Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Brodi Ashton, Evertrue. New York: Balzer & Bray, 2013, 350 pp.
ISBN
Genre
Fantasy fiction
Romance fiction
Target Audience
Young adults (Teens)
Cover
We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.
Author of the Entry:
Michael Stierstorfer, University of Regensburg, Michael.stierstorfer@ur.de
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Markus Janka, University of Munich, janka@lmu.de
Elżbieta Olechowska, University of Warsaw, elzbieta.olechowska@gmail.com
Brodi Ashton (Author)
Brodi Ashton studied journalism at the University of Utah and international relations at the London School of Economics. She published her debut, Everneath, in 2012, as a first volume of a trilogy (vol. 2 and 3 are entitled respectively Everbound 2013, Evertrue 2014). Ashton blogs and comments on her writing at brodiashton.blogspot.com. She lives in Utah with her husband and two sons. She says in her blog, that both her parents were “Greek myth geeks,” she learned about mythology in her childhood and brought the mythological inspiration to her Everneath trilogy. In her writing, she focuses on romantic fantasy for teenagers and young adults. She published another novel, Diplomatic Immunity in 2016. The same year, she began collaborating with two other YA authors, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows. The three friends working under the nickname The Ladyjanies produced My Lady Jane in 2016, My Plane Jane in 2018; the third novel in the same cycle, My Calamity Jane is scheduled to appear in 2020. All her books are very popular and were translated in a number of languages.
Sources:
Profile at amazon.com (accessed: September 25, 2019)
Blog (accessed: September 25, 2019)
Bio prepared by Michael Stierstorfer, University of Regensburg, Michael.stierstorfer@ur.de
Translation
German: Ewiglich. Die Hoffnung, trans. Rasha Khayat und Sebastian Blum, Oetinger, 2013.
Summary
A seventeen year old high school student and cheerleader, Nikki, joins together with Jack, her boyfriend, in order to destroy the perilous and horrible Everneath completely. To fulfil that mission, she moves to Nebraska with Jack, from where they descend into the underworld. There, the couple meets the Hades-figure Cole, who lost his memory. Consequently, it is revealed, that he was tortured by Adonia, the cruel queen of the Everneath, because she feared him as a rival to her throne. By destroying the “damned stone,” which is the vessel of Adonia’s superpower, with the sickle of Cronus taken from the lake Tantalus, they substantially weaken the queen. Afterwards the trio steps into the throne room of Adonia. The hearts of Nikki and Cole are also stored there – they were stolen by Adonia (see Everbound). During a conversation with Adonia, the two young people manage to cause an explosion in the throne room. Nikki is then able to shatter Adonia’s heart by using her mental power. Suddenly, Adonia disappears into thin air and is no more. Nikki and Cole break their stolen hearts, in order to lift the curse condemning them to live in the Everneath. Cole dies, because he was cursed too long ago, and would not be able to live on the surface. Nikki leaves the underworld and reunites with Jack. They swear to each other eternal love.
Analysis
Additionally to the myth of Hades and Persephone, in this third volume of the trilogy, the myth of the Titans and of Tantalus bring additional inspirations. The myth of the Titans provides the idea of a particularly hard and indestructible weapon, the sickle of Cronus, which will be used at a decisive moment of the story. The myth of Tantalus is briefly retold to explain the name of the lake. Follows the emancipation of the Persephone-figure, Nikki, from the control of the evil Hades-figure, Cole. A new and independent figure of Persephone fits better the contemporary way of life of women. In book five of Ovid’s Metamorphoses Proserpina (Persephone) is the victim of Pluto’s (Hades’) force and cannot leave this cruel god, who abducted her into the underworld and separated her from her mother Demeter. Cole, while guilty of kidnapping Nikki, sucking her emotions and energy for a hundred underworld years (equaling six months on the surface), and then transforming her into a vampire, remains a seductive and glamorous rock musician who is not all bad, as he helps Nikki save Jack, vanquish Adonia, and break the curse binding both of them to the underworld, even though it leads to his death. This complex character may be seen by some as an embodiment of what young girls should avoid, if they want to be “traditionally” happy. The novel shows the danger of falling for “a bad boy” his glamour and fatal attraction; it champions a safer “eternal” love, like the relationship between Nikki and Jack will finally be, a couple secure in their emotions and devotion, well proven by their willingness to save each other, and even to die trying.
Further Reading
Janka, Markus and Michael Stierstorfer, ed., Verjüngte Antike. Griechisch-römische Mythologie und Historie in zeitgenössischen Kinder- und Jugendmedien, Heidelberg: Winter, 2017, 13–27.
Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina, “Orpheus and Eurydice. Reception of the Classical Myth in Children’s Literatureˮ, in Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Childhood… The Classics and Literature for Children and Young Adults, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2016, 291–306.
Stierstorfer, Michael, Antike Mythologie in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur der Gegenwart. Unsterbliche Götter- und Heldengeschichten? [Ancient Mythology in Contemporary Children’s Literature. Immortal Stories of Gods and Heroes?] Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2017, 128 pp.
