Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan
As I sit down to write this review a few weeks after finishing Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan, I find the story has already started to fade as it sadly it didn’t leave much of a lasting impression.
As she’s known for, Sue Lynn Tan crafts a lush, imaginative world in a Cinderella-inspired tale wrapped in Chinese folklore. The story follows Yining, a girl who has survived by lying and stealing until one day she discovers a talking fish who gives her a magical ring that changes everything.
One of the novel’s strongest aspects is its world-building. From the dirt cottage and Iron Mountains to the palace and the quest that follow's, Tan’s detailed descriptions make it easy to visualize Yining’s world.
The book also introduces a love triangle, though it never feels truly convincing. Readers can sense the real love interest fairly early on. As a result, the romance feels as if the connection and attraction is instant and not earned.
My biggest frustration, however, lies in the pacing. The story begins with an exciting intensity, but soon slows down considerably. While a mid-book twist attempts to reignite momentum, the plot has already started to feel a bit contrived by that point.
Yining herself embodies the familiar “Chosen One” trope and while her flaws are clear, her growing abilities soon stretch believability. And while the connection to the original Cinderella fairytale is evident (the step-aunt, the ball, the note-worthy shoes) a more creative reimagining of those classic elements could have been useful to balance out the well-worn tropes driving the character development.
Never Ever After is the start of a new series, though it reads well enough as a standalone.
📖 Read this if you enjoy:
Asian-inspired fantasy and folklore
Court intrigue and political power struggles
Morally gray protagonists
Slow-burn romance woven into a larger plot
