–review by Kara, teen reviewer
Everlost by Neal Shusterman
This book is about children in limbo. Our two main characters, Allie and Nick, are involved in the same accident, one that led to their deaths. This is their story about trying to “survive” in a world that is stuck in between life and death (but still heavily leans toward death).
It was pretty good, but there wasn’t anything that really stuck out to me until the end. During the entire time I was reading it, I didn’t feel that engaged and felt no urgency to keep on reading. It wasn’t that any of the characters were particularly annoying or aggravating, I just couldn’t really relate to any of them or find a fondness for them (there was nothing remarkably good or bad about them), and so found myself just going with the plot and series of events and not rooting for anyone to do anything.
But it’s definitely a pretty interesting concept. In this purgatory, (or as its called by the Afterlights, Everlost) things that have been destroyed but loved dearly, such as the Twin Towers, live on. But here’s the catch, the Afterlights can’t survive on land that is living (the dead have their own territories) because if they stand still for too long, they sink to the center of the earth. Everything dead is more solid to them than anything living. So they get to watch life, but can’t participate (which is actually kind of depressing for them). Oh here’s another thing, everyone in Everlost is a child. So all of the good guys and bad guys are just kids, which prompts new questions about the capabilities of children.
Overall I recommend it to anyone who wants a book that makes you think about what would happen if kids ran the show but not to anyone who wants a lazy read (one you read slowly because you don’t feel inclined to finish it that quickly). 5 stars. –Kara, teen reviewer
Find the book in our library: Everlost