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Nether Isle
Lonely is a state of mind, solitude is a way of life. Confusing the two was never an issue for Theodore Finn, at least not until he found himself immersed in a world where nightmares were real.
Nether Isle is built upon a foundation of secrecy. The unimaginable truths living amongst the locals are kept hushed and often ignored. But when Theodore moves there from Alaska, the secrecy ends up being his worst enemy. His naiveté leaves him prey to the dangers lurking around his new home and when the truth is finally revealed, he is already tangled in a web of trouble. Too late to prevent it and too deep to escape, Theodore is forced to find the strength to fight it. Thrown into this strange new reality, he taps into the locals for help. Home to mystery and magic, the rough and jaded inhabitants of Nether Isle band together to save their home. Used to operating alone, Theodore must learn to trust strangers and adapt to the supernatural world unraveling around him.
Set in a run-down fishing village off the coast of Maine, Nether Isle shows the battle between good and evil, on both a large and personal scale. It reveals the fine line separating the two opposing forces and how light can often stem from a dark place. This paranormal fantasy captures the spooky feel of isolation when facing a force as great as nature. Nautical in setting, gothic in feel, this story is one for our buried imaginations.
Nether Isle is built upon a foundation of secrecy. The unimaginable truths living amongst the locals are kept hushed and often ignored. But when Theodore moves there from Alaska, the secrecy ends up being his worst enemy. His naiveté leaves him prey to the dangers lurking around his new home and when the truth is finally revealed, he is already tangled in a web of trouble. Too late to prevent it and too deep to escape, Theodore is forced to find the strength to fight it. Thrown into this strange new reality, he taps into the locals for help. Home to mystery and magic, the rough and jaded inhabitants of Nether Isle band together to save their home. Used to operating alone, Theodore must learn to trust strangers and adapt to the supernatural world unraveling around him.
Set in a run-down fishing village off the coast of Maine, Nether Isle shows the battle between good and evil, on both a large and personal scale. It reveals the fine line separating the two opposing forces and how light can often stem from a dark place. This paranormal fantasy captures the spooky feel of isolation when facing a force as great as nature. Nautical in setting, gothic in feel, this story is one for our buried imaginations.
470 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
9 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Nicoline Evans
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 27, 2018
I picked up a copy of Nether Isle by Nicoline Evans at C2E2 last month. Ms. Evans had an entire booth promoting the multiple books she had written which was the most impressive independent author set up I’d seen at a comic convention. Her books all featured very beautiful cover artwork and fantastical plot elements that also drew my attention. As a big fan of buying books directly from authors I talked to her for a bit and settled on Nether Isle, which she described as a supernatural story that was also her dad’s favorite book that she’d written to this point. As I was pushing my son around in a stroller at the time, I thought “ah, that’s the one for me.”
More broadly, Nether Isle tells the story of a remote village off the coast of Maine where it seems things are just a bit more depressing and anti-social than normal. The reason for this is quickly revealed, but honestly my favorite part of the book was the reveal so I’m not going to get into it here. The protagonist of the book is Theodore, a teenage boy who recently moved to the neighborhood with his drunken abusive father. Theodore is a loner, never staying anywhere long enough to feel connected to other people. At his new school, he is an outcast until a new student named Bianca arrives. Bianca befriends Theodore and the two immediately begin to get close. Everybody else at school though seems to hate Bianca for no reason, and even adults close to Theodore warn him not to get close to her.
Again, the reveal for what’s wrong with the town and basically everything else happens pretty early on. My favorite parts of the book were Theodore’s discovery of the town’s secret, followed by the progression of his relationship with Bianca. Once Theodore has finally chosen sides about halfway through the book, the remaining story did not maintain the same momentum. The mystery of the early chapters is replaced primarily by training/gathering of allies. While Evans was trying to likely trying to increase the stakes of the story, the opposite effect resulted. The more new characters that were introduced, the less I ended up caring when a terrible fate would befall one of them.
Evans was completely successful however in creating a very memorable and interesting world for the characters to live in. There is an excellent balance of rules of magic for what is going on, and mystery for what becomes of the village’s special residents when they leave. The things I’ll most remember about this book are the distinct settings: the lighthouse, the fish market, the small school. The result was a timeless quality that could exist both before or after the invention of smart phones and the internet. A few other random notes:
· Cadence, Bianca’s little sister, flipped between one of my favorite characters and one of the most frustrating. It’s hard to imagine how somebody her age and life experiences would act, but the switch between strong willed and victim had be invested and frustrated at the same time.
· Evans touched on some difficult issues in introducing characters affiliated with tragic events from human history but did a nice job of avoiding their purpose just being shock value.
