Everwild

I never knew there was a sequel to Everlost until recently. But that's what Everwild is. Go read the first book, or at least its review, since I think I did a decent explanation in the review entry. Anyway, Everwild takes place a fair amount of time after the first book. Nick is the Chocolate Ogre who opposes Mary Hightower, and Allie and Mikey are journeying on their own. We get a bunch of new characters, too, including other skinjackers besides Allie and an ecto-ripper. What surprised me a lot about this book is how heavy on the romance it was. I mean, it's not like Shusterman never has any romance in his books that I've read, but it becomes much more of a driving force in this novel. The interaction with the living world also increases, as do the stakes of everything. Near the end are some moments where I couldn't quite believe that the antagonists were actually going to get away with what they did. The mysteries of Everlost increase. What is west of the Mississipi? Also, Allie's time in Memphis totally did not pan out how I thought it would. But the upshot of this all is that Shusterman has crafted a page-turner that works and continually surprises the reader. Check this series out.