Neverworld Wake

Bea wants to get to the bottom of how her boyfriend died. After a year of grieving she’s given the opportunity to meet up with the friends she’s drifted apart from. They will be the key to finding out what happened to Jim. But that night, the five friends are involved in a car crash and find themselves re-living the same day. They are in the Neverworld, and only one them can return to the land of the living.

Time does not travel in a straight line. It bends and barrels across tunnels and bridges. It speeds up. Slows down. It even derails.

Neverworld Wake was one of those books I had on my wishlist but wasn’t quite sure why. Then Hanna @ Booking in Heels read it, compared it to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and I suddenly wanted to read it again. I don’t think the cover blurb does it any justice, which is maybe why I had no idea what it was really like. It has vibes of E. Lockhart and would be a great atmospheric Halloween read.

In order to end the cycle, they must vote unanimously on who gets to live. Actually, the Keeper says unanimous but one, which they all seem to forget about. The repeating day goes on for years, at one point Bea mentions it’s been a century. It’s always raining. For a time, they find ways to pass the time, living with no consequences, but Bea thinks the mystery behind Jim’s death is the key to ending it.

It’s so easy to hate the pretty one, worship the genius, love the rock star, trust the good girl. That’s never their only story. We are all anthologies. We are each thousands of pages long, filled with fairy tales and poetry, mysteries and tragedy, forgotten stories in the back no one will ever read.

The Keeper is an ominous presence. A mysterious figure there to remind them that they must vote. There were a few things that didn’t make sense, but most things could be forgiven by the strain of reliving the same day over and over. Memories are fallible, especially after trauma and it was absorbing enough for me not to mind.

The writing is excellent, despite the continuity errors, and I’m tempted to pick up Night Film, another book by the same author that was demoted off my wishlist at some point.

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Book Source: Purchased