Ever

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!

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.

Kezi lives in the city of Hyte, with her Mati and Pado, and spends her days weaving and dancing and worshipping the all powerful god Admat. Olus lives in Akka, the land of the gods, and is the god of the wind and loneliness. He sets out to Hyte to live among the mortals, where he meets Kezi. He is inexplicably drawn to her, and their bond is forged when Kezi is promised to be sacrificed to Admat. Olus is determined to save her, and reveals his true self to her. Together, they set out to change their destiny.Gail Carson Levine creates in Ever a completely different world from the one that her heroines from Ella Enchanted and Fairest live, with a new set of rules and gods and cultures, packing in as much information and details without giving the reader a sensory overload. The story moves rapidly, and is wonderfully simple and magical at the same time. Levine's trademark spunk and determination shine through in Kezi as she struggles to become a heroine and finds a way to survive.The romance between Olus and Kezi is kept simple and chaste, and is a bit rushed, but pitched perfectly for younger readers. However, the religious ponderings and question concerning the existence of Admat will be very relevant to older readers, and does well in engaging them as well. Once again, Levine has woven another magical tale that will enchant readers of all ages.

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!

It was a wonderfully written book and much better than the movie! It was a surprise how much better it was!

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!

Daughter was very pleased.

The book itself is pretty good! I read it in two sittings. Wasn't what I was expecting, but found it enjoyable.I was however disappointed that the book I was sent had a different cover than I thought I would be getting. One that I like much less. It was also disappointing that the book shipped with UPS which made it almost impossible for me to retrieve. If anything can be done about it, I'd like Amazon to have an option to select that prevents anything from shipping with UPS as I've had trouble with it every time.Beside that the book itself did ship and arrive very quickly.