· The spell that involves a blessing bothered me when it was introduced. It seemed a bit too flippant to wait until so late in the game to inform Theodore about this alternative, and then the ethics of using it seemed to be given minimal thought. (I suppose you could explain this away by saying the mystery of where its recipient was sent makes it rather pointless, but obviously some of the casters believed it very much mattered.)
· I got a bookmark for another book by Evans about a man made of stone, and after seeing it every day while reading this book I’ve decided I should track that one down to. Free bookmarks are awesome people!
Overall this was a quick read, even at 463 pages . I would recommend taking some time on the first half of the book and letting the mood and mystery linger before marathon-ing the end. I give this one 3 ½ stars, which Goodreads doesn’t allow, so I’m forced to make the tough call. There was enough here that I really enjoyed however, that I am definitely down for reading more of Ms. Evans’ books in the future.
More broadly, Nether Isle tells the story of a remote village off the coast of Maine where it seems things are just a bit more depressing and anti-social than normal. The reason for this is quickly revealed, but honestly my favorite part of the book was the reveal so I’m not going to get into it here. The protagonist of the book is Theodore, a teenage boy who recently moved to the neighborhood with his drunken abusive father. Theodore is a loner, never staying anywhere long enough to feel connected to other people. At his new school, he is an outcast until a new student named Bianca arrives. Bianca befriends Theodore and the two immediately begin to get close. Everybody else at school though seems to hate Bianca for no reason, and even adults close to Theodore warn him not to get close to her.
Again, the reveal for what’s wrong with the town and basically everything else happens pretty early on. My favorite parts of the book were Theodore’s discovery of the town’s secret, followed by the progression of his relationship with Bianca. Once Theodore has finally chosen sides about halfway through the book, the remaining story did not maintain the same momentum. The mystery of the early chapters is replaced primarily by training/gathering of allies. While Evans was trying to likely trying to increase the stakes of the story, the opposite effect resulted. The more new characters that were introduced, the less I ended up caring when a terrible fate would befall one of them.
Evans was completely successful however in creating a very memorable and interesting world for the characters to live in. There is an excellent balance of rules of magic for what is going on, and mystery for what becomes of the village’s special residents when they leave. The things I’ll most remember about this book are the distinct settings: the lighthouse, the fish market, the small school. The result was a timeless quality that could exist both before or after the invention of smart phones and the internet. A few other random notes:
· Cadence, Bianca’s little sister, flipped between one of my favorite characters and one of the most frustrating. It’s hard to imagine how somebody her age and life experiences would act, but the switch between strong willed and victim had be invested and frustrated at the same time.
· Evans touched on some difficult issues in introducing characters affiliated with tragic events from human history but did a nice job of avoiding their purpose just being shock value.
· The spell that involves a blessing bothered me when it was introduced. It seemed a bit too flippant to wait until so late in the game to inform Theodore about this alternative, and then the ethics of using it seemed to be given minimal thought. (I suppose you could explain this away by saying the mystery of where its recipient was sent makes it rather pointless, but obviously some of the casters believed it very much mattered.)
· I got a bookmark for another book by Evans about a man made of stone, and after seeing it every day while reading this book I’ve decided I should track that one down to. Free bookmarks are awesome people!
Overall this was a quick read, even at 463 pages . I would recommend taking some time on the first half of the book and letting the mood and mystery linger before marathon-ing the end. I give this one 3 ½ stars, which Goodreads doesn’t allow, so I’m forced to make the tough call. There was enough here that I really enjoyed however, that I am definitely down for reading more of Ms. Evans’ books in the future.
June 22, 2015
Thoughts on the Overall Book: I love supernatural/ghost stories, and I especially love supernatural/ghost stories when they are set in misty coastal towns so did this disappoint? No it did not.
Cover--Yea or Nay: I really like the cover it's pretty and creepy at the same time. I think it matches the feel for the book very well.
Characters: Theodore was a very likable protagonist. I instantly felt sorry for him for his situation, being pretty much stuck in the town with no friends and an alcoholic and abusive father. I liked him even more for the fact that we got to see him grow throughout the story. He was a very well-written and realistic dynamic character. I really enjoyed seeing his relationships with the other characters grow as well when he started to become fiends with Ruby and Rowan both of whom I liked, and I loved the mother/son relationship he shared with Adelaide. She was actually one of my favorite characters, I liked how she took Theodore in and gave him family when he didn't have any. As for Bianca's character I will say that I really loved the Wiccans and Ouijans, they were such colorful and fun characters, I would have liked them to have more page time. Over all, this book presents a really likable and well-rounded cast of very dynamic characters.
