Everlost (Skinjacker, #1)

Review "A rip-roaring adventure complete with monster, blimps, and high-diving horses."--"School Library Journal""""""Shusterman elegantly reveals the complexities of his parallel world...a funny irreverent, and memorable adventure."--"The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books""Marvelously inventive...and magically beautiful." -- Orson Scott Card, author of "Ender's Game""A unique exploration of life after death."--"Booklist " Product Description Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident…but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to go either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no longer exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth. When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost kids, Nick feels like he’s found a home, but Allie isn’t satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the “Criminal Art” of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost. In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between. From AudioFile Nick Podehl provides a strong narration for this tale of adolescence, life after death, and monsters. He must balance a range of quirky and normal characters without overdoing the eccentricities to the point of losing adult interest in the story. His more colorful character voices prove quite amusing while his narrative voice keeps the story engaging. Instead of passing into the afterlife, Nick and Allie find themselves in a netherworld where only children live. Together, they must find a way to defeat the dreaded McGill and find the answers to their questions about this mysterious and strange world. Well-crafted and unique at times, EVERLOST plays like a pastiche of PETER PAN and other childhood fantasy stories. L.E. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine About the Author Neal Shusterman is the author of many critically acclaimed novels for young adults, including the Skinjacker trilogy, Unwind, and Downsiders. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California. From School Library Journal Starred Review. Grade 8 Up–Nick and Allie are killed in an automobile accident and meet as they are heading down a tunnel toward the light. They land in Everlost, the space between the living and the end of the tunnel, and meet Lief, from whom they learn that Afterlights cannot walk where the living walk and that they cannot be seen or heard by the living. Allie is determined to go home, so she and Nick set out from the accident site in upstate New York and the safety of Lief's forest for New Jersey. Even though they have been warned about the McGill, a dreaded, evil monster, they slowly make their way, eventually arriving in New York City. There they meet Mary Hightower, who cares for Afterlights in the destroyed World Trade Towers, keeping them safe from the McGill and the Haunter. (In addition to children, buildings and objects can also cross into Everlost if they were much loved.) In their ensuing adventures, they are captured by the McGill and suffer a horrible fate before Nick discovers his true purpose in Everlost. Schusterman has created a world in which nothing is as it seems. As the teens struggle to make sense of this alternate afterlife, they also grow and develop as people. They learn to question those who have put themselves in power, and they begin to see what is truly important. Shusterman has reimagined what happens after death and questions power and the meaning of charity. While all this is going on, he has also managed to write a rip-roaring a