Book Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath

by Brodi Ashton
Series: Everneath #1
Published: January 24, 2012
Genres: Mythology, Retelling, Young Adult
Format: ARC (370 pages)
Source: Won

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.

Everneath is not your typical supernatural YA book. There’s not a vampire, werewolf, or angel in sight. Instead of re-telling Greek mythology, Brodi Ashotn breaks it down and re-invents it. What you get is a deep, dark, rich, tragic and moving story like nothing I’ve ever read. Flashbacks drive the story along and they beautifully show the contrast of the highs and lows that life can take. Remorse colors everything. It’s about living with your mistakes and making them right. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey of looking such a difficult emotion in the face. Everneath made me stop and think about what it means to be human. Hope is such a human emotion. Here I am reading a story where every reason to hope is taken away and yet I couldn’t help it. My hope was sitting there like a little flame that just won’t go out. And then I thought about the feelings that make us human. Taking away pain can take away our humanity. As nice as it would be to live without pain, the emptiness you would feel instead would be so much worse and Nikki’s emptiness felt so terrifying to me. I was crying at the end which I haven’t done since the last Harry Potter. Books don’t make me cry very often. The ending was all about the power and redemption of love. I haven’t read such a beautiful story about true love in a long time.

Content Rating: Medium, for, um…darkness? There’s no specific scenes that come to mind and there’s not much language, but it’s not for young teens.