Ever: A Middle Grade Fantasy of Ancient Gods and Epic Romance by a Newbery Honor Author for Kids (Ages 8-12)

I just finished Ever last night it only took me two days as I couldn't put the book down I had to see what happened next. The culture described was good I felt like I was part of it Gail Carson Levine is good at that. The names of the characters were a bit tricky apart from Olus and Kezi names. Ever is about Olus the seventeen year old God of the Wind an Akkan god. He is the youngest god and finds more joy in watching and interacting with the mortals. Kezi is a mortal girl from Hyte. Kezi and Olus eventually meet when it is too late for Kezi. She is to be sacrificed I won't spoil how or why she is to die. Olus loves her and Kezi loves him. Kezi battles to stay live to be with Olus and to find her god if he exsists as she is loosing faith that he does. Through tasks both together and apart through battling there fears they will fight to be together. It was a good story there was vivid imagery. I loved the fast pace and what Olus and Kezi went through. The ending was perfect. I have read Ella Enchanted and Fairest and now Ever by Gail Carson Levine and I will read others. It was a good novel I recommend it. It is good for all ages.

I am not quite as fond of this book as other Carson-Levine books but I am still going to give it a 5 stars for originality. I like fairy tales with a twist. Fairy tales from India (at least what gets to this country) generally involve being caught by tigers etc. This one lets you enjoy a culture where multiple god stories are in play and the two main characters are endearing. I like tales with a twist that show the good and bad in the good-guys and the bad -guys and that have strong (or at least normal, non-whimpy) heroines. This author does a nice job of this. Ella is still my favorite - didn't care for the movie but the book is a nice read, Fairest has a lot of great messages for pre-teens (especially considering how more and more irrationally image conscious our young girls are becoming). If you like this book, you may also like "Museum of Thieves." Keep writing more please!

Ever seems to be a retelling of the famous 'Eros and Psyche' (or Cupid and Psyche) myth. 'Eros and Psyche' was always my favorite myth and yet I was never truly happy with the ending. I thought that the whole point of the story was that Psyche betrayed him and so she had to go through the quest to redeem and prove herself worthy of being a goddess. But she yet again proves herself a weak person by opening Persephone's box and has to be saved by Eros. What I liked about Ever is that it took the 'Eros and Psyche' myth and took out all the parts I didn't like about it. There were no malicious/jealous/nosy sisters, no betrayal of trust, and no need for the helpless heroine to be saved by the hero; in fact, it is the heroine, Kezi, who saves the life of Olus (a god), proving that she is indeed worthy of being an immortal. Sure there were some aspect of the book that I didn't particularly like (I honestly don't get why the heroine is so obsessed with dancing . . . it didn't seem like it contributed anything to the narrative), but those, to me, are relatively minor so all in all, I'm pretty happy with this book. I'm grateful that someone has finally re-written the 'Eros and Psyche' myth and given the heroine some backbone! :)

Like most people, I guess, we first encountered Gail Carson Levine in "Ella Enchanted." My oldest daughter read that book over, and over, and over. (And completely panned the movie, by the way, but that isn't the author's fault.) We then read some other fairy tale based books, such as "Fairest," and enjoyed them all. But this is something completely different; a story of forbidden love between a god and a mortal girl, not exactly based on any particular mythology that I know of. As always, she creates a compelling world and fascinating characters and a page-turning story worth reading and re-reading. After I read this, I suddenly knew what my next few gifts are going to be, because this book really deserves to be better known than it is.

I genuinely like many of Gail Carson Levine's books, but this one just was too serious for me. The whole concept of the main character being killed by her parents because it was the will of the gods (in payment for saving a life) is just not something I like to read about, even though I do know many civilizations around the world practiced this. Levine does a wonderful job creating Kezi's world and describing the adventures that take place to save her from her destruction, but the overall feeling of the book was very sad.

All I know is that I bought this book for my daughter (12) who requested it after reading another Gail Carson Levine book. She tore into it as soon as it came and happily read it to the end. This is a somewhat "picky reader" and I was happy to see her enjoy it so much!

Got this book for my daughter as a gift because she really likes this author. Always reads the books right away, very happy with purchase!

I love this book the ending just ripped my heart out and threw it across the room. Tears literally filled my eyes BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡!¡¡¡!