Silver Knight

by Caron Rider

[kimbacaffeinate]

rating 3.5 Silver Knight by Caron Rider, is the first novel in what looks to be an exciting young-adult series, that blends paranormal and mystery. It delves into reincarnation, demons and warriors. The story started out rough for me but, ended up being an engaging tale. It had elements of mythology, religion, history and romance.

The protagonist seventeen year old Diana, suffers from nightmares. In them she experiences her death over and over. They are all violent deaths, and each gives her a little more detail. She also dreams of a man whom she loves, but who repeatedly murders her. His name is Alexander. He is handsome and she can tell he feels betrayed. Despite killing her she senses that he loves her. The beginning of the book dealt with school, friends and a book club. I got nervous that this wasn’t something I was going to enjoy, but all of that quickly changed. While her parents are away on a cruise her BFF’s come over to stay, and when they watch a YouTube video, she recognizes the man in the video. He is asking for warriors of the light to contact him. Suddenly Diana realizes that her dreams are real. She contacts this man, and the next thing you know, she and her friends are booking tickets to Rome. Diana feels the need to go to New York first. The feeling is strong and she chooses to follow it. The tale that unfolds is captivating, as we are swept from NY to the Catacombs of Rome. Along the way we time travel though history as Diana and the warriors we meet remember past experiences.

I connected the characters and the relationship between Alexander and Diana was fascinating. Diana is very clever in this life and in her past lives. I enjoyed the caretaker of the home in New York, and found all the people who ended up there to be unique. I loved reading about Helen’s past lives. I have questions regarding the Bishop in Rome. There are many things I am excited to learn more about in the next novel. I am anxious to see what develops with Alexander and Diana. Their tale felt genuine and I want things to work out for them.

The world-building was fascinating. Rider weaves us back and forth from past to present carefully blending historical events into the warriors time-lines. Some of them made me laugh as I imagined these events involving warriors. Rider was clever in her re-tellings of these events. I felt some of the conversations; situations etc were slightly awkward, but not enough to dissuade me from continuing the series. A lot of the novel dealt with world-building, the warriors and reincarnation. I am excited to see where Rider takes this. The plot possibilities are endless.