Everwild

Starred review from November 6, 2006
Shusterman's (Full Tilt
) enigmatic novel imagines a purgatory where only children go, with its own vocabulary and body of literature plus a monster named the McGill. After a car accident, teens Allie and Nick awaken 272 days later in Everlost. "It took nine months to get you born, so doesn't it figure it would take nine months to get you dead?" says the boy who discovers them, a nameless, lonely child they call Lief (an "Afterlight" who is 100 years old). In Everlost only the young exist, because adults "never get lost on the way to the light." The World Trade Center is there, too, home to Mary Hightower, a 15-year-old shaman of sorts and author of countless books (e.g., You're Dead—So Now What?
). Shusterman uses excerpts from Mary's books (with an increasing sense of menace) to segue from one chapter to the next. Allie's flight from Mary's kingdom of "perfect routines," and her attempt to rescue Nick and Lief from a six-year-old spectral gangster lead her into a conflict with the monstrous McGill (with "sharp, three-fingered talons for hands,... its mismatched eyes wandered of its own accord"). Along the way, Allie learns the art of "skinjacking" (inhabiting the living), and Nick discovers a thing or two about the mechanics of Everlost, much to Mary's dismay. Shusterman's landscapes seem both familiar and ghostly, just the right mix for this fascinating limbo land that readers can only hope will provide the setting for more books to come. Ages 12-up.

December 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-Some young people, when they die, lose their way on the path toward the light and end up in Everlost, a sort of purgatory between life and final peace that the light brings. "Everwild" continues the story of Allie the Outcast; Nick the Chocolate Ogre; and Mikey McGill and his sister, Mary Hightower, that began in "Everlost" (S & S, 2006). Nick continues to oppose Mary, who believes that her destiny is to keep all children in Everlost forever, preferably in her care. One of his new allies is Zin, a girl who can "rip" things from the living world into Everlost. Allie meets other "skinjackers," Afterlights who can possess people in the world of the living, and learns from them matters both exhilarating and horrifying. Mikey gains more control over his power to change himself and even learns to extend his ability to others. Shusterman demonstrates by Mary's choices of allies and goals just how terrifying the righteous can be. As with any good book two of a trilogy, readers are treated to unexpected developments and a blockbuster cliff-hanger to hook them in for the concluding episode. In this moment in popular culture when vampires are everywhere and zombies are shuffling to the fore, Shusterman has created a new way to be undead. A perfect read for the spooky time of the yearand without any loss of vital fluids."Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Mary Hightower looks for new children to bring to Everlost; Nick's goal is to release them. Meanwhile, Allie, a "skinjacker," tries to find her parents, and Shusterman adds more characters along the way. Thought-provoking and scary, invoking elements from history and mythology, the novel ends with a shocking event that will leave its fans wanting the next volume immediately.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)