C. S. EinfeldCritiques

Neverdark is a delightfully entertaining, occasionally thrilling and all around slice of faerie heaven. The only thing that threw me off was the computer animated illustrations (sub-par) and while entertaining I would have preferred to see fully realized versions of the characters in their environment. But it does allow this fantastic piece of work to stand apart from most of its genre.
The prose is beautifully rendered, the characters unforgettable and the subtext message about our own misuse of the world very chilling.

A delightfully written story about the faeries that live in an enormous and ancient oak. This charming fable is suitable for young children, although it does use a few long words. The theme seems to be over-exploitation of resources, along with the traditional "little guy against the word". It is a simple quest narrative - heroine gets give quest, makes trip across the world (in this case, the tree), makes a few friends, meets a few foes, achieves goals. There are no real surprises, no unusual twists and, unfortunately, there is a prophecy. However, the setting is intriguing enough to be somewhat original and since the character is obviously very small, it does take on a whole new perspective.

The characters are amusing, and well developed. They all have distinct personalities - from the fierce little firefly to the slightly loco Mexican crow and the dialogue is witty and fun. It would be quite fun to read aloud. The villain too is a nice change - he's not so much evil as extremely single-minded and determined.

Bugbears - Einfeld has an obsession with ! exclaimation marks. I've heard one should not overdo them in a novel, and I know now why - they just feel wrong. Like the writer is forcing certain ideas into your face. Also, the posessive use of "its" on occasion is accompanied by an errant '. But not consistently, highlighting that clearing the author knows how to correctly use grammar... but sometimes forgets. A bit of a more thorough proofread could have improved the experience!

There are little illustrations too, always a treat in an ebook, but alas due to formatting they are also pretty small making them hard to discern.

Still, a cute and engaging read. I want a pet firefly!

A nice grade school story about a young princess who must go on a great and difficult journey to save her home and life as she knows it. A very well written and descriptive book with a lot of characters and developed script. A good book for reading to your children, or let them read it themselves.

Read a chapter a night to my kids and I have to admit it sucked ME in too! It's SO amazing!! I won't be surprised if it hits bestseller status. It's completely enchanting, meaningful, and the voice is classic, timeless, endearing. There was even a scene that nearly had me in tears. GREAT emotion! This book was brilliant all the way through, nothing short of that! This was a joy to read, the kids loved it, and I did, too! This is a classic in the making! Princess Fiera is the perfect fairy princess character. She has spunk but she's sweet. She makes a good role model! The whole world of Doru is brilliant and the language is just so ... AH I can't do this book justice with my review. Just try a sample and you will see what I mean about the voice. All the Kingdoms are so cleverly named, the conflict is so perfect, it's just a fun, fact-paced read. And it's extremely well-edited, thank goodness, as that seems to be rare in ALL books these days. It was nice to be able to just sit back and enjoy. I can't express enough how much I loved this and how highly I recommend it. It is one of my all time favorite children's novels now, and I haven't said that in a long time!

This book starts out with a young Fairy princess who is being the object of a evil War Lord. She starts on a journey to save her kingdom and brings together the People affected by the Evil War Lord who join together to save the whole kingdoms.

I won this book from the member giveaways on librarything in exchange for an honest review.

Neverdark is a delightful fairy tale by C. S. Einfeld about a spunky, brave little fairy named Fiera. She is getting forced into a marriage with Lord Darkwater, who is the antagonist of this piece-- a very intelligent Fairy who has found ways to mine more Oaksap than is needed; the additional sap stores allow the other fairies in Doru live in the lap of luxury. Unsurprisingly, difficulties arise when the sap runs out and Darkwater is forced to find other ways to get more of this product that is a staple of fairy life. Fiera's job is to save her own kingdom from the same ruin!

I found myself smiling through most of this book. The characters are sweet, ones that you want to hug. My personal favorites include the very ingenious Lady Gooseberry who saves the day on multiple occasions, Prince Delvin the caterpillar, and Manuel, the crow from Mexico. I liked how the story was a combination of fairy tale, Aesop's fable, and adventure story. This book reminds me of a lot of stories written in the "old fashioned way" with good "old fashioned morals." Such as, we have limited resources and we need to take care of them so they don't get depleted. This is definitely a book I would recommend to my younger nieces and nephews because it is entertaining, beautifully written and has great messages.

Overall, a well written book and highly enjoyable for younger readers (as well as older ones like me)!

