Everwild (The Skinjacker Trilogy)
Grade 8 Up—After losing her children to Nick, the Chocolate Ogre, at the conclusion ofEverlost(2006), Mary Hightower takes to the heavens in her silver ship, the Hindenburg. Having momentarily lost her purpose, Mary quickly becomes zealous in her fanatic quest to become "mother" to all Afterlights (those who have died and are living in an alternate afterlife) and, with the help of some newly introduced skinjackers, sets out to conquer the world of Everlost. Meanwhile, Nick, spurred on by his victory over Mary, sets out to find her and keep her from preventing more Afterlights from crossing over. Allie and Mikey are traveling, looking for Nick, but also are slowly returning to Allie's hometown. They run into the skinjackers who teach Allie some new tricks, but also make the two Afterlights question where their powers can lead them. Neal Schusterman's action-packed, yet contemplative novel (2009, both S & S) introduces many new characters and new settings, and continues to pose important questions about morals, identity, mortality, and power. The fascinating and compelling tale leaves listeners breathless at its conclusion. While Nick Podehl does a good job of distinguishing characters' voices, there are several instances where the audio becomes fuzzy. Familiarity with the previous volume is necessary in order to understand much of the background character development and world scene.—Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, New Britain, CT(c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.--This text refers to theAudio CDedition.