I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sorry guys this is gonna be a no from me... DNF'd at ~8%.

Perhaps I should have given this book more of a chance, but it's been a couple of weeks since I started it and I have no desire to go back. Not only did I find it pretty cringe-y, but there were some problematic elements as well.

The story - what I read of it - involves two foster siblings: Josh and Ksenia. Both are upset because Ksenia is about to turn 18, and her foster parents are planning to force her to move out. Josh and Ksenia have such a strong bond that the idea of being separated has them thinking of making risky decisions.

One night, while having a "last hurrah" of sorts, Ksenia and Josh run into a group of ~mysterious~ and ~beautiful~ people having a party. Surprise surprise, they're all fairies. I guess that Josh and Ksenia are glamoured? Because everything gets really confusing (and sexual???), and when Ksenia wakes up from her daze, Josh is missing.

Not only did I have kind of a hard time following what went on with the fairies, but the dialogue was just really cheesy and cringe-worthy.

"For half a moment I thought they must be models, dancers, on break between takes of a music video, because they had the glitz and seduction of pure images."

"Pure images"?? I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean. I had a difficult time keeping track of which fairies were which, and found their physical descriptions to be hard to follow.

Another major turn-off for me in this first part of the book I read, was a questionable sexual encounter Ksenia has with one of the fairies. During the party, one of them basically forces her up against a tree to distract her from what's happening to Josh, and she says -

"It should have been thrilling, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it."

...then later: "I was getting dizzy, and I tried to push him off."

I just thought to myself - OK, if this is gonna be a book that both glamorizes and idolizes these fairies, but also lets scenes like this occur, where there is clearly NOT consent going on... then no thanks.

The one thing that seemed initially interesting and possibly promising was the both Josh and Ksenia seemed to be queer and gender non-conforming. A scene early in the book describes Josh as usually dressing feminine, and Ksenia preferring to dress masculine - Ksenia remarks how often they are mistaken for the opposite sex, and how they enjoy it. I would have like to see this play out, but everything else about the story was just such a turn-off...

I may give this another try in the future, but for right now there are just other things I would prefer to read. ( )

I was NOT expecting this book to be the way it was, and based on the reviews already up on Goodreads that I've skimmed, neither were most other people.
I love all things Faerie, from Melissa Marr to Holly Black. However, Never-Contented Things was decidedly darker than any faerie book I've read before.
I know a lot of people are expecting this to be kind of like The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, maybe a little creepier, maybe a little darker.
Never-Contented Things is completely lacking in the political intrigue and intricate faerie culture that has drawn so many people to books like The Cruel Prince. This isn't to say that it's a terrible book, although it did take me a while to get interested in it. In fact, I would describe Never-Contented Things as more of a darker version of Coraline, that just happens to have faeries.
(Strangely, I also got Sawkill Girls (Claire Legrand) vibes from it. I'm not sure why. But I loved Sawkill Girls and Coraline was my favorite book when I was in elementary school.)
The first thing to get out of the way is that I didn't find many of the characters to be likeable. The two main characters, foster siblings Josh and Ksenia, have such a strange, codependent dynamic that just made me feel...uncomfortable a lot of the time. Their best friend, Lexi, who is also a main character, was probably the most likeable out of all of them, but I did find her to be a bit self-righteous at times, although objectively she was a very good person. The two main faeries, Prince and Unselle, had absolutely no redeeming qualities and, even more surprisingly, had much fewer spoken lines than I expected.
However, the character's personalities aside, I really liked the diversity in the three main characters. Ksenia is often mistaken for a boy, and while she does use she/her pronouns, she is very androgynous and is attracted to both men and women. Josh is also gender-nonconforming and pansexual. Lexi is black and throughout the book discovers that she is attracted to women as well as men.
Josh and Ksenia are essentially kidnapped by the faeries and taken to an alternate version of their town, one where they believe they have no hope of escape. However, Josh believes that he and Ksenia aren't right for the real world, and that staying in this alternate world will enable them to stay together forever. Ksenia is more skeptical, partially because while Josh sees her as the love of his life, Ksenia sees Josh as a little brother.
You know that feeling when you wake up from a long nap, and everything just feels...off? You aren't sure what time it is or what's going on, and you go through the rest of the day dazed and disoriented?
That's how reading this book felt for me, at least through the first 1/3 or so. That initially put me off from reading, and I was considering DNFing it. Then I realized how incredible it was that the writing could make me feel that way, especially since it was the way Ksenia was feeling throughout the first part of the book. The prose is absolutely amazing, and like nothing else I've ever read.
I decided to rate this book 3/5 stars, since I'm still kind of conflicted about my feelings towards it. It was definitely an experience reading it, but I didn't LIKE reading it. Like I said, I felt "off" most of the time while reading, mostly since it was creepy as hell and there were a lot of uncomfortable themes, as well as characters saying completely morbid things that generally aren't said in normal conversation.
But I did enjoy reading a book with completely unlikable characters, as well as the dark, Coraline-esque atmosphere, which was probably my favorite part of the whole book. ( )

