Customer Reviews

Evernight

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(74)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

My previous forays into teen and vampire books have always left me feeling cheated. It's too easy to fall into the sap trap with the former, and devolve into effete and self-conscious inanity with the latter. Not so with Evernight. It is a perfect story for the adolescent set, or anyone else willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy a good tale for a few hours read.

Evernight is a refreshingly entertaining and interesting take on some tried and true themes - coming of age, not fitting in, dealing with the undead. Obviously, there's a lot of flight of fancy here given the premise, and Ms. Gray does a superb job of taking us right into the story of Bianca. She does not get distracted with superfluous back stories, ponderous musings on why things are the way things are, or pointless expositions of how cool her characters are. She jumps into the world as her engaging and wholly likable protagonist sees it, complete with uncertainties and a decidedly modern perspective, and just runs from there. Ms. Gray is adept at dropping little morsels of conflict here and there, whetting our appetite for the inevitable showdown. She does this without being overtly manipulative - the suspense builds very gradually and organically. In fact, I was content just to read about how Bianca interacted with the odd and rarefied world of Evernight - no conflict necessary.

Of course, there is conflict - plenty of it. You get the sense that no one is quite what (or who) they seem, and their agendas are likewise masked. The twists are welcome and make the ride all the more enjoyable, although one or two were a little abrupt and hard to swallow given the way the story played out, but our heroine is so likably normal that these were minor disturbances in an otherwise completely enjoyable experience.

Evernight is a great story, and there are plenty of tantalizing loose ends and "what ifs" that leave me anticipating the next book. Get it and enjoy!

EVERNIGHT starts out as a fish-out-of-water story. Bianca's parents have sent her, for her own good, to Evernight Academy - an elite New England boarding school complete with an imposing faux-Gothic campus and privileged student body. Her parents think Bianca is too shy, too withdrawn, and they hope the competitive and glamorous world of Evernight will shake things up and force Bianca out of her cocoon.

Her parents are right, at least to a point. The other students are world-travelers, sophisticated, used to incredible luxury. Bianca is a small-town girl, inexperienced and naive, and it's a challenge for her to adapt to all this change, let alone fit in. She finds allies among the other mifits, the assorted students who don't quite fit the Evernight "type", especially a handsome, angry young man named Lucas.

Pretty soon, there are two big questions in the novel: One, does Bianca really want to fit in at Evernight - even if she could? And two, what's behind Lucas' strange behavior - why is he so aggressive and overprotective?

I really liked EVERNIGHT, but I had a couple of pretty serious problems with it. One is that the author saves a big revelation for halfway through the book, when she should have let the cat out of the bag in the beginning - because it's Bianca, the first person narrator, who's been keeping secrets. After the reveal, all of Bianca's narration includes constant reference to the knowledge she's had all along, which makes her previous silence feel especially false.

My other problem was with Lucas. Bianca falls hard and fast for him, thinks it's true love, yada yada. But Lucas picks fights, he tries to isolate Bianca socially and to monitor her physically, and he follows her around - one of Bianca's best friends even warns her that he's an abusive boyfriend waiting to happen. I would have been more willing to buy into their volatile, on-again-off-again relationship if it hadn't been for Boy Number Two: Balthazar, who's thoughtful and courteous and, yeah, super handsome. I never understood why Bianca stuck with angry Lucas when someone so much better was waiting in line.

That being said, I'll definitely pick up the sequel when it appears. The revelations about what life at Evernight is really like - and I'll give you a hint, vampires are involved - and Bianca's very unique place there are interesting, and as much as I dislike Lucas I do love a tortured love triangle. Bianca's close relationship with her parents is one of the strongest parts of the novel and I look forward to seeing how they grow and change as a family.

I'd recommend EVERNIGHT to readers who like Stephanie Meyer, P.C. Cast, or Richelle Mead.

I haven't been a teenager for quite a few years now, but I do love a good vampire story. That's the reason I selected Evernight as one of my Amazon Vine picks.

