Everwild

Everwild

The cover of Everwild
Author Neal Shusterman
Language English
Series Skinjacker Trilogy
Genre Fantasy
Published 2011 Simon & Schuster
Media type Print (hardback & e-book)[1][2]
Pages 432 [2]
ISBN 1-84738-732-2
Preceded by Everlost
Followed by Everfound

Everwild is a 2010 fantasy novel by the acclaimed award winning young adult fiction author Neal Shusterman.[3] The book is the second book in the acclaimed Skinjacker Trilogy, which takes place in Everlost, a limbo-like place between life and death.

Summary

Everwild continues the stories of Allie and Nick as they pursue separate goals. Allie sets off with Mikey, who was once the terrifying monster, McGill, in the book Everlost, to find her parents in hopes that she might put her spirit to rest; meanwhile, Nick finds himself in a race against time to save the Afterlights from endless entrapment in Everlost by the Sky Witch, Mary Hightower. Traveling in the memory of the Hindenburg, Mary spreads her propaganda and attracts Afterlights to her cause at a frightening speed.[4][5]

Nick, in control of a train, is heading south to gather his own support against Mary. Due to the rumors Mary has spread about the Chocolate Ogre Nick is being overwhelmed by the memory of the chocolate stain on his face, and he is unable to stop the chocolate from spreading over his body. Nick follows the rumor of "Zack the Ripper", revealed to be Zinnia, a girl who died in the Civil War while pretending to be a boy. Zinnia has the ability to "rip," breaking the barrier between the living world and Everlost to pull or push things through. With her abilities, Nick begins to devise a plan to confront and defeat Mary.

Meanwhile, together with Mikey, Allie the Outcast travels home to look for her parents and her own life. Along the way, Allie meets a three other skinjackers, led by Milos. Allie is tempted by the seductive thrill of skinjacking as she masters the skill, until she discovers the shocking truth about skinjackers: skinjackers are not necessarily dead or alive.[4][5] Allie's body lies in a comatose state waiting for her soul to rejoin it, and she has the choice whether to remain a skinjacker in Everlost or return to her living body. Mikey discovers that, though he is no longer a monster, he retains the ability to morph himself into monstrous creations of his own mind. Mikey grows jealous of Milos's relationship with Allie. Allie and Mikey part ways with the skinjackers, who Mary later joins forces with.

By the end of the book, The Ripper, Allie, and Nick join forces to defeat the evil Mary Hightower and foil her plan to kill all the world's children in order to bring them into Everlost. Nick and the Ripper arrange to meet Mary at a vortex in Graceland, and Zinnia uses her abilities to push Mary into an opening that takes her into the real world. On her way through, Mary manages to grab on to Zinnia and pull her in with her. The vortex's power causes Nick succumbs to memory and becomes a fully chocolate puddle. The skinjackers, now on Mary's side, blow up a bridge in the living world so the Mary's army can cross over to the unknown land west of the Mississippi River. Allie is captured and strapped to the front of the train. Mikey painstakingly shapes Nick's chocolate puddle into a golem that retain none of Nick's memories or intelligence. Determined to follow Allie, Mikey sinks into the earth with the chocolate golem so that they can cross into the west. Milos meets Mary in the real world, where she asks him to kill her so that she can return to Everlost and continue her crusade.

Setting

The stories in the Skinjacker trilogy takes place in Everlost. Everlost is the place between life and death that all lost children or teenagers below the age of 18 end up after getting lost in their journey to the afterlife, or the light at the end of the tunnel. These lost children, or Afterlights, are unseen by the "living" world. The Afterlights cannot interact with the real world (except those with the ability to possess, or "skinjack," the living) and will sink to the Earth's core if they stay still on living ground. An exception is a "deadspot", a place where someone has died, where the Afterlights don't sink. There are no adults in Everlost, as it is almost impossible for them to be lost on the path to the afterlife.[6]

Characters

Sequel

Everfound is the third and final book of the Skinjacker trilogy. In this book, the afterlights are pitted against one another in an epic battle that might destroy all lives on Earth.[10] Everfound was released in May 2011.

References

  1. "Everwild". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  2. 1 2 Everwild--Amazon Page. ASIN 1847387322.
  3. "Neal Shusterman - Award-Winning Author, Screenwriter & Television Writer For X-File". July 4, 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Everwild by Neal Shusterman". Caught Between the Pages. Retrieved 21 January 2011. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  5. 1 2 Shusterman, Neal (2010). Everwild. 1847387322. ISBN 1-84738-732-2.
  6. Shusterman, Neal (2006). Everlost. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1-84738-504-4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Everlost". Shelfari. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Everwild". Shelfari. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  9. Shusterman, Neal (2010). Everwild. Simon & Schuster. p. 73. ISBN 1-84738-732-2.
  10. "Everfound (Skinjacker Trilogy, book 3) by Neal Shüsterman". Retrieved 20 January 2011.
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