A charming story that combines elements of all those fairy tales you grew up with, in a very different and very delightful manner. In the beginning, it's a pleasant surprise, as you come to each new element. Later on, even as you anticipate some of the new elements, Rebecca Lickiss still manages to surprise and entertain. ( )

Fun. Neat deconstruction of standard fairy tale tropes, and well-written in the bargain. I want more by her. ( )

A bit of a mess really... Fairy tales have no shortage of spoofs, but I'm always game for a new imaginative one. Unfortunately, Lickless hasn't really gotten a good handle on tone, which is really necessary to ground a plot with this much ... well, let's call is 'farce' if we're feeling generous, and 'noise' if we're not. There are some amusing ideas, but there doesn't seem to be an idea or specific point to all this criticism. The end result is a wildly inconsistent product in which none of the characters or storylines is sympathetic enough for me to make the effort to try and figure it out.

I mean, it kills time and there are funny moments, but I won't even remembering reading it soon enough. ( )

Never After is a fun read with some very entertaining twists on well-known fairy tales. I enjoyed the cantankerous Urticacea who put me in mind of a less-mad Madame Mimm from Disney's Sword in the Stone. And I really loved Vevila's common-sense approach to solving certain fairy-tale dilemmas which was funny and refreshing. And, honestly, how could you not like a story that involves a wizard who can speak only in Shakespeare?

There were some rough spots - I liked the way the courtship of Vevila was going, but I thought it ended rather abruptly and unsatisfactorily.. On the whole, though Rebecca Lickiss' Never After was highly enjoyable as a breezy, light-hearted comedy of errors based around fractured fairy tales and ending in the obligatory happily (hopefully) ever after.

More at my blog. ( )

A clever, amusing and humorous 'fractured fairy tale.' Takes some of the old tried-and-true's and turns them sideways and inside out for a fresh and funny book :-)
Definitely enjoyed this much more than her first book, Eccentric Circles. Ms. Lickiss has come into her own with a bang! ( )