Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
Genre:  Paranormal
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 512
Rating:
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Series: Skinjacker Trilogy #3 (Review of #1, Review of #2)
Summary (Spoilers, highlight to view):

While Mary lies in a glass coffin aboard a ghost train heading west, her minions are awaiting her re-awakening by bringing lots of new souls into Everlost to serve her. Meanwhile Jackin’ Jill has met Jix, a fur-jacker—a skin jacker who can take over the bodies of animals, most notably jaguars. Jix serves a Mayan god who collects Everlost coins, and has his own agenda. In the concluding volume of The Skinjacker Trilogy, Neal Shusterman reveals new sides of the characters of Everlost, who are pitted against each other in a battle that may destroy all life on Earth

Review: This is going to be more of a series review than a review of this specific book, since if you haven't read the first two you probably don't care about this specific book.

I read the first book in this series over two years ago and loved it. I had recently read Unwind and thought Shusterman could do no wrong. Unfortunately, since I loved Everlost so much Shusterman really didn't have anywhere to go but down. I've had much more mixed feelings as I've re-read the series in preparation for this book.

The thing is, the series reads like a middle grade series. Even though the characters are mostly mid-late teens and the subject matter is quite mature and disturbing, something about the writing makes me think it belongs in the MG genre. I don't like middle grade, so this colored my opinion. Also, there were some inconsistencies in the book that bugged me. It seems like he wasn't sure if he was going to write sequels to Everlost and when he did he had to change some things. I'm a stickler for consistency, so this bugged me.

However, I definitely enjoy the series. It's one I'll probably give to my younger brother when he's a little older. He'd get a kick out of it. It's got monsters and ghosts and tyrants. Awesome for an early teen. But it also has murder, suicide, and other mature themes that make it fit older readers.

This series has a special place in my heart. Two years ago it was the coolest thing I've read in a long time. However, I also think it's one of those books that is better as a memory and I won't be re-reading them again for a long time, if ever.



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