The Ever After by Amanda Hocking marks the end of another one of her beloved series featuring the Trylle. The Omte Origins trilogy is wrapped up in Hocking’s typical fashion, leaving fans of this world shocked, in denial and wanting more. Sadly, this book is planned to be the last in her Trylle series arc which has spanned the last ten years. It started with Wendy in Switched, then Bryn in Frostfire and now it ends with Ulla in The Ever After. I loved this book and I hated this book. I’ve had this recent habit of not finishing book series just on the sole fact that I don’t want the series to end and I’m too worried to see how the author will finish things. I fall in love with the characters and these worlds that readers like me are transported to and I don’t want to let them go. Can anyone else relate? Despite my new found hardship I kept going and indeed finished The Ever After despite how painful it ended up being. Like I said there were things that I wasn’t expecting and then there were others that I longed for but didn’t get enough of in the first two books of the series.
I give The Ever After by Amanda Hocking a 6 out of 10. I want to thank Netgalley and the publishers at St Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy!
I promise only minor spoilers (nothing major!) so read at your own risk!
______
“Pan pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms around me. And that’s all it was for a minute, neither of us saying anything, just content to hold one another. I couldn’t remember a single time in my life that someone had just held me like this, not pulling away or asking for anything more.
‘I missed you,’ I said quietly.
______
First let’s talk about the constant teasing of romance between our leading lady, Ulla and researcher, Pan. I waited so long for these two to get together and guess what? It finally happens! They are nothing but adorable and I think it might have even been worth the wait! They had a relationship that slowly grew as the plot progressed and it felt natural. I’m not going to lie, I think Hocking took a little bit of pleasure with teasing us readers with the romance but I think that only made it more successful. It was clever!
_____
“Breathless and elated and warm and terrified and safe, but mostly I felt totally and completely in love with Pan. When I looked up into his eyes, so warm and dark like black tea on a winter morning, I knew that I loved him with every part of my being…Pan laughed warmly, and then he put a finger under my chin, gently forcing me to look up at him. ‘Ulla, I was falling for you when we went to Sweden, and the only thing that’s changed about my feelings is that I care about you more every day that I spend with you.”
_____
It was everything I wanted between these two characters to happen and for that I am grateful.
I was glad to see Ulla’s lineage finally explained and I found the interwoven tragic love story between her parents as genius. It added another layer of depth that I wasn’t expecting but enjoyed immensely plus it also made so much sense that I can’t believe I didn’t call it earlier! The amount of mystery and the constant back and forth of who her parents were was at times exhausting so having added that background and history about her true parents made it better
suited to the story and once again worth all of the confusion. It also explained some of the mystery behind Sumi and Jem-Kruk which tied their stories together making it more complete.
Another thing I loved was the interaction between Ulla and her other ties to the books that came before. In this case, her relationship with Bryn. Hocking used the 2016 feature film, Trolls in a scene for the two to bond and critique the movie that’s essentially depicting their lives. I found it interesting and a great use of incorporating pop culture seamlessly with the story and its characters.
_____
“Yeah, yeah.’ I was sitting on the stool, trying to pretend that I wasn’t scared by the sight of the monstrous needle. Honestly, I would’ve classified it as a small metal tube. Needles were thin, petite, less aggressive.
Bryn was watching me with an amused gaze. When Dagny put on her gloves, snapping the latex against her wrist, I flinched, and Bryn laughed.
‘I didn’t know you were afraid of needles,’ she said.
I bristled. ‘I’m not afraid of them. I just don’t like them.”
______
Hocking also used Ulla’s particular feelings about needles as another way to incorporate humour while adding to Bryn’s involvement and interactions with Ulla and Dagny. This was both relatable and funny!
Now here comes the bad. So I had a few things that have stuck with me throughout this whole book and now that I’ve finished it knowing that there isn’t another one coming, I have a few comments.
First, the amount of foreign words that were present throughout the story in general. There were WAY too many and it affected the readability of the story. I think if there were fewer words or more explanation to each it might have worked better without impacting the plot. This might have also attributed to the overall length of the story which seemed to run too long and added confusion. Plus many of the words were very similar! Making it even harder to tell which was which.
Next, we have “The Lost Month”. This was the major plot point at the beginning of this book where Ulla and her friends couldn’t remember what happened at the end of book 2 when they were held captive. Ulla retrieved her memory back in scattered flashbacks triggered by events happening in the present which makes sense but the way it felt was exhaustive. It seemed to piggyback the original story of Ulla and her unknown parents. This lost month seemed to take the light away from her trying to figure out her family thinking it had something to do with this lost time. Her lineage plot point was already proving to be more complicated than she ever thought possible and then Hocking threw this broken memory twist into the mix. I was not a fan. I think with how complicated the blood relations were with Ulla and some of the other
characters were more than enough for this trilogy and this lost memory only added more confusion where it wasn’t needed. I don’t think the way it was executed worked the way they wanted it to. It served to further Ulla’s story a little bit but not enough for all of the confusion it caused while I read it.
And whatever happened to Pan finally resolving his own blood family? They wouldn’t let him confirm his theories of who it was and especially with it having to do with a royal blood line I found that to be a little farfetched considering royals always want to know their blood relations. This also proved to be slightly disappointing in the fact that this could have been explored and tied into the story as he also had a similar issue like Ulla. I just think it was a wasted opportunity because I was intrigued to know more about the cute and nerdy love interest but ended up not knowing that much about him.
There is an unforeseen death to be had in the final battle which I will not disclose but you have been warned. It is a SHOCK! And I am still reeling from it.
The last thing I want to mention is the presence of the Ogonen. These were higher beings said to have the ability to read minds and seem to resemble what you might call, extra-terrestrials. They were described WAY too much and every time they were mentioned I felt like I was reading about a government conspiracy. I think that was the negative side effect of trying to make them scary (because they were so unknown) and mysterious. I liked where they fit into the story at the end but I think the description and all of their mentions were a bit too much.
Near the end of the book we also get to see more of the final battle as it unfolded by the addition of chapters featuring Bryn and Wendy’s perspective. It opened the scope of the battle and once again showcased characters from her other books, including a scene with Loki running to Finn’s aid with genuine concern after finding out that he was trapped. It was adorable and appreciated! I love all of Hocking’s easter eggs from her other series but again this does not affect the reading experience if this is the first trilogy you’ve read by her. They all link together but can be read separately! I recommend starting with Switched and then the Frostfire trilogy before starting the Omte Origins but it doesn’t have to be read in that fashion. If you liked these books and haven’t read the others, do it! And vice versa. Each trilogy has its own merit and you will fall in love with the world of Trylle no matter which one you start with!