Ever

Gail Carson Levine (Published by HarperCollins, May 6, 2008)

Falling in love is never easy, but falling in love with an immortal god while your days on earth are numbered is almost more than a young girl can bear. Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning new world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens in this spellbinding story of Kezi, a girl confronted with a terrible destiny. Attempting to thwart her fate, Kezi and her love, Olus -- the god of wind and loneliness -- embark on a series of dangerous and seemingly impossible quests. Olus is the Akkan god of the winds - but at just seventeen years old, much younger than all the other gods and goddesses; he doesn't fit in and often feels lonely. So he decides to spend some time among the mortals of the world. He travels to the nearby land of Hyte, and becomes particularly fascinated by a mortal girl named Kezi and her family. Fifteen-year-old Kezi lives a comfortable and carefree life. She is a gifted weaver of rugs, and she loves to dance. But her carefree life is shattered in one terrible moment. Her mother becomes deathly ill, and desperate to save his wife, her father makes a terrible oath to make a sacrifice to the Admat, the all-powerful god of Hyte, if his wife is spared. And in order to protect her aunt, who saved Kezi's life as a child, Kezi fufills the oath and will become the sacrifice. Now, Kezi has just thirty days to find a way to save her life. Olus, who has fallen in love with Kezi, believes he can save her by helping her become immortal, and to that end the young couple sets off on a series of quests that will test their courage and their love for each other. Ever was another wonderful fantasy adventure by Gail Carson Levine, told in the alternating voices of Kezi and Olus, giving us a glimpse into both their minds. As with her other

books, she has created an exotic and believable world filled with wonderful characters. I highly recommend this book to fans of the author's other novels, as well as to young teens who enjoy romantic fantasy novels. The book is written in the first person perspective of both the male and female main characters, alternating by chapter. This format allows the thoughts, doubts, and emotions of both characters to be highlighted in a simple yet powerful way. The characters have very similar and/or parallel internal and external crisis to face, despite the differences in their backgrounds and physical forms (young god, and young mortal girl). The style and form of the novel are very reminiscent of a mythspecifically, a heros journey. Rather than two separate heros journeys for two separate individuals, the characters paths are seamlessly interwoven into a joint heros journey. The paths branch off into different directions, but always return to the common path in the cyclical fashion of historic oral storytelling. The themes present in the books are classical young adult and independent reader themes, and similar to the thematic structure of Levines previous novels. In addition to the usual themes, some interesting theological questions are raised in the form of the spiritual questioning of Kezi, the female main character, and Olus, god of the winds.

Maricar P. Bautista MC-3B Prof. Wenceslao Ecoben