Official Review: Immortal by Gillian Shields

[Alexandra Bayer]

After Frankie, the grandmother Evie has lived with since she was a baby, has a stroke, Evie is sent off to Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies. Wyldcliffe is a prestigious boarding school with an unmatchable reputation, though not everything said is good... When Evie arrives, the stern teachers, snobby students, and cold atmosphere make her feel anywhere but at home. The only thing that brings some light back into Evie's existence is Sebastian, a handsome boy she happens to meet. But as Evie falls steadily in love with Sebastian, questions appear: Why will he only meet her at night? Why does he never talk of family or friends? And why did his whole mannerism change since their first meeting? Finding the answers to these questions will lead Evie down a dark route that is not so easily retraceable.

The summery of this book sounded great: mystery, magic, romance; everything I enjoy reading! But when I actually began the book, there were a few things that put me off. The first was the way the characters talked. It was very old fashioned, with many 'mustn't's and 'cannot's (as opposed to shouldn't and can't). There were also very few abbreviations. I found this to be odd; after all, what present-day teenager actually speaks like that? None that I know or know of. And it wasn't only Evie who talked this way. All of the students at Wyldcliffe did as well. Some parts of the story got to be quite exciting, and then a sentence structured like this was thrown in, and reality hit me and brought me back down. I wish the teenaged students' way of speaking had been slightly more accurate.

There was another aspect of the story that I found to be off-putting: the romance between Sebastian and Evie. To be perfectly honest, I don't like Sebastian in the least. I found him to be needy, stalkerish, and overly clingy. Not to mention his dark and disgusting secrets which, when Evie discovered them, instead of sending her running, dragged her back into his arms. The first time the two of them met, Sebastian was incredibly rude, snobby, and basically tried to drive Evie away. Yet the next time they met, she agreed to keep meeting him, night after night, which was against the rules of Wyldcliffe and could get her expelled. I also found her feelings for Sebastian to be coming on too quickly. Yes, they spent an appropriate amount of time together before their first kiss and for her to fall in love, but considering the way he acted, I don't understand how she could have loved him. This part of the storyline I found to be unbelievable and pretty much ruined the romance section of the novel, which is basically what the whole book was based around.

What I did enjoy was the mystery. The clues were difficult to discover and near impossible to solve, so none of it was predictable. The storyline was very well thought-out and original, which I appreciated. A quest for immortality, resulting in a drawn-out life but not what was sought after. Demons, elemental magic, and a cursed school all add up the a good read. I just wish that the characters' speech and the romance had been more realistic; I think the book may have been ten times better than it currently is if those things had been looked after. Don't misunderstand my meaning; I did like this book, I just think that amending those details would have made it even more enjoyable.

Although not as ideal a book as I'd hoped it would turn out to be, Immortal still captured my attention and held it. I would hand out three stars to this novel, because although I enjoyed the storyline, the details I mentioned earlier could have meant an additional star. I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in curses, magic in everyone willing, and deep romances.

[Norma_Rudolph]

Thanks for the well written review. Sounds like an interesting book.