Everlost by Neal Shusterman

 

Neal Shusterman creates a fascinating setting in this novel - the story takes place in a world known as "Everlost."  This is an appropriate name because the world exists for children (aged 14 and under) who have died - yet their body and souls remain.  They are, in a sense, ghosts -but not the haunting kind you typically read about in most fiction. 

Nick and Allie are involved in a horrific car crash.  Rather than surviving the accident or finding themselves in another "higher" place, they wake up to this mysterious world.  Caught between the living and the deceased, Allie and Nick find themselves searching for answers and eventually fighting for their sanity and freedom.  The author manages (once again) to create a fantastic story that extends beyond your imagination and makes it realistic for the reader.  The characters in the story are complex.  The reader will question which people in Everlost are actually evil - seemingly sweet Mary who takes in all the children and provides them with a home or the "evil" McGill who traps Everlost children and leaves them dangling (literally!) for all eternity in his pirate ship?  Will Nick and Allie find themselves a place in this world?  Will they ever reach their final destination?  Read Everlost to find out!