Jessica (HDB)

And so, we come to the end of the Everneath trilogy. It pains me to say it, but Evertrue took everything I had come to love about this trilogy and threw it all away. All the gorgeous mythology, all the deep character creation, all of it was gone. I felt cheated, but I had to follow this through to the end, and so I read on.

First off, the intense amount of focus on Nikki's love triangle was a slap in the face to me. There's always been a love triangle in this trilogy. Jack and Cole. The boys who are night and day. Poor Nikki caught in between. The difference between the first two books and this one was that it was always understated. Things would happen, we'd be reminded, and it'd go away. Evertrue is one huge love triangle fest. I used to like Jack. I thought his love for Nikki was adorable. While reading this though? I wanted to smack him from here to the Everneath. Seriously. Jealous much sir?

Then there was the fact that my favorite character, the person who kept me reading this series, was all but dismantled in this book. I don't mind Nikki. She's not a generally whiny protagonist, so I have no problem following her. However Cole has always been my favorite. He's sarcastic, highly intelligent, and just the right amount of a bad boy. That's why I couldn't do anything but gape as I saw what my favorite character had become. No spoilers, but it's a massive change. While it did allow for some cute, funny, scenes, I was still heartbroken.

Finally, it was the pacing of Evertrue that really got to me. The first third or so of this book moves so very slowly. I understood why it was written that way, as I had to be reintroduced to the characters I thought I once knew. The big issue is that this slow moving portion takes away a lot from the end. The ending was so rushed, so unsatisfying, that by the time I turned the last page I was devastated. The big showdown I had been waiting for? Never happened.

As a final book in a trilogy, Evertrue just didn't deliver. Poor Cole, Nikki and Jack. They deserved so much more, in my opinion.