Book Review: Everwild and Everfound by Neal Shusterman

 
Goodreads Summary: After the events of Everlost, Nick and Allie are on separate paths--and Everlost, the limbo land of dead children, is at war in this riveting novel from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Neal Shusterman.
Nick wants to help the dead reach the light at the end of the tunnel, but Mary Hightower, their self-proclaimed queen and a dangerous fanatic are determined to keep them trapped in Everlost for all of eternity. Traveling in the memory of the Hindenburg, Mary is spreading her propaganda and attracting Afterlights to her cause at a frightening speed.

Allie travels home to seek out her parents, along with Mikey, who was once the terrifying monster the McGill. Allie is tempted by the seductive thrill of skinjacking the living, until she discovers the shocking truth about skinjackers that makes her question her place in both worlds.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.21 stars with over 12,000 ratings

Genre listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Fiction, Supernatural, Adventure, Ghosts, Death

Goodreads Challenge: 9/60

2021 Reading Challenge:  #16 Read a book with a person on the cover ( Find the complete challenge here)

Goodreads Summary: In the stunning conclusion to the Skinjacker trilogy by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Neal Shusterman, the final battle for the very soul of Everlost rages on. As Mary Hightower slumbers in a glass coffin waiting to be reborn back into Everlost, her allies and henchmen begin to carry out her terrible mission. Mary's army is joined by a newcomer: Jix, a spy for the Mayan King of Everlost. A furjacker who skinjacks great cats, Jix has his own agenda.
Meanwhile, Mikey McGill desperately tries to rescue Allie the Outcast. At his side is Nick the Chocolate Ogre, who has become pure chocolate and hardly remembers himself at all. Mikey encounters a creature that scares even the mighty McGill: a scar wraith, whose touch can extinguish an Afterlight forever.
As fights and schemes come to a head, it becomes clear that the outcome of this battle will determine not just the fate of Everlost but the fate of the living world as well.

Goodreads Rating: 4.30 stars with over 9,700 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Fiction, Supernatural, Adventure, Ghosts, Death

Goodreads Challenge: 10/50

2021 Reading Challenge: #37 Read the next book in a series you've started (find the entire challenge here)

Other Reviews on the series: Everlost

Book Review:

Happy Wednesday, readers! I decided to do a combined review for Everwild and Everfound by Neal Shusterman. I would do separate reviews, but I got distracted and then was around 200 pages into Everfound, so I just decided to do one review. 

Everwild and Everfound follow the story Everlost started with Nick and Allie and some of the friends they meet. Towards the end of Everlost, Nick really starts to learn his purpose in the afterlife. Nick, Allie, Mikey, and some of their allies plot on how to take down Mary, who won't let Afterlights move on. 

What I liked most about this series is the world-building. The idea of two separate realities being co-existing to an extent is fascinating to me. Just little details like deadspots and how things cross over gave the story a lot of character. I also liked how there were different powers and different reasons for why those powers exist. The reason that Allie, Jix, and the other skinjackers could walk between both worlds wasn't all that surprising, but I liked the spin that it gave those characters. 

Part of the world-building that I think would just be a remarkable story on its own was Jix's King's ability to unremember. Essentially, he would decide he didn't remember something being a rule or law of Everlost, and it'd just wholly change the physics of whatever it was. It was really fascinating. It's just another detail that Shusterman gave readers that was just really well done.

Allie was the strongest character in the series by far, but I didn't really care for her ending. Overall the series ended as it should have, but her personal conclusion to the story fell a little flat. I think that Nick had the most appropriate ending. It could be interesting to see a continuation of his story, but I doubt there will be one. I thought that Mary's ending was pretty appropriate as well and really fit with her character. Initially, her and Nick's relationship just made me cringe because it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Through much of Everwild and Everfound, there's this idea that they love each other even though they're enemies. I never really got that because I didn't think there was a lot of chemistry there, but then it really gets explained towards the end of Everfound, and that reasoning made sense. Mikey and Allie's relationship was probably the only one that didn't make me roll my eyes through most of it. Jill and Jix's wasn't too terrible either.

There ends up being another character called a Scar Wraith, largely in Everfound. Initially, his placement in the story seems kind of weird. He doesn't really fit the story thus far and kind of stands out. Until the end, I wondered exactly what his purpose was going to be because he's just such an odd addition that he can't possibly just be there for background. I won't give too much away, but he ends up being a really intricate part of how the series unfolds.  

I think of the three books my favorite was Everfound. There is so much that happens in it that just brings the story altogether. Everything comes full circle in it, and there's a certain sense of balance to how it all plays out. Everything leads up to the need for that balance, and I really enjoyed it. All three of the books were really good, and Everwild didn't have that middle book syndrome where it dropped and was just a vessel to get from point A to B. It had its own unique story and was pretty enjoyable as well. Nick, Allie, Mikey, and Mary all had to take their own journies and really had to do some self-discovery. 

Overall, I really enjoyed each of the books. If you like dark YA fantasy, this would definitely be something I'd recommend. They aren't super long, with Everfound being the longest of the three books at a little over 500 pages. The entire series puts an exciting spin on death, the afterlife, and purpose. Neal Shusterman has a way with details that really make this story pop.  I give both Everwild and Everfound five moons.