Customer Reviews

Ever

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Olus is the Akkan god of the winds - but at just seventeen years old, much younger than all the other gods and goddesses, he doesn't fit in and often feels lonely. So he decides to spend some time among the mortals of the world. He travels to the nearby land of Hyte, and becomes particularly fascinated by a mortal girl named Kezi and her family.

Fifteen-year-old Kezi lives a comfortable and carefree life. She is a gifted weaver of rugs, and she loves to dance. But her carefree life is shattered in one terrible moment. Her mother becomes deathly ill, and desperate to save his wife, her father makes a terrible oath to make a sacrifice to the Admat, the all-powerful god of Hyte, if his wife is spared. And in order to protect her aunt, who saved Kezi's life as a child, Kezi fufills the oath and will become the sacrifice. Now, Kezi has just thirty days to find a way to save her life. Olus, who has fallen in love with Kezi, believes he can save her by helping her become immortal, and to that end the young couple sets off on a series of quests that will test their courage and their love for each other.

Ever was another wonderful fantasy adventure by Gail Carson Levine, told in the alternating voices of Kezi and Olus, giving us a glimpse into both their minds. As with her other books, she has created an exotic and believable world filled with wonderful characters. I highly recommend this book to fans of the author's other novels, as well as to young teens who enjoy romantic fantasy novels.

I guess I'd do 2 and a half stars if I could. I am usually a big Gail Carson Levine fan. I ADORED Ella Enchanted and both of the main characters in that whom made me giggle out loud. I can read that one a million times over and never get bored with it. The two Princesses of Banmarre is good. And Fairest was pretty good though not quite up to par with the other two. That said, I'm a bit dissapointed in Ever. Although I know it was working a completely different time than she usually writes about . . . it felt a little stilted. There were some good moments, but the romance was rushed and didn't have much build up which caused the ending to fall a little flat in my mind. I'm sad because I was very excited this book was coming out. It still has a decent story, but I didn't feel as much for the two main characters after a certain point. Most of my emotion was used up in the early paragraphs. I'd recomend her other books well before I would recomend this one. I've read worse books, but . . . this one left me feeling a little gipped.

"Ever" by Gail Carson Levine. Review by a 15 year old girl.

Introduction: The gods in this story have powers over specific elements of nature. A young god named Olus rules over the wind, and he is very lonely because he is so much younger than all the other gods. Because of his youth he relates better to mortals, and falls in love with a mortal girl from another land named Kezi. In Kezi's land people believe in one all powerful god named Admat, and her father foolishly makes an oath to their god which results in him agreeing to sacrifice his daughter Kezi. Olus must find a way to save Kezi from being sacrificed, but even if he succeeds Kezi will live a mere human lifespan while he will live thousands of years. What can they do to be happy?

My recommended age to read: I think 9 years old is way too young; I'd recommended the child to be at least 11 or 12. They should have an understanding of reality, and be old enough to read about other religions with confidence. (This book portrayed the monotheistic god (which seems to be modeled after the old testament God) as cruel, impersonal, unforgiving, not really all powerful, and non existent.)

Things I liked: During the later part of the book I was able to escape reality and enter the world of the book, and I also liked Kezi's challenge and the way she handled it.

Things I disliked: I prefer past tense, rather than the first-person present tense used in this book. I really didn't like the beginning; I found the writing style very confusing and difficult to get used to. If it had been a complicated story I would have been lost. Luckily (or unluckily) the story is somewhat shallow; most of all the love story. They had such strong love for each other (never fighting a single time), but it had no basis! It just didn't seem realistic at all to me! Why do they never get irritated by each other? It's like a crush, except unlike real life it's idealized to be just what you daydream about. Perhaps that was the problem. Although the characters are likable, the two main characters don't really have any flaws. Sure they have fears and doubts, but they remain almost perfect throughout their dificulties. During the first half of the story I couldn't get into the book at all, I just popping back to reality saying "God being everywhere (omnipresent) isn't ridiculous." or "how can you be kissing already!?" or "why do you love someone that much who you just met?".

