ssjakira1's Full Review: Tim Lebbon - The Everlasting
The last book in my lineup for my graduate program, The Everlasting by Tim Lebbon sounded interesting (what horror book doesn’t?) and like it might be the most fun out of the others. I enjoy a good supernatural freak out now and then. Then I remembered Tim Lebbon also wrote Berserk and my interest sort of wobbled a little. Still, I had to read it, so onward I went. I’d just finished reading Me and Mr. Darcy so I wasn’t really feeling the horror scene, but I wanted to dive in and finish this book off (especially since it was a pain in the butt to get my hands on).
Scott loved his grandfather very much, and didn’t believe that Papa was mad when he killed his best friend and then committed suicide. Scott always knew there had to be more to the story. Thirty years later, he learns he is right. A letter from Papa arrives on his doorstep and not long after that, the man Papa kills returns and kidnaps Scott’s wife. Scott has to use the letter to find an ancient book to trade for his wife’s life. But this isn’t an ordinary book, and with a woman claiming to be immortal at his side, Scott has to make a choice. Destroy the book, or give it up to save his wife? But he can only choose if he’s still alive to do so…
While the events are exciting and intriguing and the other characters unique and strange, being stuck with Scott kind of sucked. That’s because I had a difficult time connecting with him. While Scott is a man in his 40s, that shouldn’t matter. The same problem happened in Berserk if I remember right. The book starts off with past events, memories, and I have a hard time connecting with the “now” version of Scott, likewise I had a hard time seeing his desperate love for his wife. Throughout the book he’s crying over her kidnapping and thinking, “Yes, anything to save Helen” but I hardly get anything in the opening that gives me an inkling of the depth of his love. Maybe I’m not supposed to have a hard time believing such a thing or that I should need to see it, but it just seemed so abrupt. Half the time he was busy getting all doe-eyed about memories with Papa, his grandfather soooo…. Yeah.
Likewise with the crying. I really wanted Scott to stop and, not necessarily get over it, but realize that crying isn’t going to solve anything – especially when you’re already on the road trying to do something to save your wife. He never really got angry either. Frustrated from time to time, but hardly ever angry. That drove me nuts. It’s not like I have a thing against guys crying, by all means, sob over your missing wife a couple of times, but remember, she’s not dead, so there’s still a chance. So pull yourself together and get busy.
Aside from those two things, I did enjoy the book. I went to many cool places, into the Wide, peeking into the world of ghosts, seeing different immortals and what time has done to them. Lebbon didn’t hook me right away – in fact, I admit I zoned on several pages at the beginning and had to read them again because I totally missed what they had to say, but once things got going, when Scott wasn’t bugging me, I enjoyed myself. Lebbon’s got some sweet ideas that could easily be expanded into more or simply used elsewhere.
I’m sure not everyone will have the same issues with Scott as myself and will like this book even more. I do give Lebbon kudos for fresh ideas and being the one of the few to actually use immortals correctly. I mean, when you claim you can’t die, then you can’t die. Way to go all the way, Lebbon.
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