WARNING: The 2nd half of this review DOES contain SPOILERS!
I loved this book! So much better than the first book. So much action happens right from the beginning, which is great. The 2nd half of the book slows down a bit (in terms of action scenes) but we learn a lot more about Death in the 2nd half and his relationship with Evie and secrets are revealed and things just get a lot more complicated. I loved learning more about the new characters (even though I don’t always like the new characters). The new characters, Death especially, evokes so many emotions. Most of the time I hated them, but at times I felt sorry for them and at times they really annoy me. I love that the characters were so complex, the good guys weren't just good and the bad guys weren't all bad. There's such an internal conflict within all of the characters and it's interesting to see how each of them deals with it. The author is really great at character development in these series. There were also some things that I didn’t like or didn’t understand but overall I really enjoyed this book. There were also a couple of unexpected surprises in the book that I liked as well. This book also introduces a love triangle to the mix, which I usually hate love triangles but it kind of works for this series (even though I don’t like either of the love interests). There’s also a cliffhanger at the end of this book that leaves you desperately wanting to find out what’s going to happen next. Overall I’d give this book a 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait for the next book to come so I can find out what happens next.


**SPOILERS!!!**

So many thoughts went through my head reading this book I don’t even know where to start. First thing I don’t get is Evie’s powers. She’s connected to plants and can control them and when everyone was talking about each Arcana’s weaknesses, Selena started talking about Evie’s weaknesses and said “when there are no plants around to feed her energy, she taps out quickly, even more so if she has to use her blood to revive or create plants. She needs the sun. Her power is collaborative—some cards are more dependent on the environment than others.” A couple of pages before that Matthew is telling her why the rain is bad, he says “sunny and green? You annihilate. Now? Powers. Stop. Start. Fits. A plant with no sun is weak. Already you feel it.” Plants need more than sunlight to grow, they need water as well. Plants are just as dependent on rain as they are on the sun, so why doesn’t her powers work when it’s raining? This doesn’t make sense. Her powers should be just as strong when it’s raining as it is when it’s sunny.

Another thing, if these kids have super powers and they have to fight each other to the death and they’re constantly talking about how to kill Death, then why are they afraid of cannibals? Yes, cannibals are ruthless and they eat people but they are human, they don’t have any super powers so why are the Arcana so afraid of them?

Though the plot was predictable at times, there were some twists thrown in now and then that I didn’t expect. I love unexpected twists. I didn’t expect Brandon, Evie’s ex-boyfriend that died in the flash, to turn out to be Jack’s half brother. No wonder Jack was so jealous of him. I also didn’t expect that Jack killed Evie’s mom. I understand why he did it, but I still can’t believe he actually killed her. I knew from the start Evie and Death/Aric had some kind of romantic history where they were a couple in a previous life but I didn’t expect them to be married. I also knew Evie had betrayed Aric but was surprised to find out she’d done it twice and both times on their “wedding night”.

Also, this is a small thing, but what is up with Lark calling Jack a “muggle”? Did we suddenly transport into the world of Harry Potter? I think non arcana should have a term more unique to this story instead of copying Harry Potter, though I love HP, I think this series could come up with it’s own terms for non arcana.

On to the characters, let’s start with Death/Aric. I initially hated Aric. He was the villain for the entire first book and most of the 2nd book as well. He was cold and very abusive to Evie, at times I kept thinking why is she falling for him? He’s so abusive. Then when I found out about their past relationship, their marriage and her betrayal, I started to feel sorry for him. I was beginning to understand why he was so abusive to her and always threatened to kill her (I probably would have done the same if I was him). But then when Evie has a dream about their wedding night, in one part of the dream her former self says “he never asked for my hand, merely informed me that I was to marry him, that we would bow out of the game.” Which means he was controlling and abusive even before they were married and she betrayed him and at the end of the book you can see his controlling and abusive side again when he tries to coerce Evie to be his wife in order to help save Jack’s life. So I still don’t like Aric as a love interest for Evie. He’s an interesting character and he’s very complex, which I like but I would not want him with Evie.

Lark, another Arcana who can control animals, is another character that I had mixed feelings about. Initially I liked her a little but I didn’t completely trust her, then when she betrayed Evie and the others, I really hated her. But as the book went on, she began to grow on me and I found myself hating her less and less, and then at the end when she helped Evie with Ogen, then I trusted her again.

Finn is also growing on me, though he’s still hitting on every girl he meets, including Lark. He makes a couple of funny comments in the book, at one point when Jack and Evie go to be alone Finn says “checking perimeters? Is that what the Louisiana kids are calling it these days? Hey, Lark, can I check your perimeter?” In another scene he tells Lark, “I’m hooked on you like phonics.” They’re lame, cheesy lines but they’re so funny and so like Finn’s character.