Conclusion: At first I thought it would be a waste of my time, but later on things got better. I was surprised how much spiritual stuff was in this book, and it made me want to find out Mrs. Levine's beliefs, either religious or secular. I think if I could find information on her opinions about life, maybe I could understand what her purpose was in writing. I'm inexperienced, but my impression was that she believes "god" is something humans have to attain by finding it within themselves.

Kezi is a mortal girl.

Olus, the god of the winds.

Olus watches Kezi as she weaves colorful rugs, and dances around her mud brick dwelling. He watches when her mother fells ill and when her father buys her life with an oath to Admat, the invisible god Kezi and her parents worship.

By the time Kezi and Olus meet and fall in love, her father's oath has sealed Kezi's fate: to pay for her mother's life, she's to die in thirty days.

But Olus, reluctant to give her up, comes up with a plan to help her escape death, and convinces Kezi to come with him. When she agrees, the winds Olus commands take the young lovers from the harsh, dry lands where Kezi lives to Olus's luscious country. But the gods that live beyond mortals' reach, high above the higher peak, refuse to help them.

In a struggle against time to gain the gods' support, Kezi travels deep into the darkness of the underworld where hope never enters and memories are lost. And while, she looks there for Admat, the god who owes her life, Olus faces a trial of his own. If he's to help his love, he must overcome his deepest fear and become her champion.

The setting, an imaginary world reminiscent of Ancient Greek (Olus's) and of the desert lands of the Middle East (Kezi's), is vividly described, and the writing has a dreamy, poetic quality that works well.

My only complain is that the voices of Kezi and Olus, who tell the story in alternate chapters, are not distinctive enough and sometimes it was hard to know who the narrator was.

But although the continuous shifting in the point of view and the somehow confusing foreign names of the characters slowed my reading in several occasions, the story kept my interest until the end.

"Ever" is a simple love story, but underneath the surface the book addresses some very complex questions.

The story begins when Kezi's father feels helpless over his wife's illness, and makes a rash oath to his god in an attempt to "bargain" for divine help. After the crisis is over, he refuses to renounce his oath, even at the cost of his child's life, out of fear of divine reprisals.

The book preaches nothing -- it simply asks question after question. Does God exist? Will God intervene in your life? Do you have a destiny? How can your belief in God or in destiny change the actions you take and the outcomes in your life? How do other people effect what you believe about God? What if religious leaders taught false concepts about God? What is the origin of religion? What drives people to take inappropriate actions based on their concept of God? Does your religion help you live your life well or does it merely bring comforting delusions? How would you live today if you thought you didn't have a future? Do you have any God-like powers of your own? What is the relationship between faith and action?

In the end Kezi decides she does not know if her father's god exists. She does not rule out the value of trying to find out, but she also does not commit herself to living the religion taught by her father. Kezi, in effect, becomes agnostic. She also comes to appreciate the vast power she has within herself to control destiny.

"Ever" will not destroy your faith, but it might lead you to consider what your faith is based on and motivated by. Children who read this book might appreciate being able to talk these questions over with their parents.

Ever is a nice little love story, that reads almost like an ancient legend. Great setting, interesting cultures, epic love.
It's a quick read. I finished it in one day. The plot was engaing enough, but overall, I was left unsatisfied.
To be honest, I felt that Levine wrote this for a quick paycheck. The plot kind of flies along, and it seemed like she wasn't really thinking through every choice. The love story is a bit shallow. I didn't really feel Kezi and Olus' love. The ending lacked. It felt like there were three seperate climaxes, and in between those were rambling passages that felt like filler to get to the next part. All of this could have been fixed if she had taken a bit more time.
All in all, not bad. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Whether a blessing or a curse for a writer, their work will be judged much by the quality of their previous work. Sadly for Gail Carson Levine, this is far below her usual splendid books. The improbability of the story (even for a fairy tale) is absurd--the god of the winds and Kezi immediately fall in love and live happily ever after. Anyone who noticed the scripture at the beginning should immediately pick up that this is supposed to be a retelling of the story of Jephtha's tragic vow--a different take than Ms. Levine's normal fairy-tale retelling. I found myself arguing with her conclusions more than enjoying the book. Her insinuation that the forbidding of human sacrifice was inserted into Mosaic law after the sacrifice of Adina was absurd, and even though she tried to leave the ending of the story open, I left it with a bad taste in my mouth, and went and listend to O.T. Action News: Jeptha's Vow, to try to get it out.

