Envy

By Elizabeth Miles

Spring is here, and the ice is slowly melting in Ascension…revealing the secrets buried beneath.

The Furies are back, and Emily Winters is about to discover that their roots in Ascension are deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to take them down. But it's hard to focus when she's desperate to make up with JD, and to figure out why Crow, a mysterious Ascension High dropout, seems to be shadowing her.

Meanwhile, new girl Skylar McVoy is determined to leave her own dark past behind. So she's thrilled when not only does popular Gabby takes her under her wing, but the stunning and sophisticated Meg offers to give her a major makeover. But everyone knows what happens to the vainest girl of all…

It's tempting to be naughty. But beware: the Furies are always watching, and their power grows stronger by the day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Aug 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857072061

Elizabeth Miles

Elizabeth Miles lives in Portland, Maine, and writes for an alternative newsweekly. Visit her online at ElizabethMilesBooks.com, at Facebook.com/ElizabethMilesWrites, and follow her on Twitter at @MilesBooks.

Reviews for Envy

[alcarinqa_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Miles' haphazard writing is back for another instalment, but whereas Fury had a few great characters, there's not much about this book I liked. Envy is told in dual perspective - Em, our simpering, shallow protagonist from the last book is back and tells the story with Skylar, the new girl at school laden with secrets. Still lacking in execution and solid grounding in mythology, Envy seems to take everything I disliked about Fury and run with it.I had thought - hoped - that the events at the end of Fury would have instilled some maturity in Emily, but I was saddened to see that her new-found selflessness lasted a handful of chapters. She is quickly confused by her feelings for two utterly unremarkable boys: her random but strong feelings for JD, disappear almost instantaneously and she's flirting with Crow, a minor character from Fury. The new protagonist, Skylar, continued the trend of being morally ambiguous and only held my attention for a few chapters. She is at best a very confusing character, and at worst a prime example of the type of character authors should avoid at all costs: someone so repulsive and flawed that it's difficult for readers to harbour even a modicum of empathy. I really liked Chase, the co-protagonost of Fury, and I had hoped his death would play a larger role in the series arc (after all, why kill off a narratiing character if his death is meaningless?). Not only are Chase and Zack reduced to objects of whispered gossip at the school in Envy, the fates of both boys are largely ignored, by both the Furies and Emily.Many of the relationships between the character in Envy are destructive, which only served to further detach me from the characters. Emily apparently hasn't learnt the lesson of taking her friends for granted. She treats both Gabbie, her long time best friend and Drea, her Fury hunting companion, very badly and ignores them until she needs something from them. Skylar sneers at the friendship Em and Gabbie share, which is hypocritical because she, herself, is obviously only friends with Gabs for the popularity it brings her. The romance in the book doesn't fare much better. While Emily's attraction to JD might be explained through his steady presence in her life since childhood, she isn't attracted at all to Crow until he takes his short off in front of her, at which points she practically jumps him. Skylar is instantly attracted to Pierce and weirdly jealous of any female interaction he has, even stalking him at one point. The one romantic scene in the book lacks the driving forces of emotion and passion and probably shouldn't have been included at all.One of my main concerns about Fury was the lack of explanation given for the presence of the Furies in a small town. This is dealt with in Envy, and is just about the only thing I liked about the book. Although the story offered by Miles is shaky in terms of its relationship to the original Greek mythology, I liked it and thought it clever. The Furies themselves, however, again perplexed me to the point of frustration. Although Skylar is a flawed character from the beginning, Meg encourages her to behave a certain way and helps to justify it, and then punishes her. Miles' Furies don't make any sense at all and I found it harder and harder to keep reading the book as one nonsensical event followed another.Envy is a disappointing addition to the Furies series, and I think it's safe to say the series premise fails to live up to it's potential. Although the books are quick and easy reads, I don't think they are very enjoyable and leave a lot to be desired in terms of plotting and character development. If you pick up this series, I hope you enjoy it a lot more than I did!A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic.

[superducky · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I actually enjoyed this book more than the first one. I know I probably should have felt bad for Skylar, but she was my least favorite character, so when she got hurt, I didn't feel particularly bad for her. Can't wait for the next book!

[ahandfulofconfetti · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am the first to admit that I'm a sucker for anything mentioning Greek Mythology retellings. As such, I dove into the first book of this series, Fury, and came away rather disappointed. Yes, I enjoyed it enough to read the second installment, but the book was really slow to develop and I very nearly put it down. I also really disliked Em quite a lot (her actions left a very bad taste in my mouth), which made reading a story from her point of view very difficult. I am happy to report, therefore, that the things I just mentioned as bothering me in the first book are nearly nonexistent in the second installment, and as such, I enjoyed this book much more than the first.This book is very dependent on your reading Fury first, because there are several references throughout to things the reader learned in the first book, particularly when it comes to the name-dropping. So if you're going to read this one, you really do need to pick up Fury first. Whereas Fury took a very long time for things to really happen and develop, you're thrust pretty quickly into the action this time around, which definitely helped with the pacing. And while the actions of the Furies - and the person they target this time around - are borderline horrific and awful, there was a certain compulsion to the words and events that kept me eagerly turning pages (I essentially read the last 300 pages of this in one sitting), even when I was dismayed at what was going on. I so wanted to reach out and shake Skylar because she fell right into their trap; she wanted to be loved and accepted and surrounded by friends, and Meg knew exactly how to manipulate those feelings to their advantage. Her story arc was really terrible and I couldn't help but feel bad for her, even when she was making some truly terrible choices.I also really loved that we FINALLY got some explanation about why the Furies are so focused on the small town of Ascension. That was my biggest question in the first book; why this small town? What was the lure? Now I know and I can't wait to see how things are going to shake out! And while I am not a fan of love triangles by any means, I kind of can't help but be curious about Em's ultimate decision between JD and Crow; while I loved JD in the first book, I wonder if things can be rectified in that regard, and can't help but feel that perhaps Crow is the better way to go for her. I will continue to not be "team anyone" though, and just see what happens in the end, because I really do like them both.There was a turn of events at the end of Envy that I definitely did not see coming, which just makes me all the more excited to read the last book, Eternity, which I have to wait until September to read. September! How's that fair?If you read Fury and liked it well enough, definitely give Envy a try. The faster pacing alone makes it a much more satisfying read, and while we're definitely given more questions and the book is basically just a set-up for the final installment, there was enough new information to keep the book from being overly frustrating. I can't wait to see what happens next!