Evie did annoy me a little bit in the beginning of the book when she was with Jack because she was constantly thinking about him instead of trying to come up with a plan of how to defeat Death. Another thing I like about Evie’s character is the conflict you see within her. She was born to be this tough, cold killer, just like death but because she wasn’t raised knowing about Arcana and the games she has this goodness in her, an innocence that she’s fighting to keep but there’s also a darkness that rages in her that she tries to control but can’t always completely control it. It’s really interesting seeing that struggle within her and it will be interesting to see which side comes out in the next book since in this one it ends with “as Death led me to his bed, to the promise of pleasure, I felt the rising heat of desire---and of….Battle.” Will she betray Aric yet again? It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Jack was also starting to grow on me a little. I still don’t completely like him but in this book he is a lot less aggressive and violent yet he’s still constantly thinking of sleeping with Evie.
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So shocked about everything I've become inarticulate. I NEED THE NEXT BOOK O.O ( )

Endless Knight
The Arcana Chronicles #2
By Kresley Cole

This is the best series I have read in a long time. It keeps me on edge and guessing at all times.
In the last book, the Flash happened…something akin to a solar flare that turned every living thing in its path to ash. Evie lost everyone she knew except Jackson Deveaux who is has turned out to be a very capable protector.

Before the Flash, Evie had nightmares, visions and even people talking to her in her head. She thought she was going crazy but now she knows they were all warnings about the Flash and to help her with the game. Yes, the game. She learned…through a boy named Matthew who talks to her in her head…that she is part of a sick and terrifying game that pits teenager against teenager against each other. Each teen or young adult is one of the 22 Major Arcana from a Tarot deck. Evie is The Empress. Each Arcana has powers and Evie finally came into hers at the end of the last book. This game has apparently been going on for thousands of years, the characters being reincarnated again and again. At the end, only one can live.

Evie doesn’t want to play the game but has to since other players will be coming after her. At the end of the last book, she killed one of them and Jack saw it. She had been keeping it a secret from him but now he knows.

Already, two of the Arcana have allied with Evie. Apparently, in previous games, the Empress and Death have always been the last two players so everyone will either align with one of them or go after the two of them. Selena is the Archer and has aligned with Evie even though neither of them trust the other and Selena is hot for Jackson. Matthew is the Fool. He tells Evie that they’ve always been the best of friends. He sees the past, future and present. He’s autistic and the information he gives is sometimes in riddles or doesn’t seem helpful but what he says always comes true. He has also aligned with Evie.

In this book, Evie is on still on her way to see her grandmother, if she is still alive, so she can tell her how to end the game without having to kill everyone. She has to travel through dangerous territory where cannibals and bagmen live. Bagmen are zombie-like creatures who used to be human but the Flash morphed them into something else. They are super strong and attack people for their blood. They are constantly thirsty and will suck up any water source but prefer blood. Their bite is infectious so more and more humans are turning into bagmen. The cannibals are being led by some crazy person who could be one of the Arcana.


There are spoilers below. I’m going to try not to spoil the end of the book but there was a lot that happened in this book and this was a major part of it.

She gets abducted by Death who she believes is going to kill her. He takes her to his mansion where he is living in luxury while the rest of the world is struggling. She learns that she and Death have a long history. Death has won at least the last two games and is thousands of years old. The winner gets immortality. Death’s touch is fatal to anyone except for Evie which he learned in one of the previous games. He went to kill her by touching her but she didn’t die so he abducted her. I guess he was so desperate to be able to touch someone, he didn’t care if she was his enemy. And apparently, Evie was not a nice person in previous lives. She pretended she liked Death and then tried to kill him and he fell for it twice. Death still seems to be holding on to some kind of feelings for her. He actually is a decent guy. Evie starts to have feelings for him.

Even though I felt bad for Death because Evie is the only one he can touch, my heart was breaking for Jackson. I like Jackson and Evie together even though both of them make things difficult on themselves because of their pride and insecurities. While I was reading, I was wondering if this is going to be the start of a long drawn-out love triangle. I certainly hope not. Either you love one or the other. I was just hoping Evie didn’t choose Death because he can’t have anyone else.



This book introduced many more characters and the game is getting more complicated. There’s the army out there terrorizing everyone still. Evie learns that the Lovers who are a pair of sick and demented twins who like to torture people are part of that army. Their father leads it.

And then there are all of the other players out there that have yet to be revealed.

This series is so exciting!

www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

These books are addictive! I just shushed my family repeatedly to finish.

More, please. ( )

teen/adult/"new adult" paranormal romance. This has more sex than your average teen book, so it probably should be reclassed as "adult" or "new adult." But the action scenes are pretty awesome so it is more than just another love triangle. ( )