I voluntarily read and reviewed in ARC of Neverwraith. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shakir's YA debut proves his ability to convert more people to the fantasy genre, one captivating book at a time. I love Dystopian, but "Neverwraith" was worth the leap into paranormal.
Before Neverwraith, my literary journey rarely delved into the supernatural. Yet, drawn by Shakir's reputation for crafting immersive narratives from his other books. I embraced the chance to explore a different realm. "Neverwraith" unfolds the tale of Yasir, a young man uprooted from his Atlanta home due to an unknown danger, finding refuge with his uncle in Savannah, Georgia. Amidst this unfamiliar backdrop, Yasir encounters the alluring Zahra, a girl whose attraction goes far beyond her beauty and intellect.
Rather than summarizing the plot, allow me to share my impressions as I traversed the pages of this book. From the very first chapter, it grabbed me — unable to put the book down. The words paint vivid imagery, and the meticulous world-building crafts an environment so bold that reading becomes a hologram-like experience that transported me into a realm where time and space dissolve as the narrative unfolds.
Shakir's expertise is clear. "Neverwraith" transports us to Savannah and Kindara, which evoke Wakanda's allure.
For someone with an affinity for lifelike fables and the mystical, Yasir's origin story resonated. His journey, rife with trials and tribulations, serves as a catapult on his rise toward self-discovery and greatness. Yasir's path left me wanting to know more about his past while excited to witness his further elevation.
The narrative's pace, while a little fast for me, caters to its intended audience—the youth. Shakir's language, rhythm, and flow harmonize to interest young readers, compelling them to be absorbed by the story from beginning to end. This is quintessential young adult fiction, tailor-made to captivate the younger demographic. However, older readers seeking to immerse themselves in the vernacular may revisit sections to get the full meaning.
The characters in "Neverwraith" are intriguing. Shakir makes us want to know who makes us want to know more, yet without making us too attached. Finishing the last page left me yearning for more information about their lives. As I impatiently wait for the next installment, it's apparent that this book's appeal will transcend boundaries. While it will captivate young readers from all walks of life, its magnetic pull will resonate, especially among people of color. Grab your copy today!
#Neverwraith #NetGalley

I absolutely adore the cover of this book. I’m for sure one of those readers that the cover the book can make a difference if I’m going to wanna read it or not. The cover is my favorite color and those claw gashes for sure is a a bold statement one what I can expect in this book.( and I was wrong)

Being the new kid is always gonna land you in it. Yasir Salah isn't like the other guys in his new suburban Georgia high school. Lately, he can feel something shifting in his body. Raw. Edgy.
Volatile . Like his eyes changing colors and heat on his skin when some alpha bro comes for him…..or how just a grin from the gorgeous, untouchable girl at school sends vibrations shooting through his entire body. Only it's not just being at a new school. It's a new town. New rules. New flow . And everything feels way smaller than his ex-life in Atlanta. All he can do is what he's been keep a low profile and try to not be noticed..and keep his anger under control. But they never warned him. They never told him what he is. And they sure as hell didn't tell him that the world is gonna need him.
This book started off on a rocky road for me, I couldn’t even tell you what the main character looked like and his love interest connection really made no sense. It happened super quickly and wasn’t really given time to marinate. And to read some of their conversations had me confused on the information they were sharing with each other. They knew each other for like 2 seconds. I wasn’t really invested in their relationship or the main character for the first 20% of the book. I found myself speeding and skipping parts to get to the meat of the story.
After soldiering on for another 10% I decided to just not finish this book. My overall opinion is that maybe I’m not this box targeted audience, I find myself getting irritated with how the dialogue a structured. I had no investments in to the characters, and I’d rather be reading a different book.
DNF


Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for a ARC for a honest review

I voluntarily read and reviewed in ARC of Neverwraith. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book so much, I understand the lingo used throughout but the story just wasn't there for me. If it was in a different setting, not a high school, I probably would have connected with it more-- mainly because of what the story was trying to do. There were conversations that seemed extremely out of character for an almost seventeen year old. There was A LOT of car talk throughout and between that and other repetitive sections (character says/see something then one-to-two paragraphs later they summarize what just happened) it just took me out of the book. The overarching plot line seemed cool and I'll still be interested in other work by this author, just not this book. All that to be said, this book might be a five star book for someone-- I hope it is.