I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't blown away by this tale of a teenage girl who is dragged to Evernight Academy, a gothic boarding school, by her parents when they take positions as teachers there.

Bianca, the main character and narrator of the book, wasn't a particular deep, insightful, or unique character. It is pity that the book is from her point-of-view. The author tries to pull off a surprise twist in the middle of novel, but instead of being a shocking revelation my reaction was more "uh, okay, that really doesn't work with what's happened already in the novel." It was not a good reaction.

I believe this is the author's first novel, and I do see promise in the setting, supporting characters, and the writing style. I will likely read future books by her to see if some of the issues with this novel can be avoided in those.

Evernight Academy is a secluded boarding school, tucked away in the woods where its secrets will not be uncovered. Its secrets are prolific, lasting since its founding centuries ago. While it may seem like simply an elite boarding school, Evernight is much more than that, serving as a haven for some of the world's most hated and hunted. Vampires.

Bianca is none too happy when her parents become teachers at Evernight and enroll her in the spooky school. There is something strange about the other students; they are all too poised, too confident, and too beautiful to be real. Bianca knows that she will find no true friends in that crowd, and she resigns herself to a lonely year spent with her books.

When she meets Lucas, a fellow student who defies the mainstream, Bianca knows that she has found a rare friend. Lucas is gallant, courageous, and friendly. Soon, the two grow close, and Bianca can see herself falling head-over-heels for Lucas, with nothing she can do about it. Mostly, their relationship is tender and caring, but the occasional spat foreshadows a danger lurking in their future. Lucas and Bianca are no ordinary students, and both are hiding secrets from the other. When their differences surface, their love appears doomed. The forces conspiring against them are far more powerful than Bianca and Lucas could ever imagine.

Lies upon lies abound, and Bianca does not know who to turn to as she finds herself caught between a life she has always known and a chance for love. Who can she trust? One rash decision could change her life and the lives of those she loves forever.

Claudia Gray spins a gripping Gothic romance, weaving in threads of the supernatural and the modern. Bianca is a complex character, juggling her responsibilities to her family while trying to follow her heart. Those who enjoy vampire tales will be thrilled with EVERNIGHT for painting a comprehensive picture of vampires, showing vampire life from Bianca's unique perspective and not relegating vampires to a strictly villainous position. Gray does not stereotype her characters or pigeonhole them into traditional roles, letting the reader decide for themselves what it means to be "good" and "evil."

EVERNIGHT is an excellent drama that will leave readers longing for more, but some secrets may never be revealed.

Reviewed by: Amber Gibson

I am going to try and write this review entirely in the first person voice. My instincts warning me not to, I do so anyway, hoping some valued reader out there will soon find my internal voice as annoying as that of Bianca, the soul source of information in the attempt to cash in on Twilight's success that is the new novel Evernight. I am so silly, thinking anyone will make it past the first paragraph, but my breath has drawn so tight in anticipation of it, much in the manner Bianca's breath draws tight when she thinks of Lucas. Bianca and Lucas. Buff and Angel in a private academy where everyone is too pretty, too perfect, too rich, that just happens to be accepting a few "different" kinds of students this year.

All the early impressions I have of Evernight are not very favorable ones. The novel is one written for TeenHarper, the imprint for teens everywhere, which makes me nervous because a good teen book is really just a good book that has avoided situations that might be inappropriate for a teen reader. I have seen too many teen targeted books that are written like an adult's idea of what a teen should sound like and I feel queasy I may be entering a trap, just ahead, in the darkness between the pages ahead me. Then there is a teaser. One with burning arrows and a scary moment about dedication to Lucas and a frightening final line: "Outside, the Vampires waited". Hmmmm, I hum in my head. If this book has to tell me in an intro describing a scene near the end of the book that it's an action oriented vampire tale, this suggests it was put at the front because the first chapter will not set that tone. Waiting to discover my anticipation of disappointment is mere paranoia from books gone by, I read on. I am disappointed that I am disappointed.

