Eternal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #1)

by Larissa Ione

[kimbacaffeinate]

Caffeinated Aspect:

• I love Ione’s interpretation of the Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse. The Four Horseman consists of three brothers and their sister. We learn of their history and it was fascinating. Reseph- the Horseman Pestilence has had his seal broken, and disease is spreading throughout the world. The next seal to break will be Ares (War), and together the remaining siblings must stop the Apocalypse and find a way to save Reseph. Limos, is slated to become the bride of Satan and Thanatos will become Death.

• This story belongs to Ares, who represents War and Cara a human healer. I found Ares to be strong, and full of anger (and rightly so). Ares is very rough around the edges, and at times he behaved like a Neanderthal. He does have redeeming qualities, and we slowly come to learn them. Cara is one tough cookie, and boy is she stubborn. I enjoyed their interactions and bickering. Which I found to be hilarious at times like a mouse talking back to a lion.

• The characters especially the Horseman are complex, and their histories are rich. I am eager to get to know each of them.

• This is a dark fantasy that is intense with one action scene after another. Ione brought the world to life and did a great job of fleshing out the four horsemen and side characters.

• The romance is hot and err savage. This is War after all; you didn’t expect he would be cuddly did you? So it was hot, primal and intense. Ione still managed to make me see Ares tender side, and I was rooting for this couple.

• Ares is torn between stopping the seal from being open, and his feelings for Cara and the tension was addictive.

• Hellhounds, Demons, Angels, and humans working together, betrayal, back-stabbing, and quests for needed artifacts. I loved all of these aspects and Ione brought me a panoramic view.

Decaffeinated Aspects:

• While this is the first of the Deliverance series, it is a spinoff of the Demonica series. Eternal Rider is a dark paranormal that has elements of high fantasy from its world building to its multitude of characters. Some readers may be better severed to read the Demonica series first.

• Ione did an excellent job of explaining the world, the history and prophecy, and I liked her interpretations of Revelations. This is not a one sitting read, plan to spend a little time with this book as you will need to digest and process information.

• I am very curious about the angel Reaver and want to know more.

• There were a few editing errors but with a plot this complex I immediately noticed. I found the need to double check mentions in previous chapters regarding the seal to be sure I hadn’t misunderstood.

• There is violence, death, and abuse.

Eternal Rider was a captivating and intense tale, and I am looking forward to continuing the Lord of Deliverance series. The next books are as follows: Immortal Rider, Lethal Rider, Rogue Rider and Reaver. Revenant is due to release November 2014. There are also a few novellas in this series.