History Literature / Everworld

The series is about [[FourTemperamentEnsemble four teenagers with opposing personalities]] TrappedInAnotherWorld, where all of the classical polytheistic gods, demons and legendary heroes from various mythologies fled when people stopped worshiping them in the "Old World." While dealing with [[ImmortalImmaturity lunatic gods]] and [[BigCreepyCrawlies insect]] [[OutsideGenreFoe aliens]], they must find a way back to the Old World. Unfortunately, the only person who might be able to help them return is Senna, the [[HotWitch witch]] who brought them to Everworld and shows up from time-to-time to either [[VillainousRescue save their lives]] or travel with them and lend her magic to help. However, Senna has her own goals and plans for Everworld, and is more interested in bringing them to fruition than helping the rest of the group, and may be [[EvilPlan following a master plan darker than any of them could ever guess]].

''Everworld'' had many of the themes of ''Animorphs'', but aimed at an older audience, so it got to include "fun" subjects such as alcoholism, homophobia, religious intolerance, prejudice, obsessive-compulsive disorder and, the best of all(?), pedophilic rape.

* {{Lampshaded}} and {{Justified|Trope}}:

* GodGuise: Senna in ''Inside the Illusion.'' She admits freely that she is no god, merely a mortal with [[WitchSpecies unusual]] [[FunctionalMagic abilities]]. However, she also pretends to be a god, creating an illusionary appearance and voice, and then passing herself off as one to the Sennites, in order to better unite and encourage them, and give her cause a greater sense of importance. (And she puts on [[LargeHam quite a performance]].)

* WitchSpecies: Senna and her mother.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Jalil ([[TheSpock strait-laced]] BlackAndNerdy SmartGuy) and Christopher (formerly racist white guy SadClown and CowardlyLion) head this way as the series progresses.

* NotSoDifferent: The similarities between Senna and April, and more frighteningly, Senna and Hel are repeatedly pointed out.

A YoungAdult series written by Creator/KAApplegate and Creator/MichaelGrant and published by Scholastic between 1999 and 2001, written along side the duo's most successful title, ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: What everyone thought Senna was, before the events of the series.

* AlmightyIdiot: Everworld's gods are NighInvulnerable and have RealityWarper-level power, but most might as well have walnuts in their heads for all the brain activity going on upstairs. It's implied in ''Inside the Illusion'' that this is an inevitable consequence of their TimeAbyss-tier lifespans, and that left to their own devices long enough they'll all either degrade into living statues (as the entire Egyptian pantheon has) or get devoured by Ka Anor. Loki and Athena (and Sobek, once Senna coaxes him into it) are the only gods the kids meet who can think outside of their mythologically-mandated boxes, likely because of the nature of their divinity (Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, Loki a God of Cleverness as well as Trickery, and Sobek, though he's descended into TheBrute when Senna meets him, is traditionally rooted as a God of ''Military Prowess and Luck'').

* AlmightyIdiot: Everworld's gods are NighInvulnerable and have RealityWarper-level power, but most might as well have walnuts in their heads for all the brain activity going on upstairs. It's implied in ''Inside the Illusion'' that this is an inevitable consequence of their TimeAbyss-tier lifespans, and that left to their own devices long enough they'll all either degrade into living statues (as the entire Egyptian pantheon has) or get devoured by Ka Anor. Loki and Athena (and Sobek, once Senna coaxes him into it) are the only gods the kids meet who can think outside of their mythologically-mandated boxes.

* TroubledTeen: There's David (molested by a male camp counselor as a child and dealing with his feelings of masculine inadequacy), Chris (a racist {{jerkass}} dealing with alcoholism), Jalil (suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and trying to hide it from everyone else), and then there's Senna who takes the cake as she was abandoned by her mother as a child, but is also a raging narcissist. April is least troubled; she's just mainly judgemental and shallow.

* TwoFaced: Hel.
* {{Ubermensch}}: [[spoiler:Senna.]]

