I was also frustrated with the shallow character development of the two main males in particular. Had the situation that she thought she saw been real would have made the book much more complex and interesting, as it would have given the characters actual issues to work through and a realistic portrayal of the flaws in every relationship. For example, the “falling out” with one of the males that drove the protagonist to make a life-altering decision was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding that was rather cliché and easily detectable.

I enjoyed the use of the anti-hero in Cole and while Jack is loveable and a seemingly genuine good-guy, a lot of the relationship drama felt weak. It felt disjointed and was hard for the reader to settle into, because the author just throws you into the story with little world-building and background and reveals things in small pieces later, by which the reader has already had to make their own assumptions or has lost interest in the author’s original intent. I loved the glimpses into the world of the Everneath, and the idea of the Everliving, but these bits were few and far between compared to the mundane high school events that comprised a majority of the book. I love the idea of basing it off of the myth of Persephone, and there’s so many directions the book could have gone in. This book had such good reviews among the goodreads community that I was disappointed when I finally picked it up.

Everneath series