On the Bookshelf

Bianca has just left the small town where she's spent her whole life. She's a new student at Evernight Academy, a creepily Gothic boarding school where her classmates are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

Then she meets Lucas, another loner, who seems fiercely determined not to be the "Evernight type." There's a connection between Bianca and Lucas that can't be denied. She would risk anything to be with him—but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart... and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed to be true.

Some people may not be pleased to hear that I came away from finishing this book with mixed feelings about it. Evernight has some good qualities while at the same time having other qualities that I really did not particularly like.

I started reading Evernight without really knowing anything about it except that it was a vampire story. This proved important to my enjoyment of the book as Gray has woven in some great unpredicatble plot twists that caught me completely off guard. On the downside, the major twist also reveals Bianca to be an unreliable and inconsistant narrator. While this was the intent of the author, I found it an annoying quality, particularly because after this event Bianca now thinks about the issue all the time whereas previously it never once came up.

I also disliked the way Gray handled the romance between Bianca and Lucas. At first it seemed like she might start with a normal teenage crush and progress from there only to instead quickly degrade into yet another desperate star-crossed true love. What really confuses me in these kind of novels is why the author always makes the romantic competition so much more likable. His name aside, Balthazar is made out to be the far better choice and Bianca even disregards a warning from a friend that Lucas sounds like he would be an abusive partner.

It was disappointing to see that Gray had given herself this great gothic setting but did not utilise it better. Between both the setting and certain plot points Gray could have created a wonderful gothic tone. The setting up is there but the tone wasn't really achieved, especially when you throw into the mix a lead character who pokes her tongue out at the stone gargoyles. As a result, Evernight Academy rarely seemed "creepily gothic" as opposed to just an old and snooty boarding school.

One more thing, why would hundreds-of-years-old vampires tolerate consenting to curfews and pop quizzes? Why would they enroll in high school when we are even told that there are (nicer sounding) options out there for them to achieve the same goals?

Give it a try if you have enjoyed other stories of irrational teenage supernatural love but overall I found Evernight to be a bit hit and miss.

Fallen by Lauren Kate
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Terra