Everless by Sara Holland

I wasn't particularly sure that I was going to enjoy the book from the first couple of chapters.  However, once I had settled in to it I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.  Although, it must be said right up front that Jules is a very frustrating character and I did spend a lot of time tutting and mentally shaking my finger at her as she continued to make silly assumptions and not see what was right in front of her face.  Don't you hate it when characters do dumb things!

The world building here is exceptionally good and it is not just the blood-iron coins and how the whole upper classes rely on "stealing" time from the lower (although this has been meticulously thought through) but the actual places in this world are rich and real.  Although, they do have a sort of Sherwoodesque Medieval feel to them this is nto necessarily a bad thing.  At the very least it means that we are in a fantasy world that looks and functions much as ours does, this makes it easier to slip in to the story without pesky details about what would seem anomalous features yanking us back out.

The basic tale here is of Jules and her attempts to earn some blood coin to save her father having to donate his last time to keep a roof over their heads.  Unfortunately this means a return to Everless, where she was brought up and from where her and her father where exiled.  Backed in to a corner Jules has no choice but to try and become a servant at Everless now The Queen is coming to visit for the celebration of her ward to one of the Gerling Princes of Everless.  A Gerling Prince that Jules knows all too well.

The plot itself moves along at a good pace and is full of quirky little details and odd little coincidences that point the reader in the direction of the truth whilst leaving the characters themselves in the metaphotical dark.  I was quite pleased to have guessed at most of the major plot points before their big reveal but it may have been more fun to find them out with Jules.  I did have a great deal of fun reading this book though and I am looking forward to Evermore being released.