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Ever
Ever
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Falling in love is never easy, but falling in love with an immortal god while your days on earth are numbered is almost more than a young girl can bear. Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning new world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens in this spellbinding story of Kezi, a girl confronted with a terrib...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780061229640
ISBN-10: 0061229644
Publication Date: 4/1/2010
Pages: 272
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 11

3.4 stars, based on 11 ratings
Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Litwolf avatar reviewed Ever on + 34 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I was able to read this book before it was published through the publisher's FirstLook program. Good thing I did because I would have been furious to have wasted money on it.

I had high hopes for 'Ever'. The story sounded great and I was even more excited when I realized it was written by the author of 'Ella Enchanted', one of my favorite stories ever. For all my high hopes, I was let down very hard. I could still enjoy the story but the way it was written felt like a rough draft or an outline. I wanted to return it to the author and say, "This is a good start. Now let's give it some depth and character". Truly, it felt like bare bones. I wanted to see some muscles and flesh. A promising story and characters but both needed more life and details.
creditfairy avatar reviewed Ever on
Helpful Score: 3
Interesting look at theology/mythology...but in the end, "Ever" falls flat. The book is too short for any real character development...and the every other chapter character viewpoint change doesn't help. It doesn't break up the story too badly, but some "chapters" consist of only a few paragraphs...not enough to get the feel of a character. Both Kezi and Olus are very two dimensional and have a relationship that I wanted to buy into so badly but couldn't. Is the message that you should search forever for a God that isn't there? Maybe it's unfair to review as an adult, as this is really a young adult title...but shallow writing is shallow writing. It's not bad for a kid wanting something that reads quickly and is sort of romantic...I just think with this author I expected more.
cmoh avatar reviewed Ever on + 42 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
What a disappointment this one was....I disliked it so much I don't really want to even write a review. It took me almost 2 weeks to read this Young Adult book.

It was shallow and unbelievable. Shallow because there was no real character or story development, when things looked like they were going somewhere the author would drop it and move onto the next scene. Unbelievable, because even a sixteen year old girl takes at least a few days to fall head over heals in love. Especially one that would be distracted by the fact that she is going to be sacrificed.
Litwolf avatar reviewed Ever on + 34 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I was able to read this book before it was published through the publisher's FirstLook program. Good thing I did because I would have been furious to have wasted money on it.

I had high hopes for 'Ever'. The story sounded great and I was even more excited when I realized it was written by the author of 'Ella Enchanted', one of my favorite stories ever. For all my high hopes, I was let down very hard. I could still enjoy the story but the way it was written felt like a rough draft or an outline. I wanted to return it to the author and say, "This is a good start. Now let's give it some depth and character". Truly, it felt like bare bones. I wanted to see some muscles and flesh. A promising story and characters but both needed more life and details.
Read All 9 Book Reviews of "Ever"

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eleven avatar reviewed Ever on + 11 more book reviews
I was so disappointed by this book. I almost can't believe it was written by Gail Carson Levine. The characters are somewhat flat, and the whole story just moves too quickly to really get into. Kezi and Olus fell in love WAY too quickly, which made it very difficult to take them seriously as a couple who was planning to stay together forever. They barely knew each other, and yet they kept spouting all this stuff about eternal love and loyalty. I didn't know whether to laugh in derision or start sobbing at just how awful it was.

As if that weren't enough, the plot is often very disjointed and just doesn't really flow at all. There were a lot of things left as mysteries, and not in a good way. I kept waiting for the story to become more fleshed out, but it just never happened, which made it feel very shallow. I was also left very unsatisfied by the ending.

***HERE BE SPOILERS***

The book ends with Kezi having turned into an immortal goddess to join Olus and the other gods on their magical mountain in the sky. (This in itself was disturbing, that she was so ready to let people worship her.) She lets her family continue to believe that she is dead, seemingly without a care for how they feel about it, ALTHOUGH SHE COULD GO TALK TO THEM ANYTIME SHE WANTED TO. Instead she stays with the boy/god she had known for less than half a year. Personally I just can't stand that, and it left me with very little respect or liking for the character.

***END SPOILERS***


TL;DR: Don't waste your time. If you're looking for a really good story by this author, go for Ella Enchanted, Fairest, or Two Princesses of Bamarre.
Shellaree avatar reviewed Ever on + 270 more book reviews
This is not my favorite book of the authors. The characters didn't engage me at all. I realize that I am an adult reading this, so maybe the target audience would like it better.
Piper avatar reviewed Ever on
Stopped reading after the 1st chapter. Too boring. I don't know how a teen could possibly be interested enough to read this.


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