*Received e-book through Early Reviewers program from LibraryThing for an honest review
**also posted on Amazon.com under Leanne and Goodreads under leannessf

Neverdark by C.S. Einfeld is a modern fairy tale set in the land of Doru, with the Grand Old Oak Tree being the home of the faeries and other woodland insects/creatures. The story starts with the faerie Princess Fiera of Southnut learning of her impending marriage (3 days!) to Lord Darkwater of Northbark. The reader discovers that Lord Darkwater has heard about a prophecy naming Fiera the “Heart of the Generation” – the only one who can save his kingdom from its depletion of its main food source, oak syrup. When Princess Fiera finds out about Lord Darkwater’s role in the disaster and her own prophecy, she sets out to locate Great Mother Oak for her advice. On her journey, she encounters different species, makes new friends, and sees the dying lands, all while evading capture by Lord Darkwater’s armies.

I found Princess Fiera to be a charming, loveable protagonist with a kind heart. In addition, I enjoyed the secondary characters she meets, especially Mandabull the ant – it was moving to see his hatred of all faeries dissolve after spending more time with Fiera. I also thought her interactions with her pet firefly, Sparky, were adorable (even though she didn’t understand him). Furthermore, the illustrations in the book, done by Einfeld’s husband, added a whimsical, sweet touch to the story.

Overall, Neverdark was a cute, entertaining story integrated with several morals, which reflect issues currently in our society. I think middle grade children would love it and mothers can also enjoy reading this to their children at bedtime, even helping to possibly start discussions about these grown-up topics. I would recommend this book to fans of James and the Giant Peach and other modern fantasy books.

Neverdark
by: C.S. Einfeld

I won this book from a Library Thing giveaway

This is a fantasy/adventure book for children of all ages. It's a modern day fairy tale. It is set in the Kingdom of Southnut. Princess Feira is told by her father that she has to marry Lord Darkwater, and she's not happy about that. Princess Feira is told by Lady gooseberry that she must seek the aid of Old Mother Oak and ask for help.

In Feira's travels, she makes lots of friends and finds lots of adventure and danger. This book is beautifully written and illustrated. It's a real joy for an adult to read to a youngster. It's a great book and I very highly recommend it.

Book Title: "NeverDark"
Author: C.S. Einfield
Published By: Self-Published
Age Recommended: 10 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

Review: C.S. Einfield is a master at children's storytelling. I absolutely loved this book. It balanced the perfect amount of adventure with the perfect amount of excitement and kept me riveted the entire time. The characters are bright, lively, and completely loveable. There is even a surprising and wonderfully happy ending and the entire book is illustrated with pictures that children will simply adore.

The imagery of this novel is spectacular, you completely forget at times while reading that Fiera and her friend Sparky the Firefly are traveling on a tree! It seems their adventure is taking place on a landscape much larger and in regard to their size you can see where a tree would be much larger to them than it could ever appear to us. I whole-heartedly recommend this beautiful story to all kids from ages 10 and up. Even children younger will love the story and parents could definitely read a chapter a night as a special treat before bedtime. It's the kind of story that could promote some magnificently adventurous dreams for the little ones!

I feel all parents should grab a copy of this novel for their children you will not be disappointed this book brings so much wonder to the young and the young-at-heart. I await more to come from this author with great anticipation!

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board...

Neverdark was good story with many layers. Its about a faeries princess and her kingdom in a big oak tree. Their are four different faeries countries in the oak tree. She while still young has to marry Lord Darkwater or her kingdom will be taken over.
Her governess thinks that she needs to sneak out of the castle and travel the other kingdoms to the Oak tree spirit and save thier kingdom because of a prophercy.
Fiera starts out spoiled but soon changes when she meets others who are worse off and she changes and I really like the changes. She meets others along the way that she helps and they help her too.
Some of the issues they face are envirment destroyed because of greed . That when people work together they can make a difference. don't hate a whole group because of bad ones in a group.
I think people of all ages can enjoy this story. I was given this ebook in exchange of honest review from Library thing.
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This was a very good book. I would say this is geared to the younger crowd say 15 and under as I am quite a bit older than that I got bored with it easily. However it was extremely well written. I would recommend this book to other, however it's not a book I will reread for pleasure.

I recieved this book as part of the member give away.

This book focuses on the adventures of the faerie princess Fiera who has just learned of her impending marriage to Lord Darkwater. Lord Darkwater has conquered the other three faerie settlements, sending them into ruin, and has his eyes set on this one as well. Fiera is sent out to find Mother Oak, the spirit of the tree the faeries inhabit.

The one thing I did not care for in the book was the illustrations. They gave the reader an idea of what the character looked like and of what they were doing, but had no background depicting the events taking place.

Overall, this was a good read. The plot was predictable at times, but it kept me interested. The outcome was a bit unexpected, but not an out of nowhere ending.