Is it a blessing or a curse, never to know how much time you have?
Let me start with this: I loved Everless. I’ve been impatiently waiting for my library’s copy of Evermore to arrive as it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Maybe the pedestal I built for it was too high; I did enjoy it but I was also disappointed. It may have helped if I’d read the books consecutively; I had forgotten important parts of the mythology until I was reminded of them.
Sempera is the only land with magic, a land where time and blood are bound. The Alchemist and Sorceress have been enemies for multiple lifetimes and their story has become legend in this land. I couldn’t get enough of the mythology surrounding the snake and the fox in Everless and was eager to learn more. After so many minor excursions into the previous lives of the Alchemist I did enjoy the huge info dump at the end of the book, but I wanted more.
Liam, who was one of my favourite characters in Everless, lost his mystery and complexity in this book and I had trouble remembering what was so incredible about him. I liked Stef and Elias and am fairly certain I would have loved them if I’d gotten to know them better; unfortunately they still felt like acquaintances at the end of the story.
I’m wondering if I would have appreciated this story more if it was told in more than one voice. Jules didn’t make my top five favourite characters in either book but I would have loved reading even part of the story from the perspectives of Caro and Ina.
I am left with several unanswered questions that are bugging me, including: If Caro’s guards had Liam surrounded while he was frozen in time at the end of the book how did he get past them to find Jules? Why didn’t Jules show the stone Stef gave her to Joeb? Also, what happened with Stef? Her story felt unfinished.
If this had been the first book in the series I probably would have put it down but the residue of my love for Everless made me persevere.
Once Upon a Blurb
Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: She is the Alchemist, and Caro – a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules’s first love, Roan, in cold blood – is the Sorceress.
The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole her heart twelve lifetimes ago. Now Jules must piece together the stories of her past lives to save the person who has captured her heart in this one.
Schizanthus Nerd 