Review: Larissa Ione - Eternal Rider

Lords of Deliverance:

Book 1:

Eternal Rider: Ares (War) and Cara Thornhart

Summary:

Ares is the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, he represents War. He is drawn to mass scale wars and his mere presence causes humans to erupt into violence. Now he is in the most importance battle of his life, his fate and the fate of the world rests on his and his sibling’s shoulders. Should his seal break he will be the 2^nd of the Horseman to fall to evil and a full scale Apocalypse will ensue. Pestilence the First Horseman of the Apocalypse has already fallen and is determined that his siblings join him in evil. For the past two years Cara has been running from her life, after a terrible mistake her whole life came tumbling down around her, so when she opens the door and a man thrusts a puppy at her she can’t not do something to save it.  Little did she know that the puppy was really a Hellhound and was going to change her life forever in ways she could have never even imagined… After removing the bullet from the puppy and giving it a little extra juice from Cara’s gift the puppy gives her a wet sloppy “kiss” right before a blond man pops in and takes the dog, followed by other men determined to torture her for information she does not have. Finally a HUGE man pops in a saves her, but when Cara wakes in the morning she can’t remember anything from the night before. Ares is frustrated as hell, just when he thought he had the fallen angel Stestial who carries Ares Agimortus or seal in his sites he vanishes with a Hellhound who apparently bonded himself to a human. Now Ares needs Cara and her bond to the Hellhound to locate the Fallen Angel, now if only he can get her help without scaring the bejezus out of her. 

Cara has been having strange dreams about a puppy she named Hal and than a tall gorgeous male shows up at her door claiming he dropped the puppy by last night and has been having the same dream. Cara knows from her connection to Hal that she needs to find him and now, as crazy as it seems. Her strange dreams lead her to England, and while there she sees the oddest things, men fighting on horseback (one of which looks EXACTLY like the man that showed up at her door) and blond man from her dream that was holding Hal. The blond man reached out and touched her which left a scorching red brand on her chest and Cara fears that he transferred something she should have to her. And… She was right. Now Cara has Ares Agimortus which no human should have because it will kill them, but through her bond with the Hellhound Hal, she is better able to tolerate the Agimortus, but it is still killing her. If the Agimortus doesn’t kill her than there is still Pestilence gunning for her. Now Cara is thrown into this strange underworld and has to trust everything to Ares and his siblings, if she doesn’t there is no way she will survive.

Review:

I freak’n LOVED this book! Larissa Ione does it again; you enter this Demonica world and are swept up in the story!  Now I do feel like I didn’t do the beginning of this book justice, I didn’t have much time and was reading a couple of chapters at a time until I had a larger block of time, so I couldn’t full immerse into the beginning but once I had the time I was a goner!  Ares is such an a$$, but in between the just retarded things he says he has moments of poetry towards Cara, which makes those moment all the more special because you know it won’t be long until he’s putting his foot in it again. And when he puts his foot in it, it’s pretty damn funny!  Ares brutal past makes him fight his feelings for Cara, like it’s his own personal war and in a way it is.  He had already watched his human family killed 5000 years ago and he nearly destroyed the world in the aftermath, Ares knows he can’t go through that again, because losing Cara would be losing his very soul, literally.  Cara has been hiding for two years and in the face of death has found herself again.  While dying she learns to live and one thing she learns is she can’t live without Ares, he has become her reason for living, well and if she dies the Apocalypse will directly follow.  Ares is determined to run from her and she is just as determined to have him.  It is a clash of wills of epic proportions. I laughed so hard in this book I cried, several times and I teared up in another place as well (I’m not telling you what happens! Read and find out) I haven’t laughed that hard from a book since one of Kresley Cole’s novels who is known for her humor. Ione gave her a run for her money in this book! You will also get some cameos from the UGH crew. Kynan, Arik and Reaver you see pretty often as they play roles in ending the Apocalypse.  The other two non-evil Horseman, Limos (Famine) and Thanatos (Death) are also quite likeable and you see them often in this first book. I think Thanatos might become my new man, there is just something smexy about him! Maybe it’s the tattoos or maybe it’s that death surrounds him, but despite that he can still care and be on team good. Not that I would kick Ares out of my bed either. J

What I didn’t like: Nothing! I loved it from beginning to end!

Note: If you are new to Larissa Ione’s world and contemplating reading this book, I HIGHLY recommend it, however, you might want to read her Demonica series first. It is not necessary however it will give you some of the back story that would be helpful. If you decide to continue without the Demonica Series read the glossary for terms before you read this novel or you will be somewhat confused.  On the Kindle they are at the very end of the novel, in the paperbacks I think the glossary is in the beginning. And also unless you want to be tortured for the next 8 months don’t read the excerpt for the next novel in the series, because I did and it leaves you with a cliff hanger and now I’m cursing myself for reading it! DAMN you Larissa Ione! I want the next installment NOW! Of all the releases on March 29^th this one was the best one!