Though the story itself was interesting enough, it was fairly predictable and I found myself wondering how much longer until the end. When the end finally did come, I discovered that the character development was so lacking, I didn't particularly care if Kezi lived or died, and was just ready to get it over with.

The book also lacked any of Ms. Levine's lovable humor. Greater than that, however, was the glaring failed attempt at delving into the doubt of the monotheistic God, which fell absolutely flat. This book, in summation, was a disappointment, especially compared to Ms. Levine's other excellent books.

This is a very nice novel that is definitely worth a read. The story is clever and very original, and the characters, while occasionally shallow and underdeveloped, are very engaging. I would borrow it from the library, though, before buying it, as it is a quick read (I finished the entire thing in less than a day). I had the good fortune of being able to go see Gail Carson Levine at a book signing and get my copy signed, and she pointed one editing mistake that she had found in the book: when Kezi is at her cousin's wedding and she sees Olus stacking plates, he accidentally drops one, though his wind makes it hover above the ground, preventing it from breaking. The mistake is the fact that the book describes Olus as standing behind the table, so Kezi wouldn't actually be able to see the plate. Mrs. Levine said that in the second printing of the book this mistake would be corrected. In short this is a lovely little story, and while it does have romance it is very sweet and positively appropriate for younger children.

Olus, the young god of the wind, prefers to live with humans rather than his divine companions, all of whom are hundreds of years older than he is. In his travels he can't help noticing and falling in love with the beautiful and talented Kezi. At first he forces himself to be content merely watching, but then Kezi's father makes a deadly oath, and Kezi has only a month left to live. Unwilling to let her die, Olus reveals himself and offers Kezi a chance at life.

But before Olus and Kezi can defy fate and make a new life for her, they must survive the most frightening tests of their lives -- alone. Can they prove themselves worthy in the gods' eyes, and their own?

EVER is a touching novel about the power of love in overcoming fear, and the many different types of faith. The myth-like story takes place in a unique setting, more like India than the traditional medieval backdrop of most fantasies, and which makes for a fascinating world to explore. Olus and Kezi make for sympathetic narrators, passionate but wiser than their years would suggest.

Readers may wish that their adventures lasted longer. What adventure there is will have them turning the pages, eager to find out whether Kezi will survive, and what she may have to give up in the process. An excellent novel for older children and teens, especially those interested in other cultures and questions of faith.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

Ever seems to be a retelling of the famous 'Eros and Psyche' (or Cupid and Psyche) myth.
'Eros and Psyche' was always my favorite myth and yet I was never truly happy with the ending. I thought that the whole point of the story was that Psyche betrayed him and so she had to go through the quest to redeem and prove herself worthy of being a goddess. But she yet again proves herself a weak person by opening Persephone's box and has to be saved by Eros.

What I liked about Ever is that it took the 'Eros and Psyche' myth and took out all the parts I didn't like about it. There were no malicious/jealous/nosy sisters, no betrayal of trust, and no need for the helpless heroine to be saved by the hero; in fact, it is the heroine, Kezi, who saves the life of Olus (a god), proving that she is indeed worthy of being an immortal.

Sure there were some aspect of the book that I didn't particularly like (I honestly don't get why the heroine is so obsessed with dancing . . . it didn't seem like it contributed anything to the narrative), but those, to me, are relatively minor so all in all, I'm pretty happy with this book. I'm grateful that someone has finally re-written the 'Eros and Psyche' myth and given the heroine some backbone! :)