Angie Frazier

The last thing Camille Rowen wants to do in 19th-century San Francisco is to marry for money and be kept away from her fascination with the sea aboard her father’s ships. But that’s what she must do, in order to help her father save his business. On a final voyage to Australia before her wedding, however, their ship is caught in a ferocious storm that takes away her father and leaves Camille with Oscar, her lower-class Irish friend.

But her father also leaves a mystery behind, one that show more has to do with family secrets and a dangerous magic stone with awesome powers. Camille and Oscar race to retrieve the stone before their enemies do, but it’s far from an easy journey. Pursued by old rivals and magical elements, Camille must learn about the true meaning of her heart’s desire if she wants this adventure to come out right in the end.

EVERLASTING is an ambitious novel that spans continents and seas, but it sadly did not live up to its promising premise, due to the lack of immediacy within the albeit beautiful writing. Angie Frazier’s prose has the capability of creating sensational imagery: it is real literary art. But overall, the plot ran so slowly, scenes unfolded with such deliberation and explication, that I ended up being unable connect with the story.

No doubt Camille and Oscar are good people, but the way in which they constantly and unendingly suppressed their true feelings and wandered on tiptoes around one another and the world around them made it hard for me to actually understand them. Perhaps this is a product of the time period in which EVERLASTING is set: the Victorian era, after all, was stifling and repressive not just to the British. But I felt that, unfortunately, the beauteous modernity of the prose clashed with the historical setting, leaving me with a story that is interesting, but perhaps not written in the way that would’ve best let it stand out and enthrall us.

Nevertheless, I would encourage readers interested in historical fantasy to give this one a try. Perhaps you may be able to see things in it that you like that I did not. show less

Seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has spent the best moments of her life aboard her father's ship. She loves the adventure and the sense of freedom it gives her so, of course, she is dreading her upcoming marriage. Marrying a wealthy man will mean better standing in society (this is 1855)--no more whispering about her--but will also mean an end to her sailing days. (And this is actually all I knew about the book before I read it! I purposely ignored the synopsis, so you can skip to my more show more review-y part if you want.)

It is on her final voyage with her father before her marriage to Randall when everything unfolds.

Camille learns that her mother is not, as she has believed her whole life, dead but actually living in Australia. And in possession of a mysterious map. A map believed to lead to a magical stone.

Then, when the ship goes down in a horrible storm and Camille's father is killed, it is up to her and Oscar, her father's first mate to decide what to do in Australia (all with Camille's impending marriage looming over them). William's (Camille's father) adversary McGreenery is also after the stone and not afraid to hurt someone to be the one who gets it.

Camille and Oscar have a complicated relationship, he's been around their home more like a family member than a crew member and the feelings they have for each other are far from easily definable. And he and Camille's fiance, Randall can't stand each other.

It's like The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle with a splash of Oregon Trail, a pinch of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and a little bit of The Merciless and some of the best parts of Pirates of the Caribbean--but really, it is its own unique tale. A tale with ships, love that's not meant to be, family obligation, treasure maps, bushrangers, and the expanses of Australia.

Love, loss, the high seas, a mythical stone, and some serious bad guys--Everlasting seriously has it all.

I'll admit, readily, that Everlasting is now one of my favorite books. I got really interested in it because of the 'ship' parts but that's actually not a huge part of the book. Their adventures across Australia make almost a Western (think 3:10 to Yuma or something since I seem to have little reference for Westerns) or PoTC with something around every corner, ready to get them and making them improvise. There are some guns and explosions and chases but not much-and not a lot of violence.

Camille being such a strong willed, reluctant-to-join-in-with-society's-expectations character also made the story so enjoyable. Camille, internally, and other parts of the plot struggled with where a girl/woman should be and what she should be doing in that time period. And I really liked that it was not a PSA but a part of the story.

The plot of this really wasn't predictable. Even when I thought I had an idea of where things were likely going, there was always something else thrown in that changed things up at least a little bit. I loved it; it wasn't predicable, but also never had anything that came out of nowhere.

And then-and I'm not saying how to save it-the ending was super amazing and creative and I loved it.

I loved the relationships built in Everlasting, the period accuracy that seemed to be used, the adventure (and suspense), the smart challenging of what was expected out of women then. I hope that there will sometime be more about Camille--either set in the future or maybe even the past--and definitely more from Angie Frazier.

