Book Review: The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

Book title: The Ballad of Never After
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA fantasy
Published: September 13, 2022
416 pages
My rating: 3.5/5

“Some of her ideas about love might have changed since coming North, but she still believed it was the most powerful force in the world. If two people really loved each other and they were willing to fight for that love, if they were willing to go to war for each other, day after day, then it didn’t matter what they were up against. Love would always win as long as they never stopped fighting for it.”

The Ballad of Never After is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy Once upon a Broken Heart. I’m trying to be as spoiler-free as possible in my reviews, but inevitably the following synopsis will contain spoilers of the first book. Proceed with caution.

After Evangeline Fox learns that her husband Apollo is still alive, she swears she will save him – and without the help of Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, who has betrayed her. But when Apollo wakes up from his magical sleep and tries to kill her, Evangeline has to turn to Jacks again and ask for his help. To break the murder curse, she agrees to collect the missing stones to open the mysterious Valory Arch.

The Ballad of Never After picks up right after the end of the first book. I found the plot of this instalment a lot more interesting. We finally get some action instead of all the set-up of the first book. However, the action is stalled in several places in favor of the romance plot. There’s a lot of pining and uncertainty, as Evangeline fights against her feelings for Jacks. Evangeline has some character development, but for the most part, she is still very naïve and trusting.

Jacks’s behavior toward Evangeline, however, was manipulative and toxic. If that’s the type of love interest you want to read about, you’ll probably enjoy the romance plot. I did not. I also did not like the “my love can save him” trope. Just. No. I seriously hope that the last book of the trilogy subverts that trope.

In my review of Once upon a Broken Heart, I noted Garber’s use of imagery. I think The Ballad of Never After shows a progression in Garber’s writing. She still describes smells and tastes in a distinctive way, but not to the same extent as in her previous novels. One thing in the writing and plotting of this book I did not like was how convenient some of the events were. Every time Evangeline was in trouble, you could be sure that Jacks would burst in out of nowhere (how did he know where she was?) and save her. You would think that after so many times it happened in this book, Evangeline would have learned her lesson and not trusted people so easily.

I don’t want to spoil the ending of the book, but I do want to say that I wasn’t particularly keen on the trope that it used. I’m willing to give the last book a chance, though. Because of Jacks’s behavior and the novel prioritizing romance over plot, I ended up giving this book three and a half stars. But if you like young adult fantasy with a morally gray love interest and a lot of pining, this series might be for you.