The Everafter, Amy Huntley
some spoilers!I picked up this book because, like my current novel-in-progress, it is a Young Adult read about the afterlife. I was curious and, at the end, thankful that it really is nothing at all like my take on the whole situation.
In a nutshell, Maddy is dead. And she is in Is, as she calls it, kind of a formless void. Once she starts getting the hang of being there, she finds things that, in her life, she once lost. A bracelet, physics homework, her keys, cafeteria peas ... and each of these ...more I picked up this book because, like my current novel-in-progress, it is a Young Adult read about the afterlife. I was curious and, at the end, thankful that it really is nothing at all like my take on the whole situation.
In a nutshell, Maddy is dead. And she is in Is, as she calls it, kind of a formless void. Once she starts getting the hang of being there, she finds things that, in her life, she once lost. A bracelet, physics homework, her keys, cafeteria peas ... and each of these lost things transports her to that moment in her life. She relives it.
What was interesting to me about this novel is the way Huntley envisioned this afterlife as timeless. And also in the way that Maddy only got to see things that have happened, not that will after she died.
I'll admit I kind of saw the ending coming. At least, I suspected it. And yet I didn't think there was enough of a build-up to get there. It felt like one plot point was a very clear red herring whereas the true plot point wasn't fleshed out enough. It was like, well sure, of course, but you didn't do it well enough.
I don't know. I really did enjoy the book. I only hope that people sob at the end of my afterlife novel the way I did at the end of this :)