Bianca, the heroine of the tale, is supposed to be a 16 year old attending a creepy private school called Evernight, but I am sick of the number of times I have read a reference to the place being spooky - or "spooky as hell"- by page 36 that I can almost imagine it becoming a drinking game should this work ever become a movie. Or, I think to myself, more likely a TV Movie. The hardest thing for me is the intolerable first person perspective of the entire novella. The voice of this 16 year old is very 13 year old. It starts off with her running away to teach her parents a lesson about dragging her to this academy. Her parents are a pretty couple who hate getting up before noon, facts delivered with a rather fine point on them, and now the newest teachers at Evernight, so Bianca gets a free ride in. But she hates it here because - because - well it's kinda spooky.

I find myself more disturbed by the behavior of Bianca than the architecture of Evernight academy. I find my mind wandering off the page with each passing paragraph. If Bianca is a less attractive brainy type, why is she so stupid? I could buy it if she was a little slow, a young child at heart who just can't think more than one step down the line and pays a price for it, but we are being sold on the idea she is bright. I ache for some demonstration to match the proclamation. I am perturbed by the italicized flash-back dream sequences right in the middle of a plot motion, each one having to remind me either before or after each italicized description that the italicized part is in fact a dream.

Examples: ...I had a sudden strange flash of something I'd dreamed the night before, as vivid and immediate as though I were still dreaming: Italics Italics Italics. Why did that memory make me shiver? It was only a dream.

Two pages later: ...the lights weren't on yet, making for a dark, difficult trip. Italics, italics, italics. The last thing I needed was to start flashing back to my nightmares.

Next page: ...they began to fade into the fog. Italics, italics, italics. My nightmare was starting to feel more real than reality.

It was humorous for me now, I realized. "My Nightmare wouldn't leave me alone" It wouldn't leave the reader alone either, I quipped to myself.

So I meet Lucas just as Bianca is realizing that her nightmare is realer than her reality, and that she probably made a mistake running away into a foggy woods in a remote place where cell phones don't work (can you hear me now?) and with no food and little money. Sixteen, I ponder, really? Bianca's sixteen? Maybe I'm spoiled, for my child is sixteen and she could pretty much run the place for me if I keeled over tomorrow. I return to reading the book and discover that there in the woods is a creepy guy and he starts chasing Bianca and he tackles her. The two of them all alone in the woods. He chases her down and essentially mugs her and when he asks who she was running from and explains that he was only trying to help her because "I thought we needed to take cover. To hide from whoever was chasing you...", I feel a desperate desire rise within my soul to abandon the book then and there. That's page 11, I note to myself, contemplating with dread the idea of another 316 more.

That's about it for the action for many chapters to come, so I feel a need to make sure readers of my review understand that this is not the tale foretold in the teaser, and in fact, that boredom will overtake you and the story will fall away from your grasp not because it is complex but just because there is a cat outside that is hunting something and that's more interesting than Evernight. The true weakness of this story is simple, it wants a heroine old enough to be sexy and one that can fall in love without getting too many parental units pissed off, but needs to have a kid's voice to please the editors at TeenHarper. You end up getting an adult playing a child with a fake kid's voice, like in those school plays where a thirty-five year old acts like what they want 16 to be like and not at all what it is like.

You can hear the marketer's voice. Vampires, like in Twilight, a school, like in Harry Potter, and clothing and clicks and other high school teen stuff we read/write about in teen magazines. It will sell: Twilight meets Harry Potter in Teen Beat! We'll have some near fights and some moments where Bianca loves things about Lucas. Girls do that with boys, right, love his voice, love his hair, love that little smile. That's 16. Right there. And toss in a vampire... Cash in our pocket. Which is where any prospective buyer approaching Evernight should actually keep thier spending money, in their own pocket

Look, I couldn't even keep up my first person narrative for a few paragraphs. Why? It ruins a story when there are several people involved. You never get anyone else' perspective, never know something the speaker does not know. It binds the story up. I will reveal that you have to get a hundred and many pages into this one before you find the vampire part of the story. I won't give any more away in a review, but I will say - it was a long haul to the circus tent and a one trick pony was all that was within.