10/10

Thank you to Angie Frazier for getting this book sent to me :)

(this-and all my reviews-also on my blog: book-splot.blogspot.com) show less

There were moments when this book was so perfect and exactly what I wanted, and other moments where I was thoroughly confused and trying desperately to understand what was happening. But that’s okay, because my confusion often matched Camille’s. There’s all this weird stuff happening, stuff she’s never even imagined as possible, and sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with it. I often found myself rushing through the magical, mystical aspects of the book because I felt the show more strongest points of the story were the characters and their relationships to each other.
There is, of course, the attraction between Camille and Oscar. Camille is strong and analytical, so even though it may seem that she’s constantly wavering back and forth about throwing herself into a relationship with Oscar, her decision-making process about him is thorough. Frazier did an excellent job of showing the battle between what she believes she wants and what she believes is best for her life. Aside from this relationship, though, is the one Camille has with her father. Every decision she makes in life is weighed with him in mind. Even as she uncovers more and more secrets he kept from her, she still has a sense of obligation to him as his daughter, the one person he loved more than anyone in the world.
Camille and Oscar’s journey is epic. They face every type of obstacle imaginable as they make their way to their destination, and they find friends and enemies in unexpected places. The story ends leaving me pining for what’s coming next, because I have a feeling that Camille’s life will be ten times more complicated than she ever dreamed it would be. show less

The Scoop:
When we left Camille, Oscar, Ira and Cassie's newly discovered brother Samuel they had found the mysterious stone of Umandu, brought Oscar back to life using it and killed off their nemesis in the search who also happened to be Samuel's father. What Camille and her co-horts didn't know is that Umandu is part of a set of stones that needed to be united (reunited?) to work properly in their magic of bringing somebody back to life. Not having the two stones meant that Oscar's soul was show more never returned to his body and therefore he wasn't yet, technically, alive. Camille is determined to travel to the bowels of the neverworld to get the stone and complete Oscar's reanimation. Along the way she must sort out her feelings for him and her "former" fiance Randall, determine where her brother's loyalties lay and try to locate loyal Ira who was abducted by the supernatural creatures trying to stop her in her quest.

My Thoughts:
Ok, seriously, what is it about book series that have some sort of romance aspect that will have the main characters have some sort of stupid falling out in the middle book of the trilogy. Gah! I'm all for a good love triangle when we don't quite know what is in our main character's heart. However, it's very annoying and frustrating when we followed two characters through an entire previous book where they battled and overcame and ultimately decided that they were soulmates. I mean, hello? She chose to bring Oscar back from the dead rather than her father. Her FATHER! The person that loved and cared for her her entire life! And then we come to the second book and just because Oscar is missing a little thing like his soul and can't shower emotions on Camille (and Randall can and will) doesn't mean that she should just switch allegiances. SHE CHOSE OSCAR OVER HER FATHER! That has to mean something in the grand scheme of trying to find a soul, right? Ok, so I admit, if I was looking at a future where I didn't have a soul or could be pulled into the Underworld by Domorious I might be a little hesitant to continue on a relationship with somebody but, still. Oscar and Camille worked together to get Umandu in the first place so a little thing like finding the sister stone and regaining his soul shouldn't be that much more difficult and become a relationship deal-breaker. Ok, I think I'm done with that.
But, really, besides that whole Randall or Oscar internal debate she has Camille is one of the best female characters. You'd think she'd be all hoity-toity and fancy-like because her father owned a shipping empire (of sorts) but no, she's all kick-ass and strong. I guess a lifetime of traveling on her father's ships made her a self-sufficient, take-no-prisoners type of gal. She had not trouble entering the bowels of hell to save her (supposedly) beloved Oscar's soul. She might have a moment of hesitation here or there but she doesn't let that, her brother's failing allegiance, the soulless cold-shoulder from Oscar, Maggie's uncertain guidance and other issues that crop up in her travels sway her from plowing forward in her mission. I really admired her spunk and fortitude.
Again, Angie Frazier took the reader on an interesting journey to a lesser explored book setting. In the first book we sailed the high seas to Australia and on this trip we set sail for Egypt (and the Underworld). And her way of weaving historical and fantasy aspects together in a subtle way made it a pleasure to read. Considering that the resolution between Camille, Oscar and Randall was left hanging a little bit I'm looking forward to what I assume is another book in the series. show less