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A review by maurie_scar
The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
4.1 ⭐️
Okay, but why am I such a sucker for Evangeline and Jacks?
The Ballad of Never After is not the best written story out there. There are many things that could be improved. Regardless of all that, I just love it! Take me to the North, I want to study this fairytale place with all these true love and curses.
We pick up this book where Once Upon a Broken Heart left off. Evangeline was stuck in a predicament, mainly her mixed feelings for Jacks. She can't trust him, yet she finds herself trusting him and seeking him out. She even writes herself a letter as a reminder that she cannot trust Jack. We all know how that will turn out. Still, when you think things are finally looking up for her, nope. You see, the North will not be allowing Evangeline her happily ever after. She'll just constantly suffer.
Jacks is as great as ever. You almost had me there, buddy, but I knew you'd show what you really feel. Apollo though... I don't know how to feel about him. In both books, he hasn't been his true self, so that was a twist I did not see coming.
I feel bad for Chaos but I am so intrigued. Also, is he ... and Lala... ?
Evangeline is still kind of naive and I think I know why it doesn't annoy me as much as let's say, Tella in the Caraval trilogy. Evangeline is more hopeful than naive. She knows things aren't always going to work and haven't been working out, but the hope of them becoming better is what keeps her going. She'll put herself in "danger" if it means helping others and getting her happy ending. Unlike Tella, who just seems slow and acts like she is invincible. She's more selfish and so her naivety comes off as annoying.
At the beginning of this book, I noticed something that Garber likes to do. She did this in Legendary and now in this book. It is where she has her female protagonist repeat their end goal or what they need reminding multiple times in a span of a few pages that come off as if the reader is too dumb to have picked it up the first two times it happens. Luckily with this book, it's only in the first half. There is more action and different worries that cloud Evangeline's mind. Not in Legendary, sadly. Tella had to keep telling herself the same things the entire book, and that may be why I didn't enjoy it as much as Caraval. It was something small, but I noticed and I felt I was being treated as stupid as Tella was behaving.
Overall, The Ballad of Never After does not suffer from the sophomore book curse and continues to show how Stephanie Garber has improved as a writer. She knows how to keep the trilogy going and not fall flat. Yay!
Okay, but why am I such a sucker for Evangeline and Jacks?
The Ballad of Never After is not the best written story out there. There are many things that could be improved. Regardless of all that, I just love it! Take me to the North, I want to study this fairytale place with all these true love and curses.
We pick up this book where Once Upon a Broken Heart left off. Evangeline was stuck in a predicament, mainly her mixed feelings for Jacks. She can't trust him, yet she finds herself trusting him and seeking him out. She even writes herself a letter as a reminder that she cannot trust Jack. We all know how that will turn out. Still, when you think things are finally looking up for her, nope. You see, the North will not be allowing Evangeline her happily ever after. She'll just constantly suffer.
Jacks is as great as ever. You almost had me there, buddy, but I knew you'd show what you really feel. Apollo though... I don't know how to feel about him. In both books, he hasn't been his true self, so that was a twist I did not see coming.
I feel bad for Chaos but I am so intrigued. Also, is he ... and Lala... ?
Evangeline is still kind of naive and I think I know why it doesn't annoy me as much as let's say, Tella in the Caraval trilogy. Evangeline is more hopeful than naive. She knows things aren't always going to work and haven't been working out, but the hope of them becoming better is what keeps her going. She'll put herself in "danger" if it means helping others and getting her happy ending. Unlike Tella, who just seems slow and acts like she is invincible. She's more selfish and so her naivety comes off as annoying.
At the beginning of this book, I noticed something that Garber likes to do. She did this in Legendary and now in this book. It is where she has her female protagonist repeat their end goal or what they need reminding multiple times in a span of a few pages that come off as if the reader is too dumb to have picked it up the first two times it happens. Luckily with this book, it's only in the first half. There is more action and different worries that cloud Evangeline's mind. Not in Legendary, sadly. Tella had to keep telling herself the same things the entire book, and that may be why I didn't enjoy it as much as Caraval. It was something small, but I noticed and I felt I was being treated as stupid as Tella was behaving.
Overall, The Ballad of Never After does not suffer from the sophomore book curse and continues to show how Stephanie Garber has improved as a writer. She knows how to keep the trilogy going and not fall flat. Yay!