Lately there are tons of vampire romances and vampire books geared to young adults but Evernight really stands out among the rest. Even for a Twiligh or Vampire Kisses fan I think this book is a few notches above the rest as I found really nothing "out of place" or annoying {as I did with those other books even though I do love them, flaws and all} and the heroine is one of the, if not the, most likeable heroine I've come across in quite a while.

I'm not giving any spoilers away but I do have to say that the book keeps you on the edge of your seat and the big twist is a big, big twist indeed. One which I found utterly delightful and I'm sure you will too.

I highly highly recommend this book to any vampire fans or fans of urban fantasy or, shoot, fans of a damn good story! This would make an awesome movie!!!

Can't wait for the next book. In fact, I'm pre-ordering it right now!

When I picked up this review, I had two observations:

1) Gothic teen thriller market might reach oversaturation, but I doubt it. Not with a ready willing supply of writers such as Claudia Gray and Stephanie Meyer, who pave the way for Charlaine Harris and similar kindred authors in the adult category. As one reviewer and the product tags have already revealed, there are vampires involved, but that's as much as I'll say, except to note that vampires in fiction are immortal.

2) What is it about boarding schools as a setting that has appealed to everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to J.K. Rowling? At least this one doesn't feature wizards or someone suddenly discovering that he or she is the super-powerful inexperienced savior (although there is a reference to destiny)--sorry, everyone, Rowling does it so much better. The creepiness of Poe's "William Wilson" infuses a bit of this story. Heroine Bianca Olivier has her parents along for the ride, which creates an interesting dynamic as she navogates the pitfalls and perks of being the Professor's Kid.

On to the plot. Something is desperately wrong at the snobby Evernight Academy. Bianca kicks of the action by running away from the perfect crowd that includes halfway-civil Patrice (who takes on a glamorous-big-sister role), insolent and rude Courtney, downright vicious Erich, and sexy, smart Balthazar. Unfortunately for all of them, Bianca meets up with school outcast Lucas Ross, who has an annoying habit of pushing Bianca to break away from her parents (ironically, he brings her back to the school in the beginning). Hey, Lucas, news flash: Liking Cary Grant does not mean Bianca's an uncool repressed dork, even if you "care" about her.

Bianca and Lucas's risky romantic relationship is somewhat convincing, although she seems to have more of a bond with Balthazar. Lucas gets painted in a more flattering light thanks to his friendship with the lovable Hawaiian-shirted goof Vic. Still, I'm one of the readers who says "awww" and "this is not going to work" simultaneously. I suppose the sequel will reveal all.

Two of the twists in the book snapped me back in my seat (second time in a week with a review book), even though one elicited some strong criqiues and questions from a writing standpoint. Still, it's a good one, and totally unexpected.

The characters feel real, and the writing is suitably spooky and complex. I liked Bianca and sympathized with her as she struggled to find her place in the world.

Sixteen year old Bianca is understandably upset when her parents decide to take teaching positions at Evernight Academy since this means she'll be leaving her friends and old school behind as well. To make matters worse, she immediately doesn't feel as though she fits in; almost everyone else is rich, snobby, and beautiful. So when Bianca meets Lucas, who though good looking is seemingly normal, she's instantly smitten with him. But does he feel the same? And what will he do if he learns her secret?

Evernight is a gripping novel that packs a good surprise about halfway through. I felt Bianca was very believable in all her anxiety about not feeling beautiful or popular, and her longing for the Han Solo-ish Lucas. The setting is somewhat Gothic, and the headmistress, Mrs. Bethany, is downright Victorian, but the cliques and outcasts themes are modern. Bianca finds her own voice as she realizes she's going to have to make some crucial decisions about not only what she stands for, but who she truly is.

