#liam gerling

Jules asked a question after hearing Liam spoke more than usual and SHE WANTED LIAM TO KEEP TALKING.

Hello, welcome to the first ever post (well, not really) in this blog. And like I’ve said previously, it’s going to be a review. Well, that first post was posted like DECADES ago and I wanted to review the Wonder movie, but I guess it’s no longer a thing anyone would look up to. So here I am writing a review for one of the most memorable fantasy I have and will probably ever read.

I have a thing for fantasies. From classic Grimm brothers fairytales, to Harry Potter, to the Land of Stories, I LOVE THEM ALL. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my mom used to live Disney movies and wants to pass it down to her children. Over time, the love for Disney movies evolves to becoming the love for fantasies. Books, movies, anime, comic, you name it. This time, it’s a book.

This book is titled Everless and it’s written by Sara Holland. There’s a sequel to it, titled Evermore, but I haven’t got the time (or money) to buy the book so this is what we have for now.

Curious? Here’s a cover:

Oooooohhh

Well, just from seeing the cover, the first things that get to your mind are probably that the story itself is about ‘time’, considering that 80% of the cover is a gigantic hourglass and that little writing to the right just underneath the title there that said:

“Time is a prison. She is the key.”

You know where this is going.

Here’s the synopsis:

IN THE KINGDOM OF SEMPERA, time is money—extracted from the blood, traded in coins, and taxed to the hilt. Wealthy aristocrats like the Gerling family live for centuries, while the commoners struggle to survive.

Jules Ember loathes the Gerlings. She and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident drove them away. But now, desperate to earn time, Jules returns to Everless amidst preparations for the wedding of the youngest Gerling lord to the Queen’s daughter.

Jules soon discovers that Everless holds more temptations—and danger—than she thought possible. Stories from her childhood begin to take on new significance, dragging her into a past she hardly recognizes and revealing a tangle of violent secrets that could change her future—and the future of time itself—forever.

Okay, well now that that’s done, time to start with my opinions.

First off, I’ll start with the overview of the story because before I read the book, I didn’t understand the synopsis AT ALL. I don’t know if it just didn’t reveal that much information, or if I was just plain stupid.

Well anyway, the story tells of sixteen(?) year-old Jules Ember, a poor villager who lives in a tiny village called Crofton with her father. They barely have the money to fill the stomachs with, and sometimes Jules will have to hunt for food, even though it’s like totally illegal.

(I’m getting the Hunger games vibes honestly)

The thing about hunting in the winter, is that its hard and there’s a chance you don’t get your hunt. But that’s not a problem for Jules, because there were times when time would just slow down at some points. Lucky for her, it did that time.

It wasn’t something that was supposed to happen. It was abnormality, but Jules have felt it since as far as she can remember, so she didn’t think that it was something that’s not supposed to happen.

Next, let me inform you about the term “money” in this book.

See, you know when you’re so poor you literally have zero money and you can’t buy anything or pay for anything? Well, if you run out of money, you’d have to bleed for it. Quite literally, actually, as the currency they use in Sempera is called “blood iron” and it can be found in everyone’s blood. If you have lots of debts and ZERO money, then you can pay the debts by bleeding.

The amount used for the “blood iron” currency goes:

An hour coin

A week coin

A month coin

And a year coin

Aside from using it to pay debts and bills, there are other times you might need to be bled, like when you want to change your blood to coins so you can use it for transaction or salary, or when you did something against the law and have to get punished. One of the characters in this book actually received a punishment of getting forty years bled out of her.

So let’s start with the actual review, shall we?

Pros:

The concept itself is VERY new. If you can, I’d like you to mention a book with a similar concept to Everless

How Sara Holland cleverly masks the conflict and how exhilarating it was to read about the beginning, the buildup, and the rise of the villain. You’d never expect what the conflict was until you read the book.

It makes you crave for more. Once you tipped that spot, you won’t let this book out of your hand.

Character development. And I am specifically talking about Liam Gerling, y’all.

“Sara Holland is a fierce storyteller. An intoxicating blend of blood, secrets, and haunting mythology, Everless gives a new and terrifying meaning to the phrase ‘running out of time’.” —Stephanie Garber

Cons:

The plot at the beginning seems slow and kind of dull. Also, it’s pretty much like every other fantasy/dystopian story. Illegal hunting because the main character was poor beyond measure, sells it at the market, goes home, meets wrecked family.

It’s VERY slow. The story is fun and all, but it’s only fun once you ACTUALLY reach the fun parts. Before that, you’ll bore yourself so much that you’ll might consider putting the book down and letting it rot before you pick it up and start reading again

Overall, this book was a lot of things. A lot of feels too. I’m kind of disappointed that there’s not an official fandom for this book because it needs one. If I could, I’d really love to spread the word about this book and make people read it. It’s totally worth your time and your money so.

One last thing before you go, if you consider reading the book and actually bought it, when you find the character named Caro, mind telling me how you imagine her to look like? Because for some reason, since the first time she came along, I’ve been imagining Cassandra from the Tangled Series and now I can’t unsee it

Alright, that’s about it for now. I’ll see you on the next post (which might be close by, as I have finally found out how tumblr works). My prediction is that it’s going to be a travelling thing next...if another review doesn’t come up.

See you!

Am i the only one who felt like slapping jules amber half of the time and giving liam a pat on the head?

While reading i was juust like:

HOE DONT DO IT !

BAD!

THEY ALL WARNED YOU NOT TO!

LISTEN TO PAPA-LISTEN TO SWEET LIAM!

DONT BE STUPID JULES!

DONT-OH MY GOD SHE'S DOING IT!

Okay now you go and face the consequences on your own...

And roan seriously by the end :

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries. No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever. But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

Rating: ★★★★★

The Everless plot synopsis intrigued me, and I was not disappointed. Holland has created an interesting new world – I cannot wait for further development in the sequel. The exact nature of the ‘blood money’ remains pretty mysterious, and though other readers have complained about our lack of knowledge so far, I am much more positive about it. Holland’s concept is brilliant, for it is not only literally blood money, the elite in Sempera take the life-force of those they perceive to be lesser. Although the connection between blood and time is briefly explored in folktales about a sorceress and an alchemist, I am confident that the background will be explored more thoroughly in the next book. I don’t believe that world-building must be complex – in fact I often much prefer it to be more subtle, with the focus on characters and plot instead. Either way, it is clear that the magic process will be explained as Jules comes to understand her own abilities. 

The plot is well paced, and I enjoyed the narrative as it progressed. Suspense is achieved primarily because the reader and main character are both interested in the same things, and yearn to know more. In Everless, Jules’ journey is in discovering that everything she thought she had known about her life was a lie, from her true family to her experiences at Everless as a young girl. It works precisely because Jules is just as much in the dark as the reader, and as Jules learns more, so too do we. This is also why it is unnecessary to know everything about the world that Holland has created – even Jules does not understand much of it! Certainly magic, and the stories of the Sorceress and Alchemist, are at the heart of it, and this will be the next part of Jules’ journey. 

If this isn't foreshadowing for later on in the series I'll eat my hat

Also y'know what it made me think of?