Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Ballad of Never After

Like always Stephanie manages to deliver a magical, gut wrenching, heartbreaking, heart warming and plot twist full story that keeps you hooked from start to finish. I absolutely love how she writes and this is another stunning example of how amazing her writing is. I love that you get to know more about Jacks in this book and that you see the relationship between him and Evangeline evolve. The ending had me on the edge of my seat. I did not see any of it coming and I was shook. Idk how I’ll survive not knowing what happens till the third book comes out…

Content Warnings

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

kefredriksen's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Even though this is a 2nd book in a series, it was better than the first! I couldn't put it down, the characters are delightfully complicated, and the ending had me screaming. Easily a fav in this genre!!!

Content Warnings

jen1804's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I very much enjoyed this book. I think there’s still quite a few holes which need filling and the writing style itself is still quite YA with short sentences. Sometimes I find that Evangeline’s thoughts and actions can feel innocent and feeble and I feel myself shoot back to picturing her as just a girl when I want to picture her as a woman. But having said that I do think this book ventured into darker and more grown-up territory in the best ways whilst remaining in YA status. I felt I was able to imagine the characters as older, ✨hotter✨, and a bit more well established than what I imagined in the first book. There’s more flirting, more skin to skin contact, and more ✨feelings✨in this book which I am so here for. I also enjoyed Evangeline’s character more in this book, I felt like she was just better and had a little bit more summin’ summin’ about her, though still needs a bit more development in my opinion. I’m obsessed with Jacks’ character, ugh, I love. Though he has gold hair in this book rather than his midnight blue from book one which I ✨struggled✨ with.
The plot is decent, it kept me engaged, there’s a quest vibe to it which I liked. We get lots of answers in this book but as I said earlier it also opens up lots of unanswered questions and leaves behind holes. Various plot points happen in the story which we just don’t seem to hear about again and I find that annoying. I’m really hoping all the loose ends get tied up in book three as I would be very appreciative of that.
The ending was great and Jacks’ decision of how to use the stones made my little heart extremely happy. The whole thing was left on a cliffhanger which I’m always a sucker for so I enjoyed that a lot!
Overall it was a great read, I just think in terms of writing style, narrative depth and character development I don’t get how so many people give this a 5 star rating.

Content Warnings