Neverwraith by Shakir Rashaan was a good YA fantasy/romance.
This is my first time reading his work and I was really pulled into this story.
I liked the story, the characters and the writing was fun.
I will be checking Rashaan‘s previous titles out after starting with Neverwraith.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Entangled: Teen for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Distinctive Writing Style. Interesting. Inspired.

I could hear the writing style while I was reading and the writing style is one that read quickly. I feel like the overall story pacing was slower, and that Neverwraith is more of a character driven story. Reveals were interesting and on the slower side. With the fact that I feel Neverwraith is more of a character driven story, I felt the focus was on discovering aspects of the characters, as the character learned them, and the romance between Yasir and his love interest. Neverwraith is very inspired by Marvel.

I felt like some of the pet names the teens had for each other wouldn't be pet names teens would call each other in real life.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Neverwraith and I would recommend it to other readers who enjoy YA Urban Fantasy inspired by Marvel and with a 'fated mates' trope.

Shakir has a way with YA/Fantasy that is second to none. He leaves no stone unturned from character development, to building a world that belongs on the map, you can’t help but turn the pages as Yasir’s journey comes full circle in his quest to find his identity. This was an enjoyable read that kept me engrossed until the very end. I look forward to the next book in this series..

I really struggled with this one unfortunately. The bones of the story and the worldbuilding were interesting and had lots of potential. But I just could not get past the dialogue. It was like reading a bad tiktok video on loop. Totally ruined the experience for me and made it so that I couldn’t enjoy what otherwise might have been a good story. Perhaps I just wasn’t the intended audience.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I had a hard time staying connected to the story at first. The description and cover did draw me in but the way the lead speaks “My guy” this and that to people can be a bit off putting for me. Also, I felt like I needed a bit of back story in the beginning when he was talking about being taken from his grandma in the first place. I did like his connection to Zahra. I will watch to see what happens with this author and if he does more with this story!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley, Shakir Rashaan and Entangled Publishing for this ARC.

Neverwraith is book 1 in the series.

I was quite disappointed with this book. I thought it sounded pretty good when I read the description and there were parts of the story that reminded me of The Vampire Diaries and Fast and Furious. There was a lot of slang in the dialogue which also made things confusing. The ending didn't feel like an ending, I was expecting to find out something more.

I think this one is going to be a giant hit with reluctant readers as well as finally having more paranormal fantasy stories for guys. Working at the bookstore you don't find a lot of these kinds of books in that YA section. It's all about the girls. So this was a burst of fresh air that the genre needed. The book was well paced and fun. I did enjoy that towards the middle the book picked up a bit and really started edging me towards the edge of my seat. I hope to see the next book soon as this is going to be epic!

I know I’m not the target audience for this book, but I’m glad Entangled gave me an eARC via NetGalley.

It took a while to get going, but it was well worth it with the interesting world building, with rich mythology.

This book isn’t for me. I honestly can’t imagine there is an intended audience that it would resonate with, not even YA or upper YA.

I didn’t care for the writing style, I never found a plot, the characters aren’t memorable and the dialogue is terrible. I didn’t know it was possible to write a novel using lingo like obvi, cap, deets, and deadass in regular, reoccurring conversation and phrases like applying pressure and heat to express things like tension etc…I understand this is supposed to be urban fantasy but seriously?

Entangled has had some really good novels as of late but this is not one of them.

Do better, Entangled.

I received an advance reader copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book has a lot of potential, and I think the plot worked really well. Unfortunately it was really hard to read - I had second hand embarrassment through most of it from the "cool" language. Made it hard to get through!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

I honestly was super excited for this one cause the premise seemed super cool (if super vague) and Entangled has had a good track record with their arcs and my level of enjoyment but this one just… didn’t do it.

