Crispin Kateralbin is an outsider, and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot find a place to fit in. Expelled from his circus home after his carelessness causes a death, he first wanders and then flees across the crumbling Ferupian Empire into daemon-infested Raw. He acquires a companion, Rae, who was born in Kirekune (with whom Ferupe has been at war for 100 years), and who is also an exile, excluded forever from belonging anywhere by the lengths she has gone to for acceptance. Their world is fantastically dark, warlike, and corrupt, and the visions Crispin has of a city destroyed by holocaust suggest that the end is near. Separated from Rae in Pilkinson's Shadowtown, Crispin goes on without her, transferring his allegiance to the Ferupian Air Force and its daemon-powered planes, but there, too, he is an outsider, despite his flying skill.

Ever ends without resolution. The journeys (inner and outer) that Felicity Savage depicts are interesting, but incomplete. Savage's writing is rough, sometimes overdone, and Crispin's episodic life seems to have little effect on him; although he is the central character, we do not know much more about him at the end than we did at the beginning. Savage leaves plenty of hints and loose ends for another volume or two, and Crispin's story is by no means whole, so the ultimate quality of this book depends entirely on what follows.

From Kirkus Reviews
First installment of a fantasy trilogy, from the author of the mass market Delta City (1996), etc. Captive daemons, cruelly confined and tortured, produce the motive power for vehicles and machines in Savage's oddball world. Ferupe, with its dying Queen Lithrea the Second, is at war with neighboring Kirekune, whose tailed inhabitants are ruled by the Lizard Significant. Young half- breed Crispin, forced to depart his circus home after a fatal accident, faces prejudice (he's tall and black) as he seeks work and shelter. He meets Rae, a young Kirekunian woman who has cut off her tail to become inconspicuous among the Ferupians. After various adventures, they find themselves in the Waste--a borderland where, in their flimsy daemon-powered aircraft, the two opposing air forces battle it out. Eventually, the pair are captured by Ferupian soldiers, accused of spying, and imprisoned. Crispin, thinking Rae dead, becomes a pilot; Rae, thinking Crispin dead, becomes priestess Rain. As Ferupe begins to lose the war, Crispin naively collaborates in a plot to kill a superior officer and is forced to flee for his life. Noisy, chaotic, not even half thought out: an unconvincing grab-bag of an opener. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Ever Crispin is a "circus baby," born in a caravan, working as a daemon handler and aerialistuntil an accident on the high wire casts him out into a world even stranger that the circus that nurtured him. The War in the Waste Crispin falls headlong into the arms of Rae, an orphan girl of equally exotic origins. And soars in daemon-powered biplanes over the wastelands of the Raw, joining the awesome battle between Ferupe's slow-dying Queen and her adversary, the Lizard Significant.

About the Author
Felicty Savage with the astonishing power of a master magician, one of today's most daring young writers has created a world as wondrous as any in literature, including our own. Savage's three-part epic novel is powered by elusive daemon spirits, torn by mystery cults and dynastic wars, and illuminated by an unforgettable love. Ever is destined to define the high art of fantasy for generations to come.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Crispin is a "circus baby," born in a caravan, working as a daemon handler and aerialist - until an accident on the high wire casts him out into a world even stranger than the circus that nurtured him. Crispin falls headlong into the arms of Rae, an orphan girl of equally exotic origins. And soars in daemon-powered biplanes over the wastelands of the Raw, joining the awesome battle between Ferupe's slow-dying Queen and her adversary, the Lizard Significant.

SYNOPSIS

In a critic's first breath, Felicity Savage is often described as a young author; but she can certainly never be accused of a lack of motivation. When she published her first fantasy fiction novel, Humility Garden, at 18, Savage quickly led critical attention away from her age and into the fantastical Land of Salt, where eternal love and chaotic evil coexisted. Her writing soon garnered praise in the fantasy realm, and Savage has continued to explore human fascination with the chimerical.

Now, at the brave age of 22, Felicity Savage has taken hold of the intricately braided reins of the epic saga, releasing one complete novel, Ever, in three volumes. The first volume, The War in the Waste, is a daring and highly imaginative new tale with an original cast of capricious creature-characters.

"Beyond Lovoshire lay only the trackless Waste, and the exotic glory of the war front, into whose brilliance all young soldiers vanished. And beyond that...."

For 100 years, a brutal war between the Ferupians and the Kirekuni has been raging in the Wraithwaste -- a daemon-infested forest that stretches for thousands of miles along Ferupe's western border. It is alien, unknown territory, colonized solely by trickster women. The War in the Waste follows a young daemon handler and circus performer named Crispin Kateralbin, born to the Lamaroon "Balloon Lady" in Smithrebel's Fabulous Aerial and Animal Show. Growing up around performers, Crispin is taught the secretive, viperous task of handling and controlling gargantuan daemons, harnessed in the bellies of vehicles and exploited for their tremendous horsepower. It is a rare talent; despite this, Crispin is forced into a life as an Aerialist, like his mother. When a fiery vision on the high wire causes the death of his partner, Crispin is banished from his native city and forced to flee across the treacherous Waste, where he finds work as a daemon handler and then as a fighter pilot in the war. By the close of this first volume, Crispin has encountered fellow refugees, treacherous plots, and not a few enemies in his trek across the wasteland.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Nancy K. Wallace

his skills, he rapidly becomes disillusioned when he is repeatedly denied employment because of his color. He befriends Rae, a young Kirekune girl, who has amputated her own tail, in an effort to disguise her race. In order to survive, they are forced to steal and kill, forming a necessary alliance in a world where Ferupians and Kirekune are forever at war. Eventually apprehended, Crispin is given a second chance and conscripted into the Ferupian Air Force. Rae is brutally tortured but finally escapes. While the writing is sometimes excellent-individual phrases stand out with astonishing eloquence-there are several things here that do not quite succeed. Crispin is not always a likeable hero; Rae is simply forlorn and overall there is a dragging sense of persistent hopelessness. The plot lacks cohesiveness and abruptly loses momentum toward the end. Add this to a confusing proliferation of characters and Ever just seems to miss the mark. Though none are graphically portrayed, sexual situations include heterosexuality, homosexuality, and pedophilia. VOYA Codes: 4Q 3P S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Will appeal with pushing, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

Kirkus Reviews

First installment of a fantasy trilogy, from the author of the mass market Delta City (1996), etc. Captive daemons, cruelly confined and tortured, produce the motive power for vehicles and machines in Savage's oddball world. Ferupe, with its dying Queen Lithrea the Second, is at war with neighboring Kirekune, whose tailed inhabitants are ruled by the Lizard Significant. Young half- breed Crispin, forced to depart his circus home after a fatal accident, faces prejudice (he's tall and black) as he seeks work and shelter. He meets Rae, a young Kirekunian woman who has cut off her tail to become inconspicuous among the Ferupians. After various adventures, they find themselves in the Waste—a borderland where, in their flimsy daemon-powered aircraft, the two opposing air forces battle it out. Eventually, the pair are captured by Ferupian soldiers, accused of spying, and imprisoned. Crispin, thinking Rae dead, becomes a pilot; Rae, thinking Crispin dead, becomes priestess Rain. As Ferupe begins to lose the war, Crispin naively collaborates in a plot to kill a superior officer and is forced to flee for his life.

Noisy, chaotic, not even half thought out: an unconvincing grab-bag of an opener.