The Romance: In reality not a whole ton of romance, again don't want to spoil it:
Writing Style: It was really good. Very descriptive and colorful. I really was able to feel like I was there in the misty town and I loved the dour and delightfully creepy notes of the ghost storyline. What I think stood out to me most about this book though, was the fact that while it is a supernatural suspense/adventure, there's a lot of lead up and character building that happens. Most people would probably only write half of this story, and the length might make the book drag for some readers, but for me, I loved the time it took to get to the real plot line. The buildup only made it more suspenseful instead of making the book drag, and it kept me turning pages because whenever I thought there was a hint of something, I needed to know where it led. And I think it's because of this that we were given such realistic characters instead of your typical action hero types who really have no personality. This book made me laugh and cry because I cared about the characters.
Accuracy/ Believability: Not really applicable. But I do still enjoy the take on the ghostiness in this story all the same ;)
Problems/What bothered me: Not really any problems to report. The only complaint I could make is that it took me a while to remember all the Wiccans and Ouijans and I wish we had had more time with them initially, but further on in the book, I got them straight.
Conclusion: 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book! I was lucky enough to meet Nicoline Evans at BookCon and got this one signed. I will definitely be checking out her other books now :)
Recommended Audience: Fans of ghost stories or creepy supernatural fantasies who also want a good deeper storyline would enjoy this. Girl or guy read, ages 14 and up.
Cover--Yea or Nay: I really like the cover it's pretty and creepy at the same time. I think it matches the feel for the book very well.
Characters: Theodore was a very likable protagonist. I instantly felt sorry for him for his situation, being pretty much stuck in the town with no friends and an alcoholic and abusive father. I liked him even more for the fact that we got to see him grow throughout the story. He was a very well-written and realistic dynamic character. I really enjoyed seeing his relationships with the other characters grow as well when he started to become fiends with Ruby and Rowan both of whom I liked, and I loved the mother/son relationship he shared with Adelaide. She was actually one of my favorite characters, I liked how she took Theodore in and gave him family when he didn't have any. As for Bianca's character I will say that I really loved the Wiccans and Ouijans, they were such colorful and fun characters, I would have liked them to have more page time. Over all, this book presents a really likable and well-rounded cast of very dynamic characters.
The Romance: In reality not a whole ton of romance, again don't want to spoil it:
Writing Style: It was really good. Very descriptive and colorful. I really was able to feel like I was there in the misty town and I loved the dour and delightfully creepy notes of the ghost storyline. What I think stood out to me most about this book though, was the fact that while it is a supernatural suspense/adventure, there's a lot of lead up and character building that happens. Most people would probably only write half of this story, and the length might make the book drag for some readers, but for me, I loved the time it took to get to the real plot line. The buildup only made it more suspenseful instead of making the book drag, and it kept me turning pages because whenever I thought there was a hint of something, I needed to know where it led. And I think it's because of this that we were given such realistic characters instead of your typical action hero types who really have no personality. This book made me laugh and cry because I cared about the characters.
Accuracy/ Believability: Not really applicable. But I do still enjoy the take on the ghostiness in this story all the same ;)
Problems/What bothered me: Not really any problems to report. The only complaint I could make is that it took me a while to remember all the Wiccans and Ouijans and I wish we had had more time with them initially, but further on in the book, I got them straight.
Conclusion: 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book! I was lucky enough to meet Nicoline Evans at BookCon and got this one signed. I will definitely be checking out her other books now :)
Recommended Audience: Fans of ghost stories or creepy supernatural fantasies who also want a good deeper storyline would enjoy this. Girl or guy read, ages 14 and up.
January 29, 2020
I've been reading self-published books lately to support independent artists. This one is not only by far the best of the bunch, it is one of my favorite fantasy novels of the last several years.
Nicoline Evans has an absolute knack for atmosphere, which is on full force here. The setting, a slow, rundown fishing town in Maine, is perfect for a ghost story and practically a character in itself. She takes her time introducing the supernatural elements of the story, and provides a clear quasi-magic system without removing the mystery or bogging down with too many rules and details.
Most importantly, she remembers something that many fantasy authors forget: you can have your creative setting and magic system all you like, but the core of a good story is a good character arc. Her lead is somewhere between Percy Jackson and Maniac Mcgee. The story, ultimately, is his finally finding a home and support system. Her villain was excellently set up enough to be a good twist without feeling out of left field. She's a formidable threat, while still somewhat sympathetic. The book explores the evil that hurt, lost people can enact out of anger or desperation, and the importance of accepting your lot in life and moving on rather than trying to steal back what was stolen from you. A theme that I belive is not explored enough, and done well here.
Nether Isle is detailed but engaging, fast-paced yet melancholic, and somber yet hopeful. This is the first self-published novel I read that had me rushing to buy other books from the author.
Nicoline Evans has an absolute knack for atmosphere, which is on full force here. The setting, a slow, rundown fishing town in Maine, is perfect for a ghost story and practically a character in itself. She takes her time introducing the supernatural elements of the story, and provides a clear quasi-magic system without removing the mystery or bogging down with too many rules and details.
