Will M.'s Reviews > Everlost

I honestly don't have the luxury of time to read novels as much as I want to because pre-med is draining the life out of me. That being said, I carefully choose the novels that I read because a bad novel would make me avoid reading even more. Everlost is one of those novels that destroys the reading slump. It also makes you want to read despite the draining day you've just had. My trust in the YA genre is slowly growing again.

Everlost is about being in a state of limbo. The catch though is that it only works on kids. Anyone above the age of fifteen would just continue on in their journey to wherever they are destined to go. It may sound interesting, but Everlost is not a nice place to live in. There are rules that you need to follow if you don't want to end up falling, or being stuffed in a pickle barrel. There are people you need to avoid messing with, or your already miserable life will become even worse. It's a matter of survival and finding a way to escape the place.

Allie and Nick are the main characters in the novel. They are not related, but they did arrive at Everlost at the same time. For every person there is a different personality. One of the two is a hard headed kid who would stop at nothing for answers, and the other is a easy-go-lucky kid who'd rather follow the rules. It's interesting how different the two of them are but I still learned to like them both.

The characters in the novel are pretty good. You wouldn't expect such developed characters in a YA novel, but Everlost managed to deliver what it promised. Even the villains are interesting, and the usual corny ones.

The plot itself is also great. I liked the flow of the story and how the first book ended. it's a trilogy so it's normal to have a slight cliffhanger coming from the first book. Everything wrapped up nicely though, and the author managed to fill in the plot holes in this novel. Most would wrap things up in the last book, but Shusterman knows how to write.

I saw reviews stating that this book is far too similar to some other YA books. Luckily for me, everything seemed new to me, and nothing felt like something I've read before.

4.5/5 stars. One of the best YA novels I've read ever. Highly recommended if you want a short but great read. Can't wait to read the second novel.