Books by
Gail Carson Levine

EVER

FAIRY HAVEN AND THE QUEST FOR THE WAND

FAIREST

WRITING MAGIC:
Creating Stories that Fly

FAIRY DUST AND THE QUEST FOR THE EGG

ELLA ENCHANTED

THE TWO PRINCESSES OF BAMARRE

EVER
by Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780061229626
Ages 10-up
256 pages

Kezi and her relatives are no different from any other family in the city of Hyte. They are very religious and owe all to Admat, the god of everything. Kezi is beautiful, young, loves to dance and knot rugs, and is very close to her parents and aunt. The only daughter, Kezi hopes to marry well, and she already has her eye on one of the boys in Hyte.

Olus is the youngest god in Akka by hundreds of years. His mother, Hannu, is the goddess of the earth and pottery, and his father, Arduk, is the god of agriculture. Olus controls the wind and can summon any sort of gust to travel around or to do his bidding. Since he's the same age as many of the mortals in the town, he finds more kinship with them than with the other Akkan gods. Soon he leaves to live among the mortals and decides to travel far away to another town where no one will worship or recognize him.

Kezi's father, Senat, offers Olus a bit of farmland, and the young man, using his god's powers, can see Senat's family and instantly falls in love with Kezi. So he is horrified when a terrible string of events causes Senat to vow to sacrifice his daughter to the god Admat. Olus pretends to "run into" Kezi at a neighbor's wedding, and soon the two are madly in love. Kezi cannot bear to be around her parents, who are terribly sad that she has to be sacrificed, so she runs away with Olus to see the town of Akka.

What follows is an adventure in the vein of epic poems about the quest for immortality, the path to becoming a hero or heroine, and defying fate. EVER seems at once new and familiar, because of its wonderful setting, mythology, and tests for Kezi and Olus. Told in alternating chapters from Kezi's and Olus's points of view, the confessional style shows us characters who are realistic, believable and appealing to readers of many ages.

Near the end, Kezi is invited to meet the Akkan gods and take the final test towards becoming immortal. The climax of the novel features many of the Akkan gods, each with their own personalities and flaws, and it's unexpectedly magical. This isn't a normal fairy tale with a puff of smoke and a few magic words; the magic in this story is grounding and human at the same time.

Gail Carson Levine's story is made richer by the impressive fantasy world she has created, complete with its pantheon of gods, an underworld, mythological creatures, religious texts and history. As if that weren't enough, slight indications of a different language spoken in Hyte are given through her depiction of accents and new words for "mother" and "father," namely "mati" and "pado." Everything is given in such a matter-of-fact way that readers can't help but think they already understand all they need to know about this world.

I've been a fan of Levine's since I first read ELLA ENCHANTED as a child. She has yet to disappoint.

    --- Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez (hannahgomez@gmail.com)

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