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

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

49 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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hafable's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

I am PEEVED. this was such a hit to the goodwill stephanie garber had been building as an author. these two books of the spinoff series felt even younger than the original series but at LEAST the first one held a little more intrigue, had more stakes, and had interesting revelations. this one was such a slog to get through. the main mission of the story for our main character evangeline was working with jax to get these 4 stones and open the arch and break the curse on apollo. sounds like there would be some fun adventure in that, right? NO! OFC NOT! all the stones were basically within a 5 mile radius of each other so that was boring as hell. on top of that, the main reason evangeline wanted to even work with jax despite how much damage he's done to her life is bc she wanted to save apollo... who only married her under a curse and who we as the audience have no reason to care for really like i have no stake in him or his relationship with evangeline. DOUBLY SO for evangeline and jax, jesus christ. he has been duping her ass for 2 books straight like I'm not rooting for them???? this entire book was a painful cycle of evangline trusting him, him tricking her, her getting upset, him being seen w a girl/her being seen w a guy and one of them being slightly jealous w/o admitting feelings, repeat. the worst part was the writing, it was pretty similar in the first one but this book didn't have a solid plot to hide behind so i had to listen to the most egregiously cringy shit good god. "she could cure him with love!!"" at the climax of the story like what if i removed your teeth and threw them in a coffee grinder so i never have to hear that shit again. She had agengu I GUESS but she used that agency to make the dumbest possible choice each time and sort of fail upwards. I HATE that the last 20 min actually did something compelling bc I was planning on not reading to next book in fear of it being 300 pages of the words googoo gaga

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a hard read for me. Not in the way I read it because I did consume it quickly. There’s a whimsy to Stephanie’s writing that is a person with synesthesias dream. But while it’s not described as such her books are horrors. Maybe a fantasy horror but damn dude. The gaslighting and terrible relationships? The betrayal and secrets? The freaking ending? I wanna know what happens after this but I’m also afraid. This book is easily very triggering for DV victims or someone such as myself that has trauma surrounding men. Ugh.

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frantically's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.5

The Stephanie Garber magic that I felt during Caraval is definitely gone.

Also I absolutely despise the amnesia trope.

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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chronicacademia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

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hazychapters's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

First of all, let me just say that Jacks carried the whole freaking thing all by himself. Jacks is much more present in this book than in the previous one (this is also why I found the beginning of book 1 a bit long). I adore him, he is truly an exceptional character who remains true to himself. But, I still have a lot of questions about him, his past, the Fates, and a lot of other things.

The plot is direct and quick, very quick, maybe too much sometimes. I enjoyed the first 80% of the book, but unfortunately, the end felt rushed. Basically, during the whole book, we collected so many questions, and by the end of it, we don't have all the answers. We need answers Steph! I remember I had little trouble with the girly princess aesthetic of the first book; it's still the case with this one, but I enjoyed it a little bit more because I knew I was going back to that atmosphere again. Or maybe because it was a bit darker (not that much but still a lot for this worldbuilding) with all these quests and curses and everything.

As for the plot, I need more info about the characters. Except for Jacks (but it's because we know him for a while now), the other characters are plain. I didn't like Evangeline for most of the book, because she's too childish for me (and a bit stupid 😬). The only thing I love about her is her relationship with Jacks because each of their interactions was ✨priceless✨ and the angst 🤌🏻 Right now I just need to reread some very precise scenes because I already miss them together 😩

Overall, for me, it's a nice book to read if you have no expectations. Everything is rushed, there's no deep explanation and details about this or that, the characters are okay, and Jacks is THE must of this book (and that's why I'm reading it). But it's a pleasant story if you want to read something light and relaxing 😌

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kels_18's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

Fast-paced, plot-focused YA fantasy in the world of Caraval. Evangeline just can’t catch a break in this one as she be fell misfortune after misfortune. Definitely a darker fairytale read, and one of my favourite elements was the focus on magical books and the ending has me desperate for another book in this series!

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