A wonderfully imaginative Young Adult novel. Between mortality and the afterlife is a place called Everlost, a dumping ground for children who get tripped up while traveling toward the “light at the end of the tunnel” following death.
The novel begins with a fatal car crash. Two young teenagers, one from each car, die in the accident and bump into one another on their journey to the afterlife, knocking them off course and sending them cascading into Everlost. There they meet another “afterlight” (their term for ghosts) stuck in Everlost. The story that follows if moving and fun and incredibly creative. Everlost is a universe adjacent to, but much different than, our own. How the children adapt, struggle to survive, and find their place in such a new and often menacing world is a wild read. Very recommended.