The Ballad of Never After Book Review: Peak Romantasy Drama, and I Mean That as the Highest Compliment

Rating: ★★★★★

"The Ballad of Never After" Book Review:

Book two of the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, and the tension between Evangeline Fox and Jacks the Prince of Hearts just keeps building until you want to physically shake the book and scream at both of them.

Evangeline is trying to break a curse — one of several that keep stacking up in this series like the worst kind of fairy-tale compound interest — while Jacks is doing that infuriating thing where an immortal Fate who has murdered people with a kiss tries very hard to pretend he doesn't have feelings. He's cold. He's calculating. And then Stephanie Garber gives you one tiny moment of tenderness and you lose your entire mind.

That's Garber's gift, honestly. She writes atmosphere like nobody else in the romantasy space. The Magnificent North, the setting for this installment, feels like a fairy tale that could turn dangerous at any moment — lush and glittering on the surface, with something sharp underneath the snow. Every location feels like a painting you shouldn't trust. Every invitation feels like a trap. The worldbuilding has that same quality as her Caraval series: it's not about hard magic systems or detailed maps, it's about mood and sensation and the feeling that anything could happen and probably will.

The plot involves a search for four magical objects that can break the Archer's curse, and it's structured like a quest, which keeps things moving. But let's be honest — you're here for Jacks and Evangeline. You're here for the moments when his mask slips. You're here for the almost-touches and the loaded silences and the one scene that made every reader on the internet collectively combust. Garber knows exactly what she's doing, and she's doing it brilliantly.

Rebecca Soler's narration captures both Evangeline's stubborn hope and Jacks's reluctant tenderness with precision. She voices Jacks with just enough edge to keep him dangerous, just enough warmth to keep him sympathetic.

Four stars. If you're invested in this ship, this book will have you screaming at the pages. If you're not yet invested, start with Once Upon a Broken Heart and then come find me when you need someone to yell about Jacks with.

If You Liked The Ballad of Never After, Try:

• Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco — Another morally ambiguous love interest, another heroine making dangerous bargains, and similarly intoxicating romantic tension.

• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas — If you love the slow-burn dynamic of a dangerous male lead whose walls come down one agonizing inch at a time.

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black — Enemies-to-lovers Fae romance with a similar blend of fairy-tale beauty and genuine menace.

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