Nevernever

Seventeen-year-old Ron, now turned into a wolfboy by a spell, finds Bordertown filled with kidnapping, murder, and magic, as gangs of elves continue to search for the heir of Faerie.

Witty, gritty, heart-felt and action-packed, the companion to Elsewhere is a deft fantasy about what it means to be human.

School Library Journal

Gr 9-12-In this sequel to Elsewhere (Harcourt, 1991), Ron, a runaway, lives in Bordertown, where the World and Faerie meet. Once a human, he has been turned into a werewolf by a potent spell. His friends are humans, elves, and halfies, and his task is to protect Florida, an orphan elf who is the unwilling heir to the Elflands throne. It soon becomes obvious that things are not always what they seem in Bordertown. Technology is not reliable, magic is not predictible, and people are not necessarily who they say they are. This is cyberpunk fantasy, where magic, teenage gangs, elvish whimsy, rock-and-roll, and adolescent angst blend into a sometimes murky but always lively plot. A murder, a kidnapping, and a trip into the magical forests of the Nevernever lead readers ever deeper into twists and turns and an open-ended conclusion that could permit a sequel. YAs will want background information about the characters and setting that can only be learned by reading the first book. However, the dialogue is snappy and the action never flags. Ron seems to have learned a lot since his arrival in the Borderlands and is a character with whom many teens will identify. Readers may feel at times as though they have fallen into someone else's psychedelic dream, but they will probably enjoy the trip. Fantasy and science-fiction buffs who have read Elsewhere will devour this book and look for more.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC

WILL SHETTERLY is the author of nine novels and numerous short stories, comic books, and screenplays. His American magical-realist novel Dogland was called "a masterwork" on National Public Radio. He lives in Bisbee, Arizona.