Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Book Review: Everless by Sara Holland

Title: Everless
Author: Sara Holland
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orchard Books
Rating: 5 Stars!

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TIME IS A PRISON. SHE IS THE KEY.

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.


My Thoughts...


This book was the best way to start off this new year! I absolutely love this one, and am already looking forward to the next installment. Sara takes readers though an inky mystical world full of secrets, magic, betrayal, and love. There are so many elements that I loved about this one; the world, the plot, the characters, and Holland's writing style. Can you blame me for not being able to choose just one thing I liked? With this one being Holland's debut novel, she has made way with vivid character development and word choice that has rocked me to my core. I just want to shove this book in the faces of those who ask my for recommendations. I can't get enough! Everless must be one of the best books I have read to date, and this story is one that I won't be forgetting any time.

Have you ever heard of a world where the inhabitants use time as currency? Time is drawn from blood and forged into the currency of blood-iron coins, which the wealthy drink to live forever and unfortunately the poor are more than willing to give up. A book has never made me stop and think of how precocious time can be and how valuable of a concept to is, until now. It was really fascinating to see how beep this concept ran in the story's plot, almost bitter-sweet in a scene; time don't grow on trees, it's in people. And seeing how this interesting concept effected the events and characters in this story really made me love-hate the concept even more. I also really loved the mythical tail behind how time became so valued and how, in a shocking twist of fate, didn't turn out to be that mythical at all. 

But what really tied everything together with a little bow for me, was Holland's writing style. This is what pulled me out of my almost 5 month reading slump, and restored my faith in reading once more. I have never read a book that had suspense paired perfectly with the pacing. Usually I find authors either don't up in enough suspense to keep me reading, or run though their story way too fast for my liking. But Everless was different, it kept me hooked from the first chapter to the very last page, all well-balanced and very thoroughly thought out. Holland has easily become one of my favorite authors, and I know I will be reading from her for a long time to come!

Everless will gabble you up and shake you to your core.  With the unforgettable world, plot, and characters; Holland has created a tail full of secrets, magic, betrayal, and love. I have never read anything like this before. Holland has masterful crafted a story that readers will return to again and again, and one that I will never forget.

About the Author...


Sara Holland grew up in small-town Minnesota among hundreds of books. She graduated from Wesleyan University and worked in a tea shop, a dentist’s office, and a state capitol building before heading to New York to work in publishing. These days, she can be found exploring the city’s bookstores or finding new ways to put caffeine in her bloodstream. EVERLESS is her debut novel.

My posts about Everless...