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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than a kid's book!, June 27, 2002
This review is from: Search for Senna (Everworld #1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I got this book for Christmas about 5 years ago, and at the time I didn't really even plan to read it. It didn't seem interesting to me, and I was starting to grow out of all these kiddie books. But, a while back, I was looking for something to do, so I just decided what the heck, I'll give it a try. As soon as I got started, I could not put it down. I read the whole thing within 2 days. This is a great story. It's full of depth and meaning, and the imagery is just amazing. You'll really feel like you're in this book as you read it. The story is of 3 high school kids, who are taken to this parallel world. One of the kids, David, is trying to find his girlfriend, Senna, who was also taken to this other world. As they search, they encounter a wide variety of beings, such as giant animals, Norse gods, vikings, even Aztecs. This world seems to be a refuge for past civilations that have all but vanished from modern society. Stranger yet, the kids seem to be living two lives. They are in this other world, but every time they fall asleep, they cross back over into the real world. It's like they're in both places at once. The interesting thing about this is the effect that it has on David, the main character. The story is told from his perspective, and as he lives this double life, he begins to realize that life in the "real world" is rather pointless by comparison. These people in this other world are fighting in wars, working hard to survive, and meanwhile we are going about boring, mundane lives with no real point. David slowly realizes that this other life in this other world is where he wants to be. Here, he's a warrior going into battle. Back home, he's just a punk kid who goes to high school and works at a coffee shop. The experience changes him, and we see that through his eyes. Perhaps I've said too much, but this is a really great book. I think high school kids are the target audience, but I think anyone could enjoy this. The book has an exerpt of the second part in the series, and I noticed that the perspective has changed to one of the other characters. I was puzzled at first, but I'm guessing that in each book, the story is told from different perspectives to show the effect these experiences have on each character. It may complicate things a bit, but that's a pretty cool idea. All in all, I really enjoyed this, and I'd really like to check out the rest of the series. This isn't up there with the likes of Tolkien and Arthur C. Clarke, but it makes for a quick and engaging read.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun and actually educational (no, really), July 20, 2002
This review is from: Search for Senna (Everworld #1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Applegate's Animorphs and Everworld series share a similar demographic base with R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street books (both by Scholastic, which also publishes J.K. Rowling). Applegate, though, is the better writer by a long shot. That said, I have yet to develop a serious interest in the hugely popular Animorphs. I felt the series was entirely too device rather than plot-driven (the device being kids who, thanks to extraterrestrial influences, could change--or "morph"--into animals). But I'm a big fan of its less-appreciated older sibling, Everworld. It begins with her racially balanced gang of suburban kids getting transported into an alternate universe, a kind of dumping ground for all the old world mythological gods. After that, it turns into a serial novel in the true sense of the old B-movie Hollywood cliffhangers: quick, easy reads, snappy dialog and lots of action verbs. It's a formula that reminds me of a comment by Kurosawa on the writing of Hidden Fortress: every morning he'd think up a real fix to get his hero and heroine into, and it'd be up to his writing staff to figure out a way to get them out of it. Applegate does have. A tendency. To use way too many. Periods. And either Applegate or her publisher (Scholastic) decided that no one gets to really swear, so we're too often left with those television cuss-word approximations. I say, either use the real words, or take it out. The compromise is just annoying. Otherwise, she does a good job with capturing teen sensibilities in impossible situations. She sticks to a strict POV, but rotates it book to book (as she does in Animorphs). It provides a Rashomon-like perspective on her characters' internal and interpersonal conflicts. She then seasons her prose with just enough teen angst and contrariness to make her teens' inner lives compelling and realistic, without coming across as self-absorbed and annoying. And she has done her homework. It's not the forum where you expect a textbook approach to the subject, but pay attention and you will learn a good deal about world mythological traditions. Taken as a whole, Everworld ultimately proves a point that needs proving more often: try to be profound on purpose, and you'll end up sounding shallow; start out by telling a good story and the profundities emerge on their own. Although her teens' hang-ups and foibles occasionally have that After School Special feel to them, by keeping the plot pounding along like a herd of stampeding elephants Applegate staves off unnecessary and self-indulgent wallowing, and ends up saying a whole lot more about life than you would have imagined possible in this genre.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome, March 8, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Search for Senna (Everworld #1) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book had me hooked from the start. I was first drawn to the series because I'm into horror,fantasy, and mythology, and the series is an interesting combination of all three. You have 5 totally different people and how each one feels and reacts to a life less ordinary. I highly recommend the series to anyone.
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