By Faviola Robles

It can be challenging for a high school student to write a five-page essay on a term, let alone write a book and have it published.

Wheat Ridge senior, Sierra Freemyer is proof that it can be done.  It is admirable to see a student go after what she wants and work so hard to make one of her dreams come true.  The Never Ending Curse, is a story of teenage girl, Kat and her best friend Zayden—also known as Deny. In the book, the reader sees the teens’ puzzling journey as they become separated by a demon that takes over Kat’s life.

The book begins with the main characters receiving the same dream. However, neither of them knows they had the exact same dream.  The beginning grabs your attention and makes you wonder what will happen to them. Kat and Deny head to their last school dance unaware it is going to be the beginning of many obstacles. The demon named Keata takes over Kat and tries to make her kill Deny.

Although it is an interesting story, to me, it was very trite. The best friends love each other and the whole world knows it except them. I expected something unusual rather than the typical teenage story. The scenes are very typical; they don’t have a “spark” to them. If you’re going to use a cliché, you need to twist it and work with it. It needs to have something so unexpected that grabs the reader’s attention and makes them say, “Wow, I’ve never seen that done before.”

In the beginning of the book, there are two perspectives, one from Kat and the other from Deny. Later on two more are added, Kat’s friend and a detective looking for Kat. I loved this; it allowed me to see what each character was going through and how they processed everything that was happening. Their tone of voice was so distinct and truly pertained to each of them. However, for some readers it might be too difficult to keep up with simply because the transition between the characters wasn’t introduced properly. There were rough transitions overall between scenes and in dialogue. The grammar and sentence structure was extremely distracting as well. I shouldn’t have to reread a paragraph or page to understand what is trying to be said or what is happening in the story. The quick change between scenes was difficult to keep up with.

I felt like the development towards the problem happened too fast. The reader isn’t given a chance to really know and depict who these characters are. Characterization is extremely important, as it makes the story worth reading. If the reader doesn’t know where the characters are from, their home life, their friends, what they like and don’t like, the reader can’t really care about them. Therefore, they don’t care about the story; they don’t care about these people. I really wished that the author could’ve introduced the world and society that these characters live in. There weren’t any specific details of the character’s lives. I wasn’t able to completely get know the characters. I couldn’t feel the same emotions the characters were feeling. I couldn’t truly feel helpless with Kat as this demon took over her because I didn’t know her enough to care.

Most fiction stories have some kind of meaning, whether it is shown subtly or it is right in our faces. In the Never Ending Curse there wasn’t any meaning to it. It was just a story. If your intended audience is youth, you need to have something life-changing in there.

Overall I give The Never Ending Curse, 5 out of 10 because it did keep my attention enough to continue reading, I did think it was an overall good story. However the roughness of grammar, characterization, and transitions can be distracting for the reader not allowing them to enjoy the story.