Neverlast by Sue H. Cunningham – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Heist, heartbreak, and hidden mortality.
YA book title: Neverlast.
YA author: Sue H. Cunningham.
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller/Supernatural/Romance.
Published by: Scholastic.
ISBN: 9780702348372.
Recommended for children aged: 12+.
First published: Paperback, August 2026.
This YA novel is ideal for: Young Adult readers who enjoy fantasy, fast-paced thrillers involving heists, blackmail and international contexts with low-level romance woven in. Ideal for fans of Kayvion Lewis’s Thieves’ Gambit, Joss Stirling’s The Savant series or Ally Carters’ books.
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Our review:
Gracie is sixteen years old when, after breaking her ankle, she discovers she will not live forever. She was born into the Perpetual community, made up of families with a rare genetic ability to heal unnaturally fast and resist disease, and had always assumed she’d be one of them. But she’s a Neverlast instead: mortal, fragile, and no longer the invincible human she anticipated being.
Her love of extreme sports and parkour with her adrenaline-junkie friends is now severely restricted, especially with her overly anxious mother having a say! No more jumping between rooftops, travelling the globe, or taking any risk whatsoever. Her life, she feels, is over.
Arty, her long-term boyfriend, begins avoiding her the moment he learns the truth and eventually ends things altogether. Just as Gracie thinks her situation can’t get any worse, she and her Perpetual friends uncover the danger Arty has gotten tangled up in and the risk it poses to the entire Perpetual community. If mortals discover their powers, what will become of them?
Gracie is determined to help him, but can she when the cost might be her life and her family’s greatest secret?
Our verdict:
Neverlast offers a thoughtful examination of parenting during the teen years, capturing how protective decisions can feel overbearing and even suffocating to a teenager, even when they come from a place of genuine care. The novel is clever, enabling readers to sympathise with Gracie’s frustration at having her freedom curtailed, while still understanding exactly why her parents are behaving the way they are. It’s a fresh take on a familiar family conflict, handled with more empathy than the usual ‘strict parents vs. rebellious teen’ image.
The parkour element is a real strength of the story. It’s an increasingly popular sport among teens, and the book captures both the thrill and the genuine risk of it without romanticising the dangers. The action sequences are genuinely tense; the reader finds themselves holding their breath as characters leap between rooftops, with the scenes skilfully narrated using pacing and description.
Overall, this is a really enjoyable, easy read. The Perpetual community is a dystopian concept, but because it’s grounded in a realistic, contemporary setting rather than an elaborate fantasy world, it feels entirely believable. That makes it a great choice for readers who don’t enjoy hardcore fantasy with sprawling worlds and creatures. The romantic subplot, meanwhile, stays low-key and secondary to the heist, blackmail, and action; present enough to add teenage relationship emotion, but never overpowering the main plot.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
Teaching Points
Autonomy v Protection
- When does protecting someone cross over into limiting who they are? Gracie’s conflict with her parents allows us to explore how much control young people should have over risk in their own lives and what happens when others try to control them.
Risk Taking and Adolescence
- Extreme sports, for example, parkour, are high-risk activities. Why do young people participate in dangerous activities, why are they appealing, and why are they perceived differently by other generations?
Secrecy and Consequences
- The Perpetual community needs to hide their abilities to avoid unnecessary questions. Explore the cost of secrecy: what secrets protect people and what secrets can cause harm?
Loyalty and Changing Relationships
- Arty’s decision to withdraw from Gracie when he discovers she is mortal shows how relationships can change and shift. What does loyalty look like and how can it change when a friend is scared or overwhelmed?
Book Club Questions
- Gracie’s parents become increasingly overprotective once they learn she is a Neverlast, even though their concern stems from love. Do you think their response was reasonable or did they take it too far?
- We naturally dislike Arty when he dumps Gracie without really facing her. What do you think was really driving his reaction? Would you have handled the situation differently?
- The Perpetual community’s survival depends upon secrecy. Do you think keeping their existence hidden is the right thing to do, or does that cause more harm?
- Gracie’s perception of herself changes when she discovers she is mortal. Have you ever had anything happen to you that changed your own self-perception?
Many thanks to Scholastic for the review copy.
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