Evertrue

An Underworld Fairytale

By: Jill London

Narrated by: Emma Stansfield

Length: 1 hr and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

To save Grandma Crick from being fed to the ravenous Monger turtles, Mila must journey into the underworld to steal the Evertrue Emerald from the demon, Malrook. Joined by a motley bunch of experts through the deadly, dragon-infested caves, they meet Captain Tuna, the accordion-playing walrus, a karate-kicking fairy, and a colony of strange and grumpy troglonomes. As time runs out, Mila discovers that friendship and ingenuity can unearth the greatest strength of all and win her heart’s desire. Evertrue is a fairy-tale for listeners young and old, and will appeal to fans of J. K. Rowling’s The Ickabog.

©2014, 2021 Jill London (P)2021 Jill London

Evertrue is a Precious Gem

What a delightful fairytale Evertrue is. You will meet the greedy King Josef who at any cost seeks to find the ‘Evertrue Emerald.’ He threatens to feed Grandma Crick to the gluttonous Monger turtles if Mila and a crew of adventurers don’t fulfill his wishes to uncover the elusive gem. So, off they go, forced by the King to travel through several dangerous caves or their jobs and homes will be taken away.
Skillfully written and full of humor, the narrator brings each character alive with their unique personalities.
Classified as a children story, adults and children alike will enjoy this tale of wonderful allegories throughout.

A Delightful Fantasy Fairytale

Evertrue, written by Jill London, is a feel-good fairytale adventure. Now, I'll admit to having help reviewing this one. I enlisted my youngest daughter to listen along with me. I knew without even asking that she enjoyed it. Giggling away as the story unfolded, she was hooked on it.

Even though it's short at a little over an hour and a half, we had to listen over a number of sittings. She likes listening to books as she falls asleep, so I had to keep skipping back, as I'd be so engrossed myself I failed to notice when she had drifted off.

The story is Dahlesque in some ways, like the people and place names. River Spew is the most obvious example I can think of.. that and something about a plague of missing toilet paper. Horrid bad guys trying to ruin the day of everyone by feeding them to fearsome man-eating turtles.

We follow Mila and her friends as they venture into the dark, underworld caverns for the Evil Malrook and his famous Evertrue Emerald. A cast of interesting support characters rounds us out for a truly fun adventure we couldn't get enough of.

Narrator Emma Stansfield was an absolute delight. I often have difficultly finding audiobooks my kids want to listen to, as the narrator is often the first breaking point. My youngest loved Emma's voice immediately, so I knew she'd passed the first test.

Emma brought the story and its cast of characters to life. From the atrocious baddies of the spoilt King Josef, evil tax collectors, and the aforementioned Malrook, through to the cast of goodies of Mila, Thomas, Tobias and the rest, Emma's voice kept us entertained throughout.

We've since listened to this again, and my youngest is keen to get it into the rotation of bedtime books. Well recommended.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I have not let this gift affect nor influence my opinions of this audiobook and have left an honest review.