Ever
Starred Review. Grade 5&ndash;9&mdash;In this masterful fantasy told in two voices, Levine has created a mythology and society as rich and nuanced as the one portrayed in Megan Whalen Turner'sThe Thief(Greenwillow, 1996). Olus is the Akkan god of the winds, but he is hundreds of years younger than any of the other gods and, therefore, very lonely. He visits Hyte, a kingdom of humans, where he is intrigued by the beautiful and talented weaver and dancer named Kezi. Olus witnesses the events leading to her generous but reckless decision to offer up her life so that her father can keep the oath he's sworn to their god, Admat. He follows her, introduces himself in human guise, and the two fall in love. This is where the book deepens, even as the plot intensifies. Can Kezi love a god? Can she love a pantheistic god, even though she was raised to believe only in Admat? The nature of religious conviction and the tensions between different belief systems are questioned&mdash;but so deftly that readers are entertained by the arguments. With barely a month until Kezi becomes a human sacrifice, she and Olus search for a way to reconcile the need to honor her father's oath and their desire for one another. To prove themselves "champions," worthy of immortal life together, they each must endure a quest and face their deepest fears. The power of love and courage to overcome seemingly impossible odds and to bridge ostensibly untraversable differences are at the heart of this compelling, intensely satisfying fantasy.&mdash;Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NYCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.