I had a bit of a witchy night last night, as after reading Kiki I determined I had to at least start Eva Evergreen and ended up staying up until about 5 am to finish it. Honestly, I'd say Eva is Kiki's slightly more mature older sister, even if she is younger than Kiki.
Eve Evergreen is the daughter of Nela Evergreen, a Grandmaster witch, one of the two most powerful witches in the realm. Eva wants nothing more than to be like her mother, unfortunately for Eva, she not only came into her magic late in life, she has only just a pinch of it and that pinch seemingly always does the exact opposite of what Eva wants it to do. But Eva is not going to go give up so on the morning of the Council meeting to present twelve-year-old witches with their Quest Ticket Eva and her mother are both dismayed to find that her name isn't on the list; quite the opposite actually as Hayato, who is the head of the Council has decided to strip Eva of her magic entirely! Eva is terrified but stands up to Hayota reminding him that even if she only has just a pinch of magic she must be allowed to go on her novice quest! Ticket in hand Eva is off to find the town that needs her the most only she falls asleep on the boat and discovers that she may have missed her stop. Having little choice (she certainly can't go back to Hayato and tell him she fell asleep) she gets off the boat at Auteri, the last stop. This may not be where Eva was *supposed* to be but it's where she is now, and if Rin the kindly woman she met on the boat has any say on it, it will be where she stays. The Mayor of Auteri and Rin's mother however is adamant that Eva is too young to be of any help to her town, only a chance situation convinces her that Eva can stay. That and the stipulation that Eva *must* protect Auteri from the Culling, a magically formed storm that even her mother has never been able to stop. Eva agrees to this even though she has no idea how she can do what so many other witches and wizards cannot, especially since she only has a pinch of magic. But the longer she stays in Auteri the more determined Eva is to save her new friends.
This really was the perfect coming-of-age book. Eva struggles with the many issues that kids her age face from feelings of inadequecy to not knowing how to handle interpersonal relationships. She's also very stuck with this idea that there's only one way to solve a problem which interferes with her ability to see her own strengths. She compares herself to everyone around her and even as an adult I can relate to that. It's hard to see what your good at when you look around and it seems like everyone else is doing so much better than you are. Abe addresses this very well and instead of Eva seeming wishy-washy (as I was afraid was going to happen) Eva comes across as a child genuinely struggling to find herself and never giving up. While the coming of the Culling is her big test in this instead of it being Eva all of a sudden discovering that she *can* do this the entire book leads up to this moment, with small victories along the way.
What really stood out for me the most with this book was Eva's support group. Her family and friends were such an integral portion of her story. They never push her too hard they are just constantly there for her reminding her that her magic may not work like everyone else's but that's what makes it so unique and perfect for the tasks placed in front of her. Charlotte though, I think I enjoyed the most because her character represented an issue a lot of children their age face and that's not really knowing how to interact with other children. I don't think this is something that is addressed often enough. We put her children in school for socialization as well as education but so many kids reach middle school and they don't know how to deal with other kids and so they take the route that Charlotte does and that's to be very standoffish. She wants to be friends with Eva desperately and Eva does as well but they simply don't know how to communicate that. In the book, this, of course, ends well but in reality, more often than not it doesn't and I don't think as adults and as parents, it's something we think about ever. There are so many other things to think about when raising a child and as adults, we have no choice in the matter we have to interact with people, we truly forget how difficult it can be. I appreciated the addition of this as something that both Eva and Charlotte have to overcome. As a parent, it was a great reminder of something my own children may struggle with.
Overall, this is another one I would recommend to someone of any age. For adults, this book was a great reminder to believe in yourself and to rely on your support group when things get rough. As a parent, it reminded me to think like a child again, especially in terms of things they face when it comes to socializing and self-esteem. And for the middle-grade group, I think this is a wonderful story that they can really see themselves in. That they aren't so alone in the world. An easy five stars and I'm heading to the library first thing Monday morning to grab the next book in the series.
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