The pages turned quickly for me, and I am assuming there will be a sequel because the ending seems to lead that way. I liked Gray's take on the supernatural, though I still don't understand the need for a place like Evernight, and the idea of a Modern Technology class was just silly, as though the students weren't smart enough to learn to live with things like the Internet or a microwave. A word of caution, however: there are some mild sexual situations, though not too graphic, but you do know exactly what's going on. I did indeed like the story, though, and think it's an excellent entry into young adult supernatural novels.

Bianca Olivier does not want to attend Evernight Academy - she finds it creepy - but she has no choice since her parents are teachers there. She feels like she doesn't fit in, but she manages to make friends, especially with Lucas Ross. Bianca and Lucas are drawn together, but both are keeping secrets from each other, dark secrets that may tear them apart and threaten their existence.

"Evernight" is an excellently written piece of teen fiction. The first person narration by Bianca is nicely done and author Claudia Gray does a good job of capturing the uncertainty of a teenager starting a new school. Gray also does a good job of portraying the creepy Evernight Academy and its students. When I first started reading it, I thought "Evernight" was going to be a standard teen horror/gothic novel (a Lifetime movie in print so to speak) but halfway through the novel Gray throws in a twist that takes the novel in an entirely new and welcome direction. I will not spoil the twist here, but will say that I didn't see it coming. After reading the twist, I reread the first part of the book and Gray does an excellent job of providing the reader with hints as to what is going on without giving it entirely away. Well done.

"Evernight" is the first book in a four part series. Although some plot lines are left open, it certainly can be read on its own. However, I am eagerly waiting for the next book in the series to find out what happens to Bianca and her friends and her enemies.

"Evernight" is well done.

I found a lot to like as I progressed through this book. A creepy setting, a mysterious guy our heroine is falling for, trouble between them, a competing love interest. And I really liked the main character, Bianca, who is terribly shy and now has been moved by her parental units to a secluded boarding school, Evernight. Not only does Bianca not like the "in" crowd, she doesn't want to be like them. She also likes the one guy who actively thumbs his nose at the "in" kids, Lucas.

It was all going nicely, with the exception of me wondering when the vampire thing would show up, as I was halfway through the book--when Bianca kisses Lucas and BITES HIM ON THE NECK AND DRINKS HIS BLOOD.

In that one moment, the author lost all credibility with me and I had to put the book down lest I tear it in two. I was really annoyed. Because she cheated. She cheated by lying to readers and telling us by everything that previously occurred that Bianca wasn't a vampire, that she didn't know anything about vampires... Then she bites her boyfriend and the language of the story changes. Suddenly, Bianca not only knows but is a vampire from birth, and her parents are vampires; she is here at an academy where vampires come to learn about the modern age, and these other kids are some of them hundreds of years old. Not to forget that "juice" is now "watered down blood" which Bianca has been drinking all her life (the only previous indication of which is that students eat in their rooms and once Bianca mentioned that she'd have to go back to her room to eat more because a regular lunch didn't fill her up.) And after the Big Reveal, there is all sorts of backfilling information that explains things that before were presented as mundane and normal. There was no foreshadowing that led me to see this coming. Or if there was, it was so minimal that I missed it (and if I did, so will most readers.)

After the bite, everything that was presented before is off, at least until you can forget that the world has been utterly changed in that one scene. It doesn't match with what we now understand is Bianca's perception. Considering we see the world through her point of view, it is failing to keep covenant with the readers. Once you build a world, you don't just suddenly change it. Just about everything that our narrator Bianca tells us is completely false, not just misunderstood by readers who have been tricked by an unreliable narrator, but false, as in there was nothing to really indicate that Bianca was an unreliable narrator.

The one thing that really bothered me most after the Big Reveal that Bianca is a born vampire is that the other students aren't high school kids, yet the author continues to treat them as if they are. Bianca thinks about them like they are kids, they act like teens in a normal teen romance (e.g. just as they did before the Big Reveal). This makes no sense and is actually rather creepy to continue to treat them as if they are actual teens.

Excellent writing up to the bait and switch and even after; but there are two different stories from two different worlds here. And that's why the three stars.