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annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review
4.0
This book has somehow come into my life years ago already. I have no clue why, but I have a German edition on my shelf. But somehow I never gotten to reading it and when I discovered it again, years later, because I fell in love with Claudia Gray I wondered why. So, when I found out that the books were not that easy to get in matching English editions anymore, I took a huge leap of faith and ordered them all five.
And I totally do not regret that! This book was everything I had hoped it would be and then some. I was actually expecting a very cliché story about an innocent girl falling in love with a vampire boy and the thrilling excitement of that waiting for me already got me on the tips of my toes during the first 100 pages. And then, all of a sudden there was a twist that came not really out of nowhere, but did take me by surprise. And I loved it.
The book is very fast paced and focusses a lot on the romance. I know that this is Claudia Gray, so that's what I was looking forward to. I wanted this nice and easy read for in between, for a lazy Thursday when I was tired or not feeling well. And Claudia Gray delivers! And within this fast paced vampire romance she managed to wrap so much more.
Nice characters, that are vivid and feel very real. A mythology that works, even though we're only discovering it very slowly. A storyline that kept me on the edge of my seat, eager to turn page after page.
I'm so glad I bought the entire series! But, to prevent a reading slump, let's keep the second book away from me until next week ;-)
And I totally do not regret that! This book was everything I had hoped it would be and then some. I was actually expecting a very cliché story about an innocent girl falling in love with a vampire boy and the thrilling excitement of that waiting for me already got me on the tips of my toes during the first 100 pages. And then, all of a sudden there was a twist that came not really out of nowhere, but did take me by surprise. And I loved it.
The book is very fast paced and focusses a lot on the romance. I know that this is Claudia Gray, so that's what I was looking forward to. I wanted this nice and easy read for in between, for a lazy Thursday when I was tired or not feeling well. And Claudia Gray delivers! And within this fast paced vampire romance she managed to wrap so much more.
Nice characters, that are vivid and feel very real. A mythology that works, even though we're only discovering it very slowly. A storyline that kept me on the edge of my seat, eager to turn page after page.
I'm so glad I bought the entire series! But, to prevent a reading slump, let's keep the second book away from me until next week ;-)
halynah's review
4.0
Rather good beginning of the series! The author managed to keep the intrigue, make unexpected twists of plot and make interested in the next installment! I like the chemistry between Bianca and Lucas, other characters are also very interesting! The book is rather unusual and unique, and worth attention!
morgybritt's review
5.0
I read this a while back at the time i couldnt stop reading it! I really want to continue the series but there really are too many books to read, i have already read the second i just got to it too late.
kaleyamo's review against another edition
2.0
I like the premise of this book. I'm not so much a fan of the execution.
First, there was the narration. About 40 percent of the way through the book, there is a big *revelation* about what is going on. But.... it's not really a revelation at all, because what is to come there is mentioned in the prologue of the book. So this big moment, which was set up to be climactic, was just the opposite. I had wondered all the way up to that point why the narration was talking around certain points and being elusive about things, and we never really get a resolution on why. It apparently was just out of the main character's head and therefore, out of readers'.
A lot of characters also seem very wishy-washy. I struggled with the main character. She is young, and young characters make mistakes . . . but they are also supposed to learn and grow. Bianca doesn't do any of that. Instead she makes mistakes that threaten her life, her family members' lives, her friends' lives . . . for reasons that seem reasonable to her, but do not seem reasonable to anyone else. And even though they don't seem reasonable to anyone else, the actions are still shrugged off by others like, "oh well. It's fine that you just put us all in danger." There are no repercussions for mistakes.
I like the overall story, but with so many unbelievable characters, I can't enjoy it as much as I wish I could have.
First, there was the narration. About 40 percent of the way through the book, there is a big *revelation* about what is going on. But.... it's not really a revelation at all, because what is to come there is mentioned in the prologue of the book. So this big moment, which was set up to be climactic, was just the opposite. I had wondered all the way up to that point why the narration was talking around certain points and being elusive about things, and we never really get a resolution on why. It apparently was just out of the main character's head and therefore, out of readers'.
A lot of characters also seem very wishy-washy. I struggled with the main character. She is young, and young characters make mistakes . . . but they are also supposed to learn and grow. Bianca doesn't do any of that. Instead she makes mistakes that threaten her life, her family members' lives, her friends' lives . . . for reasons that seem reasonable to her, but do not seem reasonable to anyone else. And even though they don't seem reasonable to anyone else, the actions are still shrugged off by others like, "oh well. It's fine that you just put us all in danger." There are no repercussions for mistakes.
I like the overall story, but with so many unbelievable characters, I can't enjoy it as much as I wish I could have.
mea9an's review
2.0
This book would have probably affected me more in my Twilight Phase. Nowadays, the vampire craze has really put me off to paranormal books, just because I don't really find them that interesting anymore.
This book follows Bianca as she begins her first year a new rich and fancy boarding school called Evernight. There she meets bad boy, Lucas, and class star, Balthazar. Two very different guys that create the love triangle. Twists and turns lead Bianca on a roller coaster of discovery or herself and others.
Now, I'm a big fan of Claudia Gray. In fact, she wrote my favorite series of all time, but paranormal is not her thing. This is her debut series, and it reads like a debut. It's too quick for the romance, the plot is lacking in places, plot holes everywhere, and "hopeful" tension that's not really there.
