If you haven’t read Amber House, reading Neverwas will not only cause spoilers of the first book – it’ll also be super confusing. Do yourself a favor – read my review of Amber House here and then read the book.
Amber House is extremely awesome – you’ll be glad you listened.
If you have read the stupendous Amber House, then read on for a brief synopsis of Neverwas.
After the death of her grandmother, beloved by her family and community, Sarah Parsons has come to live at Amber House – a centuries-old estate that has been passed down through generations and carries ghostly echoes of the past.
Before long, Sarah begins to get a sensation that things are… wrong… somehow.
Different.
As the American Confederation of States still struggles with segregation, tension is building in town – but even more so in Sarah as she starts to believe she may have caused changes to the world that are not altogether good…
As New Year’s approaches, Sarah decides to listen to what Amber House is trying to tell her and see if she can affect a difference once more – before it’s too late…
Hopefully that’s a vague enough summary, ha!
I absolutely loved Amber House but when I started Neverwas I couldn’t remember much as it had been a while, and I didn’t have time to re-read it. Happily, my memory began to get jogged and my initial, “Huh?” didn’t last too long.
Obviously, there are some clues in there that Neverwas is definitely taking place in an alternate version of what we had gotten used to in Amber House.
Change was definitely achieved and at times it was a little confusing, but the altered world history and the numerous butterfly effects were truly fascinating.
As I read Neverwas I yearned for Sarah to remember events of Amber House, to draw that connection together. There’s a slight difference to her character that is superbly done in the fact that her upbringing is also different. But not so much to make her a completely different person.
Neverwas is peppered full of info of this different version of life, and at times I started to wonder if/when any of it would change but it became increasingly thrilling, intriguing, chilling and extraordinarily well done!!! The race to figure out what event was altered to change so many things is very suspenseful!
Without really giving anything away, I will say that I feel Neverwas is excellently written, a phenomenal time-travel/alternate reality/ghost story novel that is wholly original and compelling.
I am now very, very impatient for the third book!!!
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