On the Bookshelf

After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school where they met, Bianca and Lucas take refuge with Black Cross, a fanatical group of vampire hunters. Bianca must hide her supernatural heritage or risk certain death at its hands. But when Black Cross captures her friend—the vampire Balthazar—hiding is no longer an option. Soon Bianca and Lucas are on the run again, pursued not only by Black Cross, but by the powerful leaders of Evernight. Yet no matter how far they travel, Bianca can't escape her destiny. Bianca has always believed their love could survive anything...but can it survive what's to come?

My Thoughts:
I wasn't that into the first book in this series, Evernight, but I thought that the second book, Stargazer, wasn't too bad so I started the latest instalment in the series with the hope that it would show further signs of improvement. Unfortunately that was not the case. I really had to force myself to read Hourglass through to the end.

I continue to be unable to feel the relationship between Bianca and Lucas. Having ended up accidentally inserting more chemistry in to the relationship between Balthazar and Bianca, Gray frequently has Bianca remind the shippers out there that she and Balthazar really are now just friends.

I also didn't like the pacing. Some parts dragged while the ending in particular seemed rushed. As in Stargazer, Bianca remains an irritating character by continuing to make bad choices and failing to figure out what the readers probably all figured out about a book and a half ago.

Overall, I found Hourglass to be the worst book in the series to date. My exploration of the Evernight series ends here.

Evernight by Claudia Gray
Stargazer by Claudia Gray
The Awakening by L.J. Smith

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From the Back Cover
Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning....

Warning: This review contains some spoilers.

I did not dislike Stargazer as much as I did Evernight but I remain far from being a fan of the series.

In Evernight Gray tried to draw a comparison between the themes in her work, particularly pertaining to Raquel and Erich, and Bram Stoker's Dracula by having the book and it's flaws discussed in a class. This time around, they discuss Romeo and Juliet and Bianca wonders if her relationship with Lucas is the same kind of foolish love shared by Shakespeare's famous "star-crossed" lovers, risking everything for someone that she hardly knows. I came to feel that, in regards to the relationships in the book, Gray sets up a lot and then doesn't follow through. Bianca has doubts about Lucas and there is conflict between them but everything of course turns out fine between them in the end. The attraction between Balthazar and Bianca is explored but just as it seems like it might genuinely develop into something the nature of their relationship abruptly changes to make way for Bianca and Lucas to be "true loves" again.

In Evernight the twists were more difficult to guess but not necessarily appreciated for it. In Stargazer most of the twists can be seen from a mile off. One wonders why Bianca cannot figure out the obvious and when she does it is only when the information practically drops in her lap. Readers may find Bianca quite dislikable because of this and some of her poorer choices.

On the positive side, Stargazer contained much more action which was much more welcome than sitting in on more classes and cattiness in the hallways. We got enough of that in the first book. Support characters also received much more development, adding more depth to Gray's world. Vic, for example, is not just the funny guy in the group but he is actually pretty smart and philosophical.

I doubt that I will actively seek to read the next instalment in the series, Hourglass, but seeing as this book showed some improvement on the previous, in hope that the next book is improved yet again, I may read it if it shows up available at the library.

Also Check Out
Evernight by Claudia Gray

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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

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