Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:
Synopsis for Nevermore (from Goodreads):
Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.
As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares.
His life depends on it.
Series: Nevermore Trilogy
Author: Kelly Creagh
# of Books: 3 (Nevermore, Enshadowed, Oblivion)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Romance
Heat Rating: cool
Point of View: Third Person, Single
Publication Dates: August 2010 – July 2015
Source & Format: Public Library–Hardcover (Nevermore, Enshadowed), eBook (Oblivion)
Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:
I can’t recall how I found Nevermore. I think it was through Indigo’s YA Summer reads one year. Anyways, the idea of a cheerleader falling for a “goth” is a cliché in and of itself, but the weavings of Edgar Allen Poe’s work into a paranormal world? Call me intrigued!
The Concept / The World:
I’m not a huge Poe fan per say, but I’ve read many of his works for school and enjoy his unique stories. So I was excited to see how Kelly Creagh was going to work it all together.
The great thing about this series is that you don’t have to know Poe’s work inside and out in order to understand what is happening. I’m sure it would help at times and it would enrich your experience, but it isn’t necessary.
I will admit I still don’t really understand the world all that well–even after finishing the books. I know enough to enjoy the story and move forward without feeling completely lost. Part of the issue is that there was nearly 2 years between all the books–that is a super, super long time between books! Especially when you have read numerous other books in between and don’t have the time to reread everything (because these books are long). Thankfully, I kept good notes on what happened but I still feel like some of the finer details were missing for me in the grande scheme.
The Plot:
The plot takes a long time to get going at the start. I remember reading Nevermore waiting for the romance and drama to begin. And that isn’t to say that nothing happened during those first few chapters; it’s just not a high action paranormal read. Those chapters instead focus on character and world development, which is needed because the paranormal aspects are quite complex. But once everything starts to reveal itself, you get more of the paranormal plot line.
There really isn’t much else to these books besides the romance and paranormal plot line. Meaning, there isn’t a lot of subplots as everything stems to the one common problem. And because of that, I didn’t find this book to be extremely “twisty”, rather it just had big revelations when things were made clear to the reader. Despite not having high levels of action for its book length, I still found this series to be super easy to read and it kept my attention. My attention may have been spent 80% of the time trying to keep everything about the world straight, but it made me pay attention.
The Characters:
I remember not really liking Isobel initially when I started Nevermore. She reminded me a lot of Elena from The Vampire Diaries in her character delivery–the cold hearted, popular cheerleader. But she really grew on me as her character expanded.
Varen is also a complex character but I always really liked him. He’s got that tortured soul thing going on and I like the mystery surrounding him. He always really intrigued me, especially when Isobel is the main focus of the narration, because he comes across as such an enigma. It was fun trying to learn more about him as a character while I read.
The rest of the cast is pretty typical of a paranormal YA series. New girl quickly becomes BFF, crazy exes, over protective parents, etc. But they all really work for this story and do their roles well.
The Romance:
I really liked Van and Isobel together. I think it helped that we got to really know their characters first when it came to seeing their relationship bloom.
It’s also a dark love–very reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe’s work. Perhaps I was just oblivious to it or perhaps it really doesn’t manifest until the final book but it almost seemed unhealthy to me. I think part of my issue was that it had been so long since I read Enshadowed and so I forgot plot developments and feelings. Once I got into Oblivion a bit more, I was totally back on board with their romance.
Series Rating: 4/5
Nevermore 4/5 | Enshadowed 4/5 | Oblivion 3/5
This series continually builds to its climax in the final book so I recommend reading them as close together as possible. I think because I read Oblivion nearly 2 years after Enshadowed, it lost some of its appeal to me and I ended up really disappointed in the story. I don’t think would have been the case if I had read it right after Enshadowed.
Overall, it is a dark paranormal YA romance that has a unique edge to it that I haven’t really encountered in just one book and I really enjoyed them was all said and done…I just didn’t like waiting for them all 😛
Read if You Like: Edgar Allen Poe, dark paranormal, alternate dimension stories
Avoid if You: dislike long books with slower starts
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures Series #1)
- Evermore by Alyson Noel (Immortals Series #1)
- The Hollow by Jessica Verday (The Hollow Trilogy #1)
- Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay (Juliet Immortal Series #1)
Haha, you’re so right about Varen’s description. He does have a tortured soul facade, but I really liked his character as well. I read Nevermore years ago (oh my gosh, it may have even been before high school now that i think about it) and haven’t continued on with the trilogy but I do want to pick it up again someday. Admittedly, it’s been so long I can’t remember much though. And your recommendations are spot-on at the end. Even before reading your post, this really reminded me of The Immortals and Beautiful Creatures series, too!
I think I read Nevermore 6 years ago, right when it first came out so it has been FAR too long. Even my thorough notes for its recap wasn’t enough to jog my memory. I hope you get around to reading it because it was very satisfying to finally finish it!
I’m so glad you did a series review of this one, because I have read hardly anything about it. I love the fact that it weaves Poe’s works throughout, but doesn’t necessarily require you to be an expert (I don’t really like it when that happens in retelling-ish sort of books).
It’s a shame that your enjoyment of the last book was lower because of the wait. Two years is MASSIVE, and I’m glad that if I do get into this series, that I won’t have to wait so long :O
It sounds like the romance in this one is really intriguing, and I have to say that when you said it was unhealthy, I was more keen, HAHA XD It’s just that romance in YA is so often “perfect”, it would be kind of cool to see one that wasn’t so conventional.
Also, since you mentioned that The Hollow series is comparable, I’m on board. I loved that series ^.^
Lovely review!
I think you would really enjoy this one! Especially if you liked The Hollow–very similar vibes. Though Nevermore is a very cool series and unlike anything I’ve read before.
haha it’s funny because I never really thought their relationship was unhealthy–or at least I don’t think I did 😛 2 years is SO long, especially when I’ve read so many other books in the times since.
So I highly recommend that you read these as close together as possible!
Thanks for stopping by!