A review by jen1804
The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

adventurous dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I very much enjoyed this book. I think there’s still quite a few holes which need filling and the writing style itself is still quite YA with short sentences. Sometimes I find that Evangeline’s thoughts and actions can feel innocent and feeble and I feel myself shoot back to picturing her as just a girl when I want to picture her as a woman. But having said that I do think this book ventured into darker and more grown-up territory in the best ways whilst remaining in YA status. I felt I was able to imagine the characters as older, ✨hotter✨, and a bit more well established than what I imagined in the first book. There’s more flirting, more skin to skin contact, and more ✨feelings✨in this book which I am so here for. I also enjoyed Evangeline’s character more in this book, I felt like she was just better and had a little bit more summin’ summin’ about her, though still needs a bit more development in my opinion. I’m obsessed with Jacks’ character, ugh, I love. Though he has gold hair in this book rather than his midnight blue from book one which I ✨struggled✨ with.
The plot is decent, it kept me engaged, there’s a quest vibe to it which I liked. We get lots of answers in this book but as I said earlier it also opens up lots of unanswered questions and leaves behind holes. Various plot points happen in the story which we just don’t seem to hear about again and I find that annoying. I’m really hoping all the loose ends get tied up in book three as I would be very appreciative of that.
The ending was great and Jacks’ decision of how to use the stones made my little heart extremely happy. The whole thing was left on a cliffhanger which I’m always a sucker for so I enjoyed that a lot!
Overall it was a great read, I just think in terms of writing style, narrative depth and character development I don’t get how so many people give this a 5 star rating.
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