Series Review: Evernight Series by Claudia Gray

Series: Evernight
Author: Claudia Gray
# of Books: 4 (Evernight, Stargazer, Hourglass, Afterlife)

There is a spin-off novel, Balthazar (sometimes it is classified as Evernight #5)

Complete?: Yes
Genre: Young Adult, Boarding School
Heat Rating: cool

Thoughts:

I highly recommend to anyone who wants to read Evernight to avoid doing too much research; to not read spoiler reviews and to avoid looking at the sequel books because there is a MAJOR twist that is often reveled during said ways and it will ruin Evernight. I had accidently read the synopsis for Stargazer before I read Evernight and it ruined the twist for me because if I hadn’t known the twist, I probably wouldn’t have seen it coming.

That being said, this review is going to be very brief just so that I don’t give too much away 😉

Evernight started off slow, but really picks up about midway through (read: plot twist revealed). The rest of the books in the series follow this faster pace which makes things more enjoyable. The twist, if I had not read it before hand, would have been AMAZING and I think I would have enjoyed the book a touch more if I had left it as a surprise.

The rest of the books in the series were a little hit and miss. Don’t get me wrong, they were enjoyable but the romance was a little too sappy-feel-good for me at times and I think that turned me off a bit. Again, this was a Young Adult series I was probably a little too old to read when I did. I will say that Hourglass was probably my favourite because of the plot twists we had and the massive cliff-hanger that ends the novel.

The rest of the series also has twists (besides the BIG one) that make the story interesting. The series blends a lot of things together and for the most part I think it pulls it off. I haven’t come across anything exactly like it but I have found bits and pieces in other books. So if you want to try something new, grab this series!

As for the characters, I liked them enough. Nothing too memorable though I do like Balthazar a lot 😛 Bianca wasn’t particularly annoying and neither was Lucas.

Note: I have not read Balthazar as of June 28, 2013.

Conclusion:

Overall, this series just lacked that little something to make me love it. While I definitely enjoyed the series and admire the creativity, I think I needed a little more action in it (which it had the potential to do). As I said before, don’t read any spoiler reviews, look at genre classifications on Goodreads or at the synopsises of the other books if you plan on reading this series. I also recommend that you grab as many of the books as possible as the next book always takes place immediately after the ending of the previous one–and you have the pleasure of getting your hands on all the copies at once instead of waiting a year for the next one like I had too 😉

Rating: 3.5/5

Similar Reads: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (Nightshade, #1); Angel (Burn) by L.A. Weatherly (Angel Trilogy, #1) and Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey (Drake Chronicles, #3)

Synopsis for Evernight (from Goodreads):
Bianca wants to escape.

She’s been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in.

Then she meets Lucas. He’s not the “Evernight type” either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.

“I couldn’t stand it if they took it out on you,” he tells Bianca, “and eventually they would.”

But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can’t be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she’s ever believed