Book Review: Ever Shade by Alexia Purdy

Ever Shade is the first book in the Dark Faerie Tales series by Alexia Purdy, an uncomplicated novel about a young girl called 'Shade', seemingly human, but very quickly inducted into the world of the supernatural.
An epic tale begins, Shade is drafted into a Faerie queen's cause to save her throne and subjects by obtaining magical waters from the Santirian Mountains. It's uncertain exactly why Shade is involved, and you never really find out why this water is so important, but the journey seems to be the true object of the tale.
A quest for the brave, we meet some interesting characters along the way. Warriors of righteous might, disfigured princes, crazy, riddle-driven queens, and of course, an abundance of fey. We are offered a snippet of each character, some background information, and are often rewarded by a showing of their gifts in deliverance of an action-based sequence.
What I liked about this story was the writer's imagination and clear delight in her craft. I also liked that I was often confused by the misleading, romantic interludes that left me guessing as to the true intent of Shade's heart. Even now, though drawn to several characters, I'm at an impasse as to who I think she should choose - if anyone at all given her blasé attitude towards any and all encounters.
Unfortunately, that's where my enjoyment of this story ended, and although I will not critique the writer's ideas, as these were compelling, I was not enamoured with the editing or lack of clarity in the sentence structure.
I was flooded with pointless adverbs that I found often confused the imagery and over-crowded what could have been simplistic paragraphing. Metaphors were slung around like a backyard football, clumsy and sometimes falling short of point. Combine this with a lot of double descriptions, and I felt as if I was reading every sentence twice.
As I said, the ideas are wonderful and the passion is evident, but it was difficult for me to get past the wording. I rate this novel two fangs out of five, based entirely on what I believe to be easily redeemable with stronger editing. But please remember, this is but the opinion of one, not a general consensus and certainly not an errant dismissal of the writer's obvious passion and creativity.

Synopsis:

For Shade, a chance meeting with a powerful Teleen faery warrior who wields electrical currents and blue fires along his skin has her joining him on a treacherous mission for the good Seelie Faerie Court across the land of Faerie. Magic and malice abound and nothing is what it really seems to be.
The evil Unseelie Queen and her treacherous allies are round every corner as Shade makes her way across the breathtaking landscapes of the world of Faerie, which exists alongside the mundane human world. Shade discovers her own uncharted magic and meets some of the most powerful warriors in Faerie while battling evil dryads, conniving Teleen guards and challenges on her life with every step in a world where nothing can be taken for granted.