Review - Everless by Sara Holland

Everless by Sara Holland

Published 4th January 2018 by Hachette

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 39/50

I received an eARC of this one via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

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. 

My Thoughts

I've had this on my TBR for a while, I receieved a copy for review via NetGalley but didn't get around to it before it came out, and then I picked up a finished copy. In the month of December I've decided to catch up with my NetGalley back list and this is the first one I chose and I don't know why I left it so long. I really enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts... 

What I Liked

• This story is set in a world where your blood can be converted into time. People are able to drain their blood and, as a consequence, their time to give to others as well as consuming 'blood-iron' to give themselves more time. I think this was a really interesting concept and I loved the ideas behind this novel. 

• The writing was fast paced and easy to read. I flew through this book and I didn't want to put it down. We were carried along with the main character and were fully immersed in her story. There was lots of mystery in this novel and we experienced all of the twists and turns alongside our main character. At no point did we have more information than she did. It was a journey of discovery we experienced together. 

• I enjoyed our main character, Jules, for the most part. She has a good heart and always put other people before herself. She was independent, strong willed and determined although, this was sometimes her downfall. I also really enjoyed Liam's character. He was dark and mysterious and even right from the beginning I thought he wasn't all that he seemed, and I was right. I can't wait to see how his and Jules relationship develops over the course of the next book. 

• I can honestly say I didn't know which direction this story was going to take. As I said before there were a lot of twists and turns and I had a lot of theories about what could be happening but none of these were correct. The plot twists surprised me. 

What I Didn't Like

• I wasn't a massive fan of Roan's character. He was very generic and didn't really have any personality or development. Because of this I also wasn't a fan of the relationship between him and Jules although, this didn't really last very long and it wasn't a huge part of the plot. If I'm honest it could of been left out and it wouldn't have affected the story. 

• Although I enjoyed the writing style and the twists and turns kept me intrigued throughout, as I was nearing the end I was beginning to get a little bit frustrated with the lack of reveals. You find out a lot of information in the last quarter of this book and I think it might have benefited from a few reveals, or even hints, being dropped a bit earlier on. Although like I said, the plot twists did surprise me. Maybe this was done to mimic Jules's frustration at lack of answers and, if this was the case, then it did the job. 

Overall this was a really enjoyable fantasy novel with an interesting and unusual premise. There were definitely some of your usual YA fantasy tropes within this story but it had enough difference about it to make it intriguing and fun to read. I would recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy and I'm excited to read the conclusion to this story.

Overall Rating