Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron – Book Review

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Last Bus to Everland Synopsis

Brody Fair feels like nobody gets him: not his overworked parents, not his genius older brother, and definitely not the girls in the projects set on making his life miserable. Then he meets Nico, an art student who takes Brody to Everland, a “knock-off Narnia” that opens its door at 11:21pm each Thursday for Nico and his band of present-day misfits and miscreants.

Here Brody finds his tribe and a weekly respite from a world where he feels out of place. But when the doors to Everland begin to disappear, Brody is forced to make a decision: He can say goodbye to Everland and to Nico, or stay there and risk never seeing his family again.

Last Bus to Everland Review

Recently, my reading tastes have changed a lot. I don’t even think it’s that they’ve changed, per se… I’ve just discovered a genre that I haven’t really ventured into before. That genre is magical realism – and Last Bus to Everland is one of the books that helped me realise that.

My Discovery of Magical Realism

There have been a few books recently that have swept me off my feet and opened my mind to a whole new genre that I love: namely The Night Circus and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, just to name a couple. (They’re both masterpieces.) This book joins the list of ones that have sent me racing into this whole new world of magical realism.

I’ve always loved contemporary YA fiction. For the past few years, it’s been my thing; the thing I’ve read 80% of the time, and the genre I usually turn to when I find new books to read. However, after several years of reading a lot of contemporary YA novels, I started to find myself wanting something a little bit different.

My trouble was that high fantasy isn’t my thing, and I’m not sure if it ever will be. Mild fantasy, sure; I can get on board with that. So I wanted something that has some unique, magical or fantastical elements, but are still firmly rooted in reality, with human themes and issues. Enter magical realism.

Last Bus to Everland

I really loved this book! With a perfect blend of contemporary issues and fantastical elements, it had me captivated right from the start and I couldn’t put it down.

The Characters

The characters are so well-written and I felt like I was reading about real people. So when they each had their own stories and their own issues, I wanted them all to have the best endings they could possibly make for themselves. The characters are one of the most important aspects of a story for me – they can make or break how good a story is, and I loved this one a lot!

The characters all have their own issues and the story explores various real-world issues, which is something I love to see in YA fiction. Brody, the protagonist, feels like nobody likes him and he struggles to make friends. He is gay, and he is coming to terms with that and how he feels for his new friend Nico.

There’s also then Brody’s dad, who is agoraphobic, and his story explores how a traumatic incident left him terrified of leaving the house. I’ve read a fair few YA books that explore themes of mental illness, but this is the first book I’ve read that discusses agoraphobia and the effects it can have on a family.

The World

I also loved the world building. It’s delightfully magical and implausible, and it makes me want to visit Everland myself to see what I’d see there and who I’d meet. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of portals to different worlds. (A short film script I wrote in university was about someone who finds a mirror in her grandparents’ basement, and she finds herself back in 1920, where she discovers long-lost family secrets.) So when I realised that this book involved portals to a magical world called Everland, I was hooked.

It’s so cool that there are doors all over the world, but there are important, logistical things considered too, like the fact you can’t travel to other places; you can only go through your own door. In worlds like this where they are completely mad and implausible, I still like things to be explained (maybe it’s the logical side of my brain demanding that things make sense). So I was pleased to see that everything has been considered and all the details felt so well thought out.

I really loved this book, and more than anything, I’m grateful that it’s helped me discover a genre that is quickly becoming one of my favourites!

Read this book if…

If you love portals to magical worlds, tight friendships, LGBTQ+ romance (real romance rather than gushy romance), and real-world themes and issues, this is the book for you.

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