Reviews

The Ballad of Never After (OwlCrate Edition) by Stephanie Garber

lucindacho's review against another edition

4.0

4.5
The ending....???!!! I LIVE for Evajacks now. Perfection. 400 pages of Jacks and Evangeline interaction redid my brain chemistry to a whole new level. Her books are so fast and fun to read.
JACKS

lara_bk's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nraucardon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

aibibyreads's review against another edition

4.0

I finally got to book#2 of The Once A Broken A Heart series. I actually like this series far more than Caraval. I believe you can start reading this series without having to read Caraval.

I like this series so far because it has more of an adventure aspect to it. The book to me feels like it is constantly going, and that keeps it from being boring.

I do like this book better than the first. Typically, the first book is what usually draws most readers to continue to read the next. However, I enjoyed this second installment much more. I do like that I got to read a little bit more about the other characters in the story rather than them just being fillers.

I feel like if Stephanie Garber wanted to wrap up the series, it could've been done with book 2. I think that there was a lot that was unfolded with this book, and so there really was not too much left, imo. I have an idea what book 3 will be about and I hope that it'll be much better than this book.

I do think that the story of Jacks and Eva's storyline was predictable, only because they were spending so much time together. It happened in the 1st book and in this one. It was bound to happen.

I'm not sure if I was surprise about Chaos and the arch. I personally didn't see that coming. For some reason, I still believed that Jacks had secrets tied to the arch. I also didn't see some of the weirdest twists in the story that was added. I did get confused about Jacks being a fate in the beginning. It made much more sense towards the end. I did get confused as to whether he was a fate or if he was cursed. It all ties in at the end, but I felt like it kept bouncing back and forth, and that word was being overly used.

I guess I would say this book is a 3.5 on my rating scale. I feel like the way this book is written is very, very whimsical. If I could imagine this world put together, whimsical is how I would describe it. I feel like a dash of Pirates of the Caribbean thrown in there as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this all ends in book 3!

I was told you need to read Caraval and finish it to fully understand Jack's story. I think if you never plan on reading Caraval, it's fine to start this series on its own. However, if you plan on ever wanting to read Caraval, you probably should start with that

jahnaviagrawal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

katelysmith's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

megan_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

ajiran's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious

3.75

madamelame's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

ebonyanngreen's review against another edition

4.0

Oh damn I liked thisssss! I like that these books are easy reads and I gobbled it UP! I can’t pin point why I liked this story more than the first. I think it might be because we see Jacks and his soft spots more and because Apollo is the bad guy officially! Never liked him, gave me the ewies soz. Idk this book just felt more ‘ooohhh’ for lack of a better description! It made me feel things, I was really into the adventure and the twists and turns about the present events and her discoveries of the past

The tension and slow burn is so good! I’m allllll for Evangeline and Jacks, good LORD! He’s still such a mystery, I hope the next book dives into his thoughts more! He’s very up and down but I think it’s something deeper than he’s a ‘bad guy’ I feel like he’s not letting himself open up to enjoy what they share! The secrets and betrayals in the book really make you doubt what his intentions are but my heart says stop messing around, it’s meant to be ya silly billys!

The ending was GASP worthy. The Valory Arch was worth the build up tbh! It was really intriguing how the book was set up in relation to the time travel. It honestly confused me at first lol

Big bad Apollo, I hope you get what you deserve in the finale. TEAM JACKS AND LITTLE FOX! Leave the poor girl alone you memory stealing dog