Most importantly, she remembers something that many fantasy authors forget: you can have your creative setting and magic system all you like, but the core of a good story is a good character arc. Her lead is somewhere between Percy Jackson and Maniac Mcgee. The story, ultimately, is his finally finding a home and support system. Her villain was excellently set up enough to be a good twist without feeling out of left field. She's a formidable threat, while still somewhat sympathetic. The book explores the evil that hurt, lost people can enact out of anger or desperation, and the importance of accepting your lot in life and moving on rather than trying to steal back what was stolen from you. A theme that I belive is not explored enough, and done well here.
Nether Isle is detailed but engaging, fast-paced yet melancholic, and somber yet hopeful. This is the first self-published novel I read that had me rushing to buy other books from the author.
October 11, 2020
Interesting plotline. Timing of the plot is a little off with a lot of buildup and a very quick resolve. Character conversations are very poorly written and unnatural.
June 28, 2020
I got around 160 pages in before I had to drop this book. Let me start with the positives, of which there are few. The setting is interesting and well crafted to the point where you can really imagine the town being described. I also think the whole concept of an island where ghosts reside among the living is engaging and I was excited to see the story play with this. However, I think the author spends so much time building up the world and trying to build up a mystery that she neglects everything else.
The dialogue is poor: it sounds robotic, has no personality, and every character speaks in exactly the same manner. The dialogue seems to only exist to provide us with information we would not know about the world otherwise instead of giving us a look into the personality and lives of the characters holding said dialogue. Because of this, it is hard to become attached to the characters and thus hard to care about the story. Theodore himself is not an appealing character: he is dull and I genuinely could not tell you any traits about his personality. In trying to get the point across that Theodore has a crappy life, it becomes his entire character.
A lot of this book tries to get the point across of a mystery or something being wrong with the town but it’s done in such a repetitive and obvious manner I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the point.
Overall, I think this book is good for people who care more about world building and plot than character but as someone who looks for engaging characters I could not finish this book.
The dialogue is poor: it sounds robotic, has no personality, and every character speaks in exactly the same manner. The dialogue seems to only exist to provide us with information we would not know about the world otherwise instead of giving us a look into the personality and lives of the characters holding said dialogue. Because of this, it is hard to become attached to the characters and thus hard to care about the story. Theodore himself is not an appealing character: he is dull and I genuinely could not tell you any traits about his personality. In trying to get the point across that Theodore has a crappy life, it becomes his entire character.
A lot of this book tries to get the point across of a mystery or something being wrong with the town but it’s done in such a repetitive and obvious manner I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the point.
Overall, I think this book is good for people who care more about world building and plot than character but as someone who looks for engaging characters I could not finish this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2019
I loved this book. The concept was original. Nether Isle is an island where the dead can be seen. The island is close to a portal to the after life. Ghosts naturally congregate to the light and those who don't want to cross over will sometimes stay in Nether Isle. Theodore, being new to the isle, isn't exactly aware of this. But his whole world changes quickly when he learns the truth. Of course, I won't say how he learns but it's a great surprise.
Nether Isle is a well written, emotional journey that keeps you wanting more. It's the first book I've read from Nicoline Evans and it certainly won't be my last. And the artwork for the cover is amazing! Excellent book. Can't wait to read more.
Nether Isle is a well written, emotional journey that keeps you wanting more. It's the first book I've read from Nicoline Evans and it certainly won't be my last. And the artwork for the cover is amazing! Excellent book. Can't wait to read more.
September 24, 2021
I would give this three and a half stars, but good reads doesn’t allow that so I guess four it is. Some of the dialogue was a bit cheesy, but on the whole the story was well written and enjoyable. I especially enjoyed learning about the Wiccan and Ouijan beliefs. It made the book more interesting that the author chose to use an actual magical belief system rather than inventing her own. I actually met the author and she signed my copy of the book. I would read more of her work.
March 25, 2020
I've just finished this awesome book by Nicoline Evans. I highly recommend reading this book. I think it's a good read both for adults, but especially for younger readers. The first 250 pages were good, but the last ~150 were fantastic. I would have given this a 4 overall but I enjoyed the ending a lot, so a 5 it is.
Thank you for writing this, Nicoline!
Thank you for writing this, Nicoline!
October 15, 2024
Hey, I picked up this book at a Christmas market last December. I went home and started reading immediately, I absolutely loved every page of it. I was immersed in the experience of Nether Isle from the get go.
April 11, 2019
Such an emotional roller coaster. A story that has you sympathising for the protagonist.
August 21, 2020
Interesting take on a supernatural ghost story. I enjoyed the setting and the characters and will be reading more from this author.
September 10, 2020
I love the uniqueness of this book. It tells a story and shares a world unlike any other.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews