Tag: clocks

eARC Review – Everafter Song

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Title: Everafter Song (The Evermore Chronicles #3)

Author: Emily R. King

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication date: December 10th, 2019

282 pages

4.25/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

There’s a price on Everley Donovan’s head. Fleeing from the queen’s false accusation of murder and sorcery, the girl with the clock heart knows there’s only one way to prove her innocence. Everley must catch Killian Markham, the fugitive prince guilty of the crimes for which she’s been condemned. To do that, Everley must follow him into the towering realm of the Silver-Clouded Plain. It’s where flesh-eating Behemoths thrive, long-lost gods hide, and an artifact of destructive force awaits the death grip of the immortal prince.

Haunted by visions of burning Everwoods and bloody battlefields, Everley’s fears are rising. Because the elusive relic threatens more than the very power that drives her clock heart. In Killian’s hands, it can lead to the dismantling of the seven worlds. With everything—and everyone—Everley loves at stake, she must depend on Killian’s one weakness to outwit him: in his mad ambitions, Killian has underestimated her once again. For Everley is the Time Bearer. This is her destiny. The time of reckoning is at hand.

Review

**Thank you to Skyscape, Netgalley, and Emily R. King for this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review**

In the last book in The Evermore Chronicles, Everley is so close to stopping Killian Markham, but he keeps slipping through her fingers. Time and time again she walks right into his traps, and he walks away with the lead. Everley must travel more than ever and get used to powers she didn’t realize she had, and quickly so she can use them to gain advantage on Markham. Several endings have been foretold, and Everafter Song brings even new magical creatures – elves, giants, trolls, sea hags, etc into the fold. Everley is doing all she can to maintain the structure of the worlds and not allow Markham to rip them all apart. But will she have the strength to make the hard decision when it comes?

Alas, this trilogy is over. I am 100% DEAD over the ending. NO spoilers here, but man am I sad about it. Everafter Song is the end book you want to bring a magical and wild adventure to an end. And, my most hated characters got what was coming to them in the end – which is great. I flowed through this book all in one day because I just needed to know how the story ended and whether Everley was able to prevail and save the worlds.

The world-building in this series is insane. So insane, it was almost hard to keep straight at times. I did read these on my iPad, so assuming there is a map in the print books that would help keep track of the worlds. The concept of Father Time has been interesting throughout this story, even if I didn’t always agree with their actions.

OH and we have a few quietly LGBTQIA characters. Multiple lesbian/gay/bisexual (not entirely clear but there were same sex relationships/interests) along with a transgender elf. I AM HERE FOR IT. Osric must be protected at all costs.

I just have to go back to the ending though. The end is really the kicker for me that pulled the rating down. I wish there had been a way to have a Happily Ever After ending, but I totally get why there wasn’t. I just feel like King built such a bad-a character in Everley and the ending took all of that away from her.

Overall, I think if you like epic world-building, YA Fantasy, and some irredeemable characters please go check out The Evermore Chronicles!

eBook Review – Into the Hourglass

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Title: Into the Hourglass (The Evermore Chronicles #2)

Author: Emily R. King

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication date: August 20th, 2019

286 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

In the second book in The Evermore Chronicles by Emily R. King, Everley Donovan plunges into the roiling waves of a strange new world to hunt a wicked prince who cheated time.

Everley Donovan’s mission: retrieve the hallowed sword of Avelyn stolen by the wicked Prince Killian, who slayed her family and left her for dead. Should she fail, the seven worlds will come to an end, as could time itself. And no one treasures time more than Everley, whose lifesaving clock heart cannot beat forever. She has set sail with a rogue crew for the otherworlds, where the key to dethroning the prince lies deep within the Land Under the Wave.

But passage through these unknown seas—where horrors lurk and pirates rove—proves a treacherous gamble. The Land Under the Wave was not made for humans, particularly one with a fragile clock heart. Here, Everley’s tragic past resurfaces unsolved questions. Here, too, the prince has hidden secrets more precious than pearls, secrets that could fracture the future forevermore. Everley must take back her sword and break free from this watery world before her time runs out…or so will everyone else’s. 

Review

In the second installment of The Evermore Chronicles, Everley finds herself chasing after Killiam Markham to get her sword back. This quest brings her to the land of pirates, sirens, and fin people – along with some not so fun elves. Everley’s clock heart is beating slower and she’s struggling more to live with it. Each page is full of adventure.

Some things that didn’t change from book one – I still hate Markham and Harlow. They still suck as people and they can leave for all I need. I get why the story needs them but COME ON. On the better side, Jamison Callahan is still swoon worthy as he quite obviously falls in love with Everley, even though she believes she’s incapable of love without a physical heart. Lastly, the amount of interesting creatures and worlds that they get to explore. It ALMOST reminds me of the Pendragon series – but only because of the world jumping to catch the bad guys, and they never quite know what to expect from each world.

Some interesting new developments – the side characters are developed more and start to have their own plot lines and independent thoughts and actions. We learn more things about Markham’s motivations (don’t care – still hate him) but it adds to his backstory.

Overall, I generally dislike middle books more than the first and third books. I actually think this book was better than Before the Broken Star, because they were really able to get into the plot and get the story going. It was a pleasant surprise for me because middle books are often just vehicles to set up for an ending – whereas King is able to keep the momentum going through this book, in my opinion.

Happy reading, bookish friends! 🙂

eBook Review – Before the Broken Star

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Title: Before the Broken Star (The Evermore Chronicles #1)

Author: Emily R. King

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication date: May 1st, 2019

294 pages

3.5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

A fierce young female adventurer battles time itself to claim her destiny in a sweeping new fantasy saga from the author of the Hundredth Queen series.

Everley Donovan is living on borrowed time. The lone survivor of her family’s unexplained assassination, she was saved by an ingeniously crafted clockwork heart. But the time she was given won’t last forever. Now, every tick-tock reminds her how fragile her existence is and hastens her quest to expose Killian Markham, the navy admiral who shattered her world and left her for dead. But Everley’s hunt for justice will be a long and hard-won voyage.

Her journey takes her to a penal colony on a cursed isle, where she will be married off and charged to build the new world. It is here, and beyond, that hidden realms hide, treasures are unearthed, her family secrets are buried, and young love will test the strength of her makeshift heart. When Everley discovers Markham may not be who he seems, her pursuit for truth is bound to his redemption, her tragic history, and her astonishing destiny.

Review

Could you become a monster to destroy one?

Emily r. king, before the broken star

Everley is an apprentice to a clockmaker, who also happens to be her uncle. She seems like an ordinary girl from the outside, but in fact she has a clock heart that keeps her alive after her entire family was brutally murdered and she was run through the heart with a sword. She lives her life focused on revenge, revenge against Killian Markham, the Governor who killed her family and tried to kill her. When Markham walks into her uncle’s clock shop, the perfect opportunity presents itself.

Everley ends up getting arrested and sentenced to live on a new colony on an island far away in order to help populate it. The important part to this is the Markham is the governor of the island, so she hopes to be able to kill him quickly and get on with her life. She has no idea the whirlwind her life will turn into when she gets to Dagger Island. Especially when she is forcibly married to a sweet lieutenant on the ship ride to the island. Before the Broken Star follows Everley’s attempts to understand her past, while living with the reality of her future. She must keep her clock heart hidden otherwise she would be sentenced to death immediately for sorcery.

Before the Broken Star held my attention. I love when books grab me and don’t let go. I prefer to have to wrench myself away to go about the charade of life and adulthood. I followed Everley’s story with excitement, but I can’t say I love where the story ended up. I’m really a Happily Ever After lover, and this is not a trope adhered to in this book. Also, Killian Markham and his associate Harlow are terrible people and it bothers me. They are the definition of irredeemable. Everley continues to help Harlow even when she is completely awful to her! Bothered me for Everley’s sake. BUT Lieutenant Callahan makes up for it *swoon*.

In a universe of magical worlds filled with pixies, grindylow’s, Father Time’s influence, and portals to the other worlds, Before the Broken Star has great world building, writing, and characters. Evie is a bad-a woman and I am with her all the way.

Happy reading, bookish friends! 🙂