Books of Love

Title: Endless Knight
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
Series: The Arcana Chronicles #2
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pub Date: October 1st, 2013
Pages: 320
My Copy: E-book via Author’s Publicist, Brooke-Thanks so much….

Book Summary:

In the second book of the Arcana Chronicles, Evie has now fully come into her powers as the tarot, Empress. And Jackson was there to see it all. In the aftermath of killing Arthur, the tarot Alchemist, Evie realizes that a war is brewing between the other teens that, following the apocalypse, have been given powers and its kill or be killed.

Things get even more complicated when Evie meets Death, the mysterious, sexy Endless Knight. Somehow the Empress and Death share a romantic history-one that Evie can’t remember, but Death can’t forget. She is drawn to the Endless Knight, but is in love with Jack. Determined to discover why she’s been granted these powers. Evie struggles to accept her place in a prophecy that will either save the world or completely destroy it.

Book Review:

I found myself totally addicted to this book from start to finish. Dark, engrossing, lots of action and twists that just kept me wanting more and more. Some new characters that shake things up for our characters. Everything about this world that Kresley Cole has built in the Arcana chronicles becomes even more intense and relationships are really changing faster than you could even imagine.

Now I really loved everything about this dark world. We start off with a lot of action since Evie killed the Alchemist. What happens next is something that none of our teenagers are really equipped to deal with but have to deal with a horde of Bagmen coming their way. So they do what they do best, try to run but can’t because some of them have drained their powers. This shows to me that our characters are vulnerable and not always going to be able to rely on their powers to get them out of jams, but sometimes have to use their brains They do manage to avoid them, but a whole lot of other things happen in this book that just are mind boggling.

The fact that Death can communicate with Evie telepathically really was interesting as he wants her for himself. We don’t really understand Death’s obsession with Evie until much later, but he was so annoying when we get our first glimpses of him. there is a very racy scene with Jackson and Evie, but it was actually a very necessary progression of their relationship as things happened. Jackson and Evie talk and it’s one of those talks where surprise the guy actually admits that he’s a pig headed jerk actually and his feelings for Evie run deeper than he can admit it. Evie admits that she was hurt and I think this shows a growth of maturity on both of their characters. Things are not always easy in a relationship and sometimes things get in the way. Plus in the world that they live in anything can happen.

There is a scene with the cannibals that will never have me look at lasagna again in the same way. When our group of Arcana’s are captured by the cannibals, they find themselves to say the least in grave peril, but the leader of the cannibals is an Arcana himself, but very insane. This part of the book made me a little uncomfortable as the scenes and descriptions of what the cannibals do to living human beings was very graphic and disturbing. Yet Evie turns the table on the leader and things go crazy.

Introducing Lark and Death was interesting as these are two characters who have their own agendas and seem to at first only care about themselves. Lark and Death are huge characters who shake things up in a lot of different ways. I really found myself to like Lark, because she comes across as someone who tries to help, only to be helping Death get his hands on Evie. Lark’s abilities to use animals is a huge asset to the group at times. Also Lark tells Evie things that she doesn’t want to hear, but needs to hear.

Death. Oh man. I really found myself to surprisingly like his character. One of the things that Kresley Cole does well is flashbacks and past lives scenes. I mean her descriptions and vividness are on full display as when Evie remembers her past life with Death, aka Aric, that you get a sense of this man and why she is like his kryptonite. We find that Death has pined for his Empress more so than anyone else. I thought that the scenes between Evie and Death were impressively well written. You feel that Death is someone that has loved this woman so much that nothing is ever certain for him. He has also in past lives been wounded. Death is a man who wants what he can’t have, love.

Yet as this book moved on, lots of unexpected things happened. I never expected Death and Evie’s relationship to shift to one of attraction or maybe even love for Evie. Plus Evie says she is wrestling with her feelings for both men and I feel like she handled it well. Death didn’t handle it that well.

Plus the cliffhanger ending. ARGGHHHHH… I hate cliffhanger endings so much. I want to read more of this series. Such a dark, but delicious treat of a YA Paranormal.

Rating:

4.5 Hearts