Book Review #6

My muse is ever so discreetly crawling out. Sequel to Stream Pirate? Me thinks so. In the mean time, a book review is long overdue. Today it shall be:

Evernight by Claudia Gray

I had the immense pleasure of meeting Ms. Gray at the Backspace Writers Conference last summer. When I couldn't find AS King's book in the store I was in, I saw Claudia's, and figured another BWC-attendee would be a fine substitute until I could find The Dust of a 100 Dogs.

As always, it will be subjected to the rigorous 5 Steps of Doom: Summary, What I Liked, What I Didn't Like, The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In, and The Overall Rating. The Overall Rating will be based on my highly selective Sara's Scale of Suck or Soar, as follows, lowest to highest:

Level 1: This is How Not to Write a Book
Level 2: What Editor Read this and said "Hmm, Let's Publish it"?
Level 3: My Faith in Writers is Wavering Precariously
Level 4: This Doesn't Suck
Level 5: I'd Read the Sequel
And the coveted Level 6: Fan-FREAKING-tastic. Buy at All Costs.

Summary: This will be a tough one to summarize because something HUGE happens half-ish way through that completely changes the plot and falls into the category of "spoiler." But I shall try my best: Bianca gets dragged to creepy old boarding school, Evernight. Parents of Bianca are teachers there. Bianca tries to run away, is tackled/"saved" by Lucas, the green-eyed wonder boy. Bianca goes back to school, crushes on Lucas, who crushes back. All other Evernight students are perfectly pretty/sculpted/defined, except a handful of new kids (including Bianca). New kids ban together, Bianca/Lucas begin dating. Bianca/Lucas have a fight. Break up. Bianca/Lucas begin dating. Bianca/Lucas have a misunderstanding. Break up. Bianca/Lucas begin dating. HUGE revelation. Everything changes. Bianca/Lucas break up because of HUGE revelation. Christmas break. Lucas comes back, explanation, Bianca/Lucas begin dating. Happy times, dating, romance, family, friends. Another huge yet not-as-HUGE revelation. Lucas runs away. Bianca follows. Bianca/Lucas run away together. Fire, water, trucks, meeting houses, forests, guys named Balthazar, $200 pendant, lovey dove dove cheesiness in letter-form. End story.

What I Liked: I really didn't see the first HUGE revelation coming. The second huge revelation was a tad obvious, but the first one got me. And that's hard to do. Also, Gray's style/writing is fabulous; her descriptions gave me chills, and even though Lucas isn't what I'd call "my type," I was still madly in love with him by the end. Her style was what held me to the page and forced me to finish this book in two days. I felt completely connected to Bianca and, despite the "What I Didn't Like," I had to keep reading.

What I Didn't Like: The first HUGE revelation. When I say it changed the whole plot, that's an understatement. It was one of those revelations that makes you feel cheated as a reader, and it changed who Bianca was so much it took me three or four chapters to like her again. It made sense and was entirely unexpected, but as I said, I felt like Gray was playing a trick on us. It was so random/unexpected it sucked me out of the story. I eventually accepted it, though it remained weird, and I was so grabbed by the rest of the story that I managed to overlook the jarring revelation. Also, Bianca and Lucas broke up so often I thought I was reading a tabloid. After awhile, it got old.

The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In: A strange mix of romance-y and "That's IT?! But she-- and he-- and they--". Lucas and Bianca's relationship, though dysfunctional on every level possible for a teenage relationship, was extremely moving and powerful. No matter my dislike of their continuous break-up/get-together cycle, I was cheering for them.

The Overall Rating: Level 5: I'd Read the Sequel. Which apparently comes out in March, is it? Because really, aside from the HUGE revelation shocker, this book was very, very good. Excellent writing, lovable characters, and it didn't at all feel like one of those overdone, creepy-academy, supernatural-creature books that are floating around now. It stood on its own, and was brilliant.