Most of it came from the way I found myself cringing every other page and it was mostly due to the dialogue. It’s like the author took every “cool” phrase they could find/think of and stuffed it into a 360 page book without doing any research into how teenagers really think and speak. Not to mention just how dated most of the words and phrases are. It’s not a good look, unfortunately.

I’m sure the book gets better and based off the reviews I’ve read, people have enjoyed it, but we all know not all books are everyone’s cup of tea. Thank you NetGalley and Entangled for the eARC.

This was a fantastic young adult story which was really good. I thought this author did a fabulous job writing outside of his normal genre and I notice the difference in the writing styles, however I did not know that this was a genre he had always wanted to write either.

I want to thank Netgalley and Shakir Rashaan for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.
I’ve never thought I would enjoy a YA book as I did this one. The story felt like I was back in high school with my fellow classmates who kept up with drama and caused issues throughout school for some people.

Yasir (Ya-Ya) had somethings going on within himself that he could not explain to anyone, not even his Nana who received him as a babe. His Nana raised him, however she also had to send him to live with his mother’s brother which is his uncle due to some circumstances he knew nothing about. He lost both his parents at a very early age and not knowing anything about his heritage or where he was from was a struggle, but he endured those things for some time.

Now he’s the new kid in school and everyone can see that he’s new and trying to stay to himself. He meets other kids, but Zahra is the girl who catches his sight out of all the other girls and instantly there is a connection somehow. Things start building up and getting interesting as you read the story and I couldn’t seem to put this book down.

I wasn’t too sure on what would happen until later on in the story. I want to say that this book had a comic feel with fantasy and a bit paranormal vibe. I would love to read the next book connecting to this story, but I’m sure I will have to re-read the ending to catch the next book.

Although this book leave a cliffhanger at the end, I won’t write too much in this review, but I would recommend this story for those who like YA stories.

I think this book will resonate well with its intended audience. I wasn't sucked in and I wasn't feeling invested in our MC, but this book is a great start to what I imagine is going to be an epic series. Yasir is about to find out why he has been moved out to his uncle's house and that he can't escape his destiny to save his people. Weird things start happening to him and he keeps running into trouble, but Zahra is right there to pull him back. I really felt the second half of this book is where the pace sped up and set things into motion. I have no doubt that teenagers will absolutely devour this book.

This was hard for me to rate, since I think I just wasn’t really the right audience for this book but I do think it will be well liked by teenagers. It was fun and fast paced and very reminiscent of a Marvel hero origin movie.

It did read as very YA to me, with dialogue and inner narration from Yasir just reading as very much “adolescent.” Which, again, is the intended audience for the book so I think it’s well done for what it’s meant to be. It just isn’t quite my personal cup of tea. That said, I did get a sense that the author genuinely had fun writing this. An enthusiasm for the story, for Yasir and the other characters, really shone through and I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve read a book that felt that way.

So while it didn’t quite work for me on a personal preference level, I think it will do very, very well.

I didn’t personally enjoy the writing, I wasn’t sucked in, and I wasn’t feeling invested in our MC. It felt like the book wanted to be gritty, but it’s high school, and chapter 3 features our MC cleaning the house. Not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing for sending me this eARC. All of my thoughts are my own.

This book is a great start to what I imagine is going to be an epic series. I have no doubt that my high school students will absolutely love this book and I cannot wait to grab a copy for my classroom. Yasir Salah was abruptly moved from his home in Atlanta to his uncle’s house in Oakwood Grove. Starting a new school isn’t easy and he’s immediately on the radar of the mayor’s son, the biggest jerk in town. But after meeting the beautiful and amazingly smart Zahra, Yasir might just get a handle on his new life.

Weird things start happening to him and he keeps running into trouble but Zahra is right there to pull him back. The teen love within this wholly cool story and concept is adorable. Yasir is about to find out why he has been moved out to his uncle’s and that he can’t escape his destiny to save his people he didn’t even know about.