If there is something I’ve learnt from both the Avengers and Jacks, it is that you should never mess with magic glowing stones.
Anyway…
OVERALL
5/10
WHAT’S IT ABOUT, ANYWAY
The Ballad of Never After is the sequel to Once Upon a Broken Heart.
Here, Evangeline Fox has been manipulated by a Fate, Jacks, into a situation where she has to do a favour for him if she wants to save her husband from eternal sleep, that favour being opening a magical door that might or might not destroy world peace. But Eva has no choice because she is also under a curse, and what is behind those doors may be able to help free her. So in this book, our characters spend most of their time looking for magic stones that will open this door for them. Eva struggles to trust Jacks and to figure out how she should feel about him and his weird addiction to apples.
There are vampires, glamorous castles, balls, and more vampires.
And the big question: What does Jacks really want? Besides apples, that is.
SOME INFO
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA Fantasy
Year of Pub.: 2022
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT?
Jacks continue to be an intrigue. He makes questionable choices, he is ruthless to people he doesn’t need, and all for a tragic reason.
Luc is OK, after all. I… hope. This guy is ultra-unnecessary in the beginning, but there are times in the book when he is a big help to Eva. And even with the fangs and all, we can see that at the core, he is just a boy who made a mistake he can’t take back. And now he is kind of doomed to be a lonely blood-sucking monster forever. I appreciate how the author does not make him into an all-out villain but gives him some depth instead.
Apollo. No, not as in “he is good for Eva”, but as in he has become interesting by the end of the book and I can’t wait to see what his motives really are.
Apollo is introduced in the last book to be an enigma, but before we could see how he is enigmatic, he is put under a love spell. He also spends most of this book being cursed; and even though he is shown to be attracted to Eva, there are some hints of a grander plan on his part. At least I hope so.
Plus, he and Eva haven’t managed to have a proper conversation since Apollo was cured of the love spell in the last book. So there is that to look forward to.
The baby dragon. Eva spends some time in a manor surrounded by snow. One day, a little dragon pops in and keeps her company for a while.
Why is this dragon a good thing? This book somewhat lacks the glamorous magic that Book 1 has, so this baby dragon showing up briefly brings back that magic.
Chaos. I’m not so sure what I should think of this guy as a person. But objectively, he is a fun addition to the story. Fun, random, dangerous, hungry, and not someone Eva should ever stand close to. But she does. What happens next? You’ve got to read the book.
COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
The back and forth between Jacks and Eva can be excessive sometimes.
Stay away from me, I’m a bad boy, Jacks would say.
He’s a bad boy, I should stay away from him, Eva would remind herself.
And then she doesn’t stay away from him.
Of course, she cannot stay away from him because they are meant to have this adventure together. But these conversations they repeatedly have about how Jacks is dangerous and Eva should know better could be trimmed down.
It’s not that Little Fox is a bad nickname. But if you say it all the time, it loses its charm.
It is a world where everyone is gorgeous. Especially the men who are after Eva. One good-looking guy, two good-looking guys, I can understand. But if everyone is described as highly attractive, they all become less appealing and less relatable.
*SPOILERS ahead.
The romance. It becomes clear in this book whose romance it is.
It isn’t exactly a problem. But I don’t believe the story establishes well why Jacks and Eva are each other’s destiny besides the fact that they are… destined to be.
Why does Eva choose Jacks and not Apollo or Luc? What exactly have they been through together besides taking turns getting injured and taking care of each other? Not to mention that the misfortunes which happen to them usually happen because of their own careless mistakes.
Another thing that works against them is either Luc or Apollo could have easily developed into Eva’s true love given both of their past with her.
On the one hand, you have a prince who fell under a love spell after exchanging a few unreadable looks with the girl, leaving a lot of secrets to be unravelled.
On the other… OK, I admit Luc is not an appealing choice, but he has developed some potential during this book and there are many directions his character can be taken.
The point is, I’m not entirely sure I am on Jacks’ ship yet.
End of Spoilers.
BOTTOM LINE
Ballad of Never After is very much like Once Upon a Broken Heart; it is a story where true love and Happily Ever After are the most important things to its main characters; and it is about the extent they will go to achieve true love as they understand it. It is a quick and entertaining read in that regard. There are also some fairly well-written mysteries along the way. If you expected something grander, however – like a war or a big bad super powerful villain — you will most likely be disappointed.
Unless the next book surprises us all.
I mean… there has to be a next book, right?