All my thoughts: The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
“Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to. They are dreams that want to escape the night. They are treasure with wings. They are wild, feral, reckless things that need to be constantly chased, or they will certainly run away.”
The Ballad of Never After, Stephanie Garber
I always worry about middle books after a really good series starter, but Stephanie Garber’s The Ballad of Never After lived up to my expectations.
TBoNA follows the not-quite-right fairytale Evangeline Fox has found herself in. Her prince husband has been cursed yet again and to save him (and their future relationship) she has to help the Prince of Hearts, Jacks, find the four missing stones that will open the mysterious Valory Arch.
This follow-up to Once Upon a Broken Heart is tragically whimsical. It’s a fast-paced adventure through a web of what it takes to get your happily ever after. Garber gives fairy tales a twist with Evangeline and Jacks, tackling what makes a villain villainous and what a happily ever after means to begin with. It’s manipulation at its finest and love at its most heartbreaking. It’s everything that will tear you to pieces and beg for a better ending.
Eva’s characterization really flourishes in this book. She becomes less of a victim of circumstance (a damsel in distress, if you will) and more of an active participant in her own story. She takes more initiative to make her own choices. Before she was almost being held hostage by Jacks’ manipulation, now she’s deciding for herself. She wants to open the Arch for her own reasons, and she’s dead set on using the dagger she took from Jacks and opening doors using her magic.
She finds her confidence and a sense of identity for herself, but it’s taken away by the end. Apollo steals it from her. And we see that in the scene where she stands in the mirror and sees she looks like a princess but doesn’t feel like one. Apollo makes her a victim again.
Jacks also is more developed in this installment. We learn more of his backstory, which helps shape his character. He is not just a mysterious immortal figure; he was once just a boy playing with his friends in their favorite Inn and marking their heights on a wall. It humanizes him, but also makes him more tragic. He lost so much, not just his love but his family and friends. His life was taken from him.
I also adored Jacks and Eva as a duo. They are so different, but they work well together. Eva reels in some of Jacks’ chaotic energy, while Jacks helps open Eva’s eyes to reality. Their chemistry is so strong, like how they literally gravitate toward each other, and their banter is top tier.
Plus, the scene where they’re at the Hollow and Jacks asks her to stay with him … my heart. I’m obsessed with them.
Onto the plot. I really like how Garber layers her plot. The quest to find the stones takes center stage, but there’s a bunch of subplots that help lead the narrative and form motives for our characters to better shape the story. Like how Luc’s reappearance shows how Eva’s view of HEA has changed, or how the truth stone making Jacks spill the beans on his past fabricates his desire to open the arch, or how the Archer’s curse helps both Eva realize her true wants while also connecting/contrasting Apollo and Jacks.
It’s really well done, and it keeps the pace moving and the story flowing. I once again finished it in like four days, which is incredible.
Finally, I think the themes really hit home once again in this book. We continue with fate vs. free will, but we get so much emphasis on both manipulation and villainy.
Eva is manipulated by nearly every minor character in the story. LaLa casts the Archer’s Curse on Apollo to convince her to open the Arch, Jacks pretends he doesn’t care about Eva to change her feelings toward him, and Apollo steals her memories to make her love him. It shows how free will can be influenced.
Villainy was my favorite theme, though. I love the topic of exploring what makes a villain a villain. Because Jacks should be this story’s villain. He left Eva after she was turned to stone, he connived a way to get her to the North, he put the love spell on Apollo, he told LaLa he was pretending to care about her, he kills people, etc, etc. However, he’s not the villain. Apollo is, despite his heroic appearance. He doesn’t take into account Eva’s free will, instead taking it from her to suit his wants. It’s a way of showing that real monsters don’t always look like monsters. They look like princes.
Anyway here are all my thoughts on Stephanie Garber’s The Ballad of Never After:
- Pg. 32 / a unique take on happily ever after … they aren’t just given; they’re earned through hard work. You have to keep up with it. Put in the effort. You can lose it so easily if you don’t.
- Pg. 58 / We all make choices, we’re faced with the consequences of them. Marisol should’ve faced her consequences, but if Eva knowingly let her go what would that make her? What would be her consequences?
- Apollo is the Archer and Eva is the fox …
- Apollo can’t catch a break, man. One curse after another.
- Eva wants a happy ending so bad she thinks the best of every person and situation (except Jacks lol). She wants everyone to be as good as she is. But sometimes you have to hope for the best and suspect the worst.
- Why would she even think to go see Tiberius alone??? Stupid silly girl who thinks she’s so clever. Tiberius was never going to help her.
- Eva always says Jacks doesn’t understand human emotions, but my girl can’t even understand her own emotions.
- Pg. 151 / I love the continuation of exploring what HEA means. Because you don’t just ride off into the sunset and call it a life. There’s good days and bad days, and you have to love that person even on those bad days. It’s a constant effort to be happy. The right person just eases that effort.
- Pg. 166 / Jacks is the Archer from the story. That’s how he knows the ending, why he has so many copies. It might also be why he’s so protective of Eva. He doesn’t want to kill another fox.
- Sometimes Eva is so stupid it hurts
- pg. 245 / she’s the one who told us fairytales were the North’s history. Like girl, use that noggin of yours
- Jacks is a closeted lover boy … he has to care so much about Eva but is too scared because of the curse. My heart hurt for him.
- pg. 262 / LOVE. He called her LOVE.
- Jacks needs a therapist. He’s so fucked up.
- pg. 274 / he’s trying so hard to save Eva though. He probably feels like such a failure every time she’s hurt. It’s beyond his control. He’s a fate battling fate (and Eva’s questionable free will).
- Pg. 289 / It makes sense now. Jacks wants the stone to break his curse, right? They can do impossible things together so he can save himself.
- I love the magic of the Hollow. It’s so whimsical. A little oasis. But it also probably hurts Jacks so much. A never-changing reminder of what he’s lost.
- Pg. 311-12 Such a gorgeous quote
- Eva is trying to gaslight herself out of love with Jacks lol
- Jacks is meanwhile trying so hard to be okay
- I knew he was the Archer! So it’s an allegory for his curse. The fox is girls he falls in love with. He can’t stay away, he thinks they’re his true love, then he kills him.
- also a real story. But she hunts HIM down. Another play on fate vs. free will. He can only make his own choices.
- Jacks wanting to use the stones to go back in time is so unfair. How dare you make that choice for Eva to forget you. It’s taking away her free will.
- Oh, Jacks crying over Eva’s body, the Valors being alive, Chaos being Castor … it’s all too much!
- Pg. 390 / Ooooo, I love that we tie it all back to the first book. Every story has potential for infinite endings, and we see it play out before our eyes. Jacks changes the ending, but it’s still a tragedy in its own way. Is there another ending where they can be together?
- Apollo is a weasel! A weasely little weasel.
- just as Eva finds herself, it’s taken away because of Apollo’s selfishness
- Jacks is either going to kill him or sulk. Maybe both.
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