It had a good concept, but it was lacking in the character development and wasn't able to hold my interest for very long. I didn't really care for Lucas, Balthazar was okay. I was rooting for him more, to be honest. Lucas just seemed too... cardboard cutout of a bad boy. He started fights for no reason, constantly tried to be the hero, and was really just being annoying.
Balthazar at least worked on schoolwork, had a "not-so-snobby" personality for the typical rich kid. He was just a more interesting character all together.
Other than that, this book just didn't really do much for me.
This book follows Bianca as she begins her first year a new rich and fancy boarding school called Evernight. There she meets bad boy, Lucas, and class star, Balthazar. Two very different guys that create the love triangle. Twists and turns lead Bianca on a roller coaster of discovery or herself and others.
Now, I'm a big fan of Claudia Gray. In fact, she wrote my favorite series of all time, but paranormal is not her thing. This is her debut series, and it reads like a debut. It's too quick for the romance, the plot is lacking in places, plot holes everywhere, and "hopeful" tension that's not really there.
It had a good concept, but it was lacking in the character development and wasn't able to hold my interest for very long. I didn't really care for Lucas, Balthazar was okay. I was rooting for him more, to be honest. Lucas just seemed too... cardboard cutout of a bad boy. He started fights for no reason, constantly tried to be the hero, and was really just being annoying.
Balthazar at least worked on schoolwork, had a "not-so-snobby" personality for the typical rich kid. He was just a more interesting character all together.
Other than that, this book just didn't really do much for me.
pixiebelle24's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
heycheline's review
3.0
It was very captivating, you couldn't let go off The book, and it kind Off hold the reader in The dark in The start like (THIS IS A SPOILER) i didn't know that Bianca was a vampire until much father in The book, and The kind Of Romeo and Juliet romance is just so sweet it really is like they couldn't live without The other! So all in all my results is that its a very good book!
stephxsu's review
2.0
The first reaction I had when I finished this book was, wow, I’m glad it’s over. That doesn’t bode well for the first sentence of a review, but I’m going to try to explain why EVERNIGHT gave me a headache and had me rolling my eyes through every page.
Don’t get me wrong: there are some good parts to this book. I really liked the concept of a boarding school for vampires; the gothic towers and rooms of Evernight reminded me vaguely of Hogwarts, which was cool. The idea that Gray presents readers of a world where immortal vampires are constantly struggling to fit in, and need to be taught technology, was intriguing, although not as well developed as it could’ve been. I really liked the tension between vampires and the human vampire hunters, even though the motivations for the vampire hunters’ actions were not well explained. And finally, I was a fan of the huge twist halfway through the book that everyone likes to talk about. Books with unreliable narrators are difficult to pull off, and Bianca’s revelation to us was shocking, yet satisfying at the same time.
However, EVERNIGHT fell flat in all other aspects. Bianca was difficult to like: she constantly feels the need to tell readers things about herself and the world around her, things that we didn’t need to know—like the fact that she’s supposedly shy, even though there’s no indication of shyness beyond the general awkwardness of adolescence among a new crowd—or could have inferred in the hands of a more skilled writer. Similarly, none of the other characters were interesting, least of all Luke. I rolled my eyes at the stilted dialogue and forced attraction between the two, felt my eyelids start to slide shut at the unbearably slow pace of the novel.
I read EVERNIGHT for the express purpose of finding out what that plot twist was, but it wasn’t worth it. Lovers of vampire lit might be interested in the world that Gray has tried to spin, but newcomers to the genre would be better off with other vampire series, such as Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy.
Don’t get me wrong: there are some good parts to this book. I really liked the concept of a boarding school for vampires; the gothic towers and rooms of Evernight reminded me vaguely of Hogwarts, which was cool. The idea that Gray presents readers of a world where immortal vampires are constantly struggling to fit in, and need to be taught technology, was intriguing, although not as well developed as it could’ve been. I really liked the tension between vampires and the human vampire hunters, even though the motivations for the vampire hunters’ actions were not well explained. And finally, I was a fan of the huge twist halfway through the book that everyone likes to talk about. Books with unreliable narrators are difficult to pull off, and Bianca’s revelation to us was shocking, yet satisfying at the same time.
However, EVERNIGHT fell flat in all other aspects. Bianca was difficult to like: she constantly feels the need to tell readers things about herself and the world around her, things that we didn’t need to know—like the fact that she’s supposedly shy, even though there’s no indication of shyness beyond the general awkwardness of adolescence among a new crowd—or could have inferred in the hands of a more skilled writer. Similarly, none of the other characters were interesting, least of all Luke. I rolled my eyes at the stilted dialogue and forced attraction between the two, felt my eyelids start to slide shut at the unbearably slow pace of the novel.
I read EVERNIGHT for the express purpose of finding out what that plot twist was, but it wasn’t worth it. Lovers of vampire lit might be interested in the world that Gray has tried to spin, but newcomers to the genre would be better off with other vampire series, such as Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy.
4saradouglas's review
3.0
I liked the story more than I liked the writing. The book had some twists that made it unique among other vampire books, but several things in the execution drove me nuts. The main character assumed a lot of things "He thought they kidnapped me as a baby," which I don't know how she arrived at that conclusion when the boy didn't tell her any of that. I also felt like there was too much of the author in the story. I had a very hard time believing the main character was a teenager and instead kept picturing the author, which really takes you out of the story. There were also little mistakes like two characters standing next to each other in a small room and the main character says "she was tall, taller than Lucas, maybe." Maybe? They're standing right next to each other and you can't tell?? Anyways, the story was pretty good if you can ignore things like that.