REVIEW: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Name: Everneath

Author: Brodi Ashton

Publisher: HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray

Release Date: January 24, 2012 (US)

Pages: 370, Hardcover

Source: Audiobook Library

Rating: 3 Teacups

"Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen."

[summary taken from Goodreads]

Jen's Review

I've always loved learning about Greek mythology, so when I found out that Everneath is based off of the Hades and Persephone myth, I've been excited ever since. Truth be told, Everneath is my first retelling story that I've read about Hades and Persephone! Sadly, however, I found many flaws in the story that I couldn't enjoy much. The characters were flat and boring, and there was that cliché paranormal love triangle aspect going on. The only thing I really enjoyed was the plot and world-building.

THE OH-SO-DREADED LOVE TRIANGLE

You all know what I'm talking about. That love triangle that typically happens in paranormal romance stories. Well, here it shows up in Everneath (I know it's greek mythology, but I'm counting it as paranormal). Guys, I used to like love triangles. I still do. If they're done correctly and not annoyingly. It was pretty aggravating in Everneath, unfortunately. None of the boys were flattering in my opinion, and it just did not work for me.

BORING, AND FLAT AS A PANCAKE

Nothing is worse than characters that aren't entertaining and fun to read about! I couldn't connect to any of them, and there was no spark. I was especially disappointed with Jack--the fact that Brodi Ashton made him a cliché boy. The football player, floppy brown hair… Can we get something new here?  And Nikki was so indecisive that it just ended up annoying me. None of the characters stood out.

AWESOME WORLD

I have to say, the plot and world-building was quite great. The world was very believable for me, and I kept wanting to know more about it. Along with the Everneath world itself, the plot delivered exciting twists. The storyline was able to keep me reading until the end.

All in all, I was quite disappointed with Everneath. I expected a lot more out of it, but didn't get what I wanted. It's decent, but it definitely won't be a memorable read that will stay with me. Although, if you're looking for a greek mythology story, I would still recommend giving this one a try!

Audiobook Review: I definitely suggest reading the book, physically. The audio wasn't my favorite--the narrator sounds a little too robotic and caused the character to sound like she was droning. Acceptable, but it could have been better.

3 teacups for Everneath!