* ''Search for Senna'' (1999)
* ''Land of Loss'' (1999)
* ''Enter the Enchanted'' (1999)
* ''Realm of the Reaper'' (1999)
* ''Discover the Destroyer'' (2000)
* ''Fear the Fantastic'' (2000)
* ''Gateway to the Gods'' (2000)
* ''Brave the Betrayal'' (2000)
* ''Inside the Illusion'' (2000)
* ''Understand the Unknown'' (2000)
* ''Mystify the Magician'' (2001)
* ''Entertain the End'' (2001)

* OutOfGenreExperience: This was the only fantasy work that Applegate ever did; everything else she's written has been either sci-fi or realistic fiction, with the sole exception of ''The One and Only Ivan''.

** [[spoiler:Mr. Trent]] is also the EvilGenius for the Sennites, being the primary recruiter and "mission control" who gets their supplies and arms, and presumbably delivers them to Dawkins.

* [[HumanPopsicle Immortal Popsicle]]: [[spoiler:Thor and Baldor are frozen in Hel]].

* NamesTheSame: Fans of Applegate's more famous ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series must've been pretty surprised to see that one of the protagonists shares a name with [[SixthRangerTraitor David]], a villain from
* NayTheist: Senna's official view towards the various gods of Everworld. She openly acknowledges their existence and often even scolds the others for not treating them as such, but also quite clearly states that they are not omnipotent, are too weak to use power correctly, and she even [[spoiler:plans to kill or reduce every god to a slave when she rules Everworld]]. It is unknown what her attitude towards the idea of a monotheistic {{God}} is, as the only things she's said about that sort of religion is that she enjoyed going to church and that she can't stand [[SoapboxSadie April's self-righteous religiousity]].

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Because there was a chance the series could be renewed, the ending was deliberately vague. As a result, the series ends with [[spoiler:[[TheHero David]] having just come out of hitting bottom, and proceeded to mostly ignore him and leave him isolated, most likely because there wasn't enough length left to devote to building him back up. In addition, the Ka Anor plot ends up reading like a better foreshadowed, lighter version/prelude to the Animorphs' BolivianArmyEnding.]]

* AGodAmI: Both defied ''and'' invoked by Senna in ''Inside the Illusion.'' She admits freely that she is no god, merely a mortal with [[WitchSpecies unusual]] [[FunctionalMagic abilities]]. However, she also pretends to be a god, creating an illusionary appearance and voice, and then passing herself off as one to the Sennites, in order to better unite and encourage them, and give her cause a greater sense of importance. (And she puts on [[LargeHam quite a performance]].) Played straight in ''Mystify the Magician'', where [[spoiler:Senna seems to honestly believe she's become a god, and starts to really [[AxCrazy act like one]].]]

* AllMythsAreTrue: And they all live in Everworld.

** Senna and Merlin. A good chunk of the first ten books is made up of the two of them trying to out-manuever one another. [[spoiler:Senna escapes him in their first three encounters, but comes off worse in their fourth]].

%% * IWantToBeARealMan: David.

%% * JerkassGods: Lots of them.

%% * MugglesDoItBetter: Turns out gunfire can kill quite a few "immortal" things...
%% * MysteriousWaif: Senna.

* BadassGrandpa: Merlin, of course.

* IWantToBeARealMan: David.

* {{Jerkass}}: Senna, increasingly with each book. Keith is even worse, and Senna decides that he's a natural choice for her [[TheDragon chief minion]] as a result.
* JerkassFacade: Christopher. He comes across as a straight up {{Jerkass}}, but is more this trope, which he admits at one point. Sadly, he only starts ''really'' letting down that facade toward the very end of the series.
* JerkassGods: Lots of them.

* LampshadeHanging[=/=]CatchPhrase "Welcome to Everworld" serves as a general-purpose lampshade.

* MugglesDoitBetter: Turns out gunfire can kill quite a few "immortal" things...
* MysteriousWaif: Senna.