while I was completely gripped by the sequel, and read it very fast, it wasn't quite a five-star read for me.Evermore is very much a sequel to Everless and won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read the first book. I did worry that I might have forgotten the story, as I have a memory like a sieve and I read a lot of books, but there is a recap in the first chapter.Many centuries ago, the people of Sempera learned to turn their blood into 'blood iron' coins that can be dissolved and drunk to extend life. Now the poor work and pawn their valuables for blood iron, and die young, and the rich live forever. And the reclusive Queen, a kind of sinister Countess Bathory figure, rules over them all. Now the Queen is dead and Jules finally discovers the truth about her own past, and how she is connected with the centuries-old legend of the Alchemist and the Sorceress.Evermore is a very fast read, with Jules constantly on the run for her life while at the same time trying to find a way to finish off the villain. I loved the first book, and the idea of turning the remaining years of your life into 'blood coins'. As I enjoy history, I also liked the way the legend of the Alchemist and the Sorceress was woven into the story. But Evermore didn't have the twists of its predecessor and it didn't quite hit the spot for me.I think the problem is that there is not enough depth to the story, as though it was written very quickly. The perils Jules faces are skimmed over (we never really feel she is in danger) and we never get to know any of the other characters, even the love interest; they are just names on the page. There is a high price on Jules's head, yet she trusts everyone she meets (with no adverse consequences!), even to the point where she just blithely hands over her most treasured possession to someone she's just met. And while I found the first story highly original, there were moments in this book that reminded me of Harry Potter and FrozenThis all sounds negative but I did enjoy the story and I'm happy to give it four stars.

Sometimes you love a book despite its flaw. Everless, the first in this series, was that book. It was cheesy, full of generic archetypal tropes but just had something which kept you reading. Much like The Selection series for some readers, Everless was my guilty pleasure. But Evermore encompassed all of the things I didn't like about Everless without the appeal to forgive them.This book was so underwhelming for a host of different reasons. Most notably, I honestly don't think any of it was necessary reading until perhaps the last three chapters, and because the previous 30-odd chapters were so boring I was far past the point of caring what happened to any of the characters (who weren't especially interesting or likeable in the first place!). I attribute this to two things - practically non-existent world building and the lack of plot/character development. The previous book had both, because whilst we were learning about blood being a currency, we were also learning about the true identity of the characters and how the world functioned. In this book all of this is already established knowledge, and what remains is a series of close shaves as Jules almost, but not quite, gets caught over and over again by Caro (who is perhaps the most bland and non-villainous villain I've ever seen).I don't know if it's just me, but repeatedly reading about someone nearly getting caught on their adventure to kill a person trying to capture them is just boring and makes no sense whatsoever; the book is really just Jules looking for a weapon suitable to kill Caro and hitting roadblocks along the way. There needs to be a more significant plot than this to keep me interested, and honestly, I only finished this book because I'm a completionist and wanted to know how the story would wrap up.The romance between Jules and Liam and the hate-fuelled relationship between Jules and Caro were both cliche, predictable, unrealistic and not at all convincing. None of the characters felt well-developed and all of them failed to have a personality which felt more than one dimensional; I'm not even sure I can tell you a character trait or physical attribute of a single one of them least of all become invested in their relationships. Often good characterisation more than makes up for a slightly lacking plot, but this book suffered with both.I went into this book with reasonably low expectations, knowing that I loved the last book despite its flaws. But even with the best of intentions, it is almost impossible to connect to a story with minimal world building, a bland plot and flat characters - what a disappointment.

Second and final volume in the 'Everless' series of young adult fantasy novels. Book one was 'Everless.' This picks up right where that left off, and there's no exposition to bring new readers up to speed, so it's not a jumping on point. Thus this is only for those who read that first book.If you did, read on.This runs for three hundred and forty six pages. There's a prologue. Thirty three chapters. Then an epilogue. And being the final part of the series, it does end by bringing the whole story to a close.Jules now knows the truth. And Caro thus is out to kill her. She flees. But Caro will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The only way for Jules to survive is to find what happened between them in the past...The prologue is one of those openings you often get in books like this, which don't really feel attached to the main action. But past that, once in the main narrative with Jules telling the whole tale once again, it does get going right from the off.There's a very good sense of jeopardy as well.It has to sustain itself on that for a while though, because all the interesting world building was done in book one. Now we have the plot to try and sustain things instead. This does carry the narrative along quite well, although it's not quite as compelling as the interesting discoveries of book one.Steadily it does try to reveal more about the past. Jules does manage to drive this part of the narrative better than you might expect. One new location and one new character do stand out quite well. But for the bulk of it, she's not really getting anywhere, even though she is acting more than reacting.However, come page two hundred and eighty, one surprise end to a chapter makes the whole book click. And from then on it clicks big time. I have read some stories which were just two books which did feel slightly rushed and that could have benefited from being trilogies. This doesn't go that way. The remaining sixty six pages do a very good job of bringing a natural end to the story.They also have a very good depth of character and setting and emotion as well. Making for an ending that does stick with you for a little while after. And makes the whole thing feel just that bit different and original compared to the rest of the field. Which is good.So not quite as good as the first book. But not bad. With a fair bit to appeal. So all in all a good end to the series.

I absolutely loved Everless and when I read evermore I was a tad disappointed. I felt the plot was a bit too stop start. There were moments when everything happened and then nothing. The new charcters that were introduced seemed a bit one dimensional.Personally, I would say that if you loved Everless then it is sort of worth the read since it ties up loose ends, although not in the most dazzling way. I was a bit confused at the ending because it just seemed almost thrown in there but I did read the book in one day so I did like gist of the story.

Before I started this book I looked on Goodreads to see what people thought as I LOVED Everless so much. When I saw so many mixed reviews I felt a little disheartened as I wanted it to be just as good and do you know what? IT WAS! The ending was so perfect and heartwarming and everything else was just as I wanted, the book isn’t solely about the romance as so many are, it’s about friendship!Definitely read this book, you might agree with the lower star reviews or you might just be like me and have a surprise to find everything you wanted this story to be.