Early Review: Everlife by Gena Showalter
Everlife by Gena Showalter
Everlife #3
At seventeen years old, Tenley “Ten” Lockwood had to make the ultimate choice—where to live after she died. Loyalty to her selected realm has not wavered…until now. She is out of time. Sacrifices must be made, and a terrible price must be paid. But is she too late?
As the Everlife descends into darkness, a single truth becomes clear: Troika and Myriad must unite—or perish. In order to bring sworn enemies together, Ten must enter forbidden territory…and destroy the powerful Prince of Ravens. But there’s only one way inside—bonding with Killian Flynn, a deadly rival who sets her blood aflame.
When nothing goes as planned and betrayal leads to the edge of utter defeat, Ten and Killian will have to rebuild trust from the ashes of their hearts. Victory seems impossible, the odds stacked against them. In the end, how far will they be willing to go for the sake of their realms and the Everlife?
This series has been an interesting one for me. In the first two books I really couldn't stand Ten's character and her constant indecision but I kept holding out hope she would grow. I was granted my wish in EVERLIFE as she's to the other extreme and aside from a choice that has far reaching consequences at the start, she never once wavers in her devotion to Troika. It actually made me admire her a great deal. She finally made her real choice, and no matter how insurmountable the odds nor what was brutally done to her, she never budged. It was, refreshing to be honest. However, this came at a cost as Killian turned into the opposite and while I won't go into details to avoid spoilers, the events surrounding his changes more than frustrated me. It felt more like a plot ploy rather than a well executed twist which is a shame as it lessened the romance for me.
Romance woes aside, I actually enjoyed this whirlwind ending to the trilogy a great deal. The first two books showed potential, but were ultimately rocky. But this series ender definitely took things out on a bang. The world is truly fascinating and the light vs dark aspects old enriched the series more. EVERLIFE truly showed that everything isn't always as it seems and things are not black and white. Light isn't always good, and darkness isn't always evil. There's shades of grey and good and evil on both sides. And that the path to peace is finding balance not truly good/evil or right/wrong. I really enjoyed the way everything was built up, and that ending! Oh, my did I not see that coming! All I can say is very well done Ms. Showalter!
All in all EVERLIFE was a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. You won't be disappointed.