I was NOT expecting this book to be the way it was, and based on the reviews already up on Goodreads that I've skimmed, neither were most other people.
I love all things Faerie, from Melissa Marr to Holly Black. However, Never-Contented Things was decidedly darker than any faerie book I've read before.
I know a lot of people are expecting this to be kind of like The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, maybe a little creepier, maybe a little darker.
Never-Contented Things is completely lacking in the political intrigue and intricate faerie culture that has drawn so many people to books like The Cruel Prince. This isn't to say that it's a terrible book, although it did take me a while to get interested in it. In fact, I would describe Never-Contented Things as more of a darker version of Coraline, that just happens to have faeries.
(Strangely, I also got Sawkill Girls (Claire Legrand) vibes from it. I'm not sure why. But I loved Sawkill Girls and Coraline was my favorite book when I was in elementary school.)
The first thing to get out of the way is that I didn't find many of the characters to be likeable. The two main characters, foster siblings Josh and Ksenia, have such a strange, codependent dynamic that just made me feel...uncomfortable a lot of the time. Their best friend, Lexi, who is also a main character, was probably the most likeable out of all of them, but I did find her to be a bit self-righteous at times, although objectively she was a very good person. The two main faeries, Prince and Unselle, had absolutely no redeeming qualities and, even more surprisingly, had much fewer spoken lines than I expected.
However, the character's personalities aside, I really liked the diversity in the three main characters. Ksenia is often mistaken for a boy, and while she does use she/her pronouns, she is very androgynous and is attracted to both men and women. Josh is also gender-nonconforming and pansexual. Lexi is black and throughout the book discovers that she is attracted to women as well as men.
Josh and Ksenia are essentially kidnapped by the faeries and taken to an alternate version of their town, one where they believe they have no hope of escape. However, Josh believes that he and Ksenia aren't right for the real world, and that staying in this alternate world will enable them to stay together forever. Ksenia is more skeptical, partially because while Josh sees her as the love of his life, Ksenia sees Josh as a little brother.
You know that feeling when you wake up from a long nap, and everything just feels...off? You aren't sure what time it is or what's going on, and you go through the rest of the day dazed and disoriented?
That's how reading this book felt for me, at least through the first 1/3 or so. That initially put me off from reading, and I was considering DNFing it. Then I realized how incredible it was that the writing could make me feel that way, especially since it was the way Ksenia was feeling throughout the first part of the book. The prose is absolutely amazing, and like nothing else I've ever read.
I decided to rate this book 3/5 stars, since I'm still kind of conflicted about my feelings towards it. It was definitely an experience reading it, but I didn't LIKE reading it. Like I said, I felt "off" most of the time while reading, mostly since it was creepy as hell and there were a lot of uncomfortable themes, as well as characters saying completely morbid things that generally aren't said in normal conversation.
But I did enjoy reading a book with completely unlikable characters, as well as the dark, Coraline-esque atmosphere, which was probably my favorite part of the whole book. ( )

Frankly, Never-Contented Things is a significant disappointment. Sarah Porter’s version of the cruelty of the Fae towards humans is neither original nor good. The heroes are weak, and the villains are boring. Ksenia spends so much time defending her relationship with Josh to an invisible audience that the rest of the story feels like an afterthought. As such, those elements Ms. Porter intends to be horrifying are dull, and the entire story lacks excitement. I found myself severely detached while reading it, not caught up in any character’s story enough to warrant my full attention. I finished it in the off-chance it got better and because I still really like the cover. It is not one I would recommend to others though. If you want stories about the Fae, stick with Holly Black, Julie Kagawa, Melissa Marr, or Sarah J. Maas.