Sunday, May 29, 2016

Riders

Title: Riders
Author: Veronica Rossi
Series: Riders, Book 1
Number of Pages: 362
Date Read: 5/29/16 
Genre: Paranormal, Supernatural, Fantasy, Mythology 


Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com):

Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

My Review: 

So overall I like this book but I did have some problems with it. 

The book is about the main character Gideon becoming one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. He had a near death experience or actually dies and was brought back to life (that's still not clear), and when he wakes up he has these powers/abilities and a cuff around his wrist that can't come off. He gets entangled with a girl name Daryn, who calls herself a seeker. He becomes a horseman because some demons known as the kindred are looking for a key and the four horsemen are being called to protect it. The book is mainly about finding the rest of the horsemen, learning their powers and fighting the kindred. 

I didn't really like the way the story was told. It's told through interrogation. The book opens with Gideon strapped to a chair being interrogated by an officer to tell his story. One of the big battles in the book has already happened and the book is mainly Gideon recalling everything that happened (except the last few chapters that finally catch up to the present). While the story was good I wasn't a fan the story being told through memories with parts of the present cutting in when the officer wanted to ask him questions. For me that disrupted the flow of the story.

The characters were ok but my favorite was Bas (Sebastian), who wasn't even the main character. Bas was funny, had the best intentions and was always helpful. He was the sweetest guy and the most fun to be around. He had already mastered some of his abilities by the time Gideon found him. He was not one to fight though but did when it was necessary. I really liked him. I would gladly read a book just about him or where he is the main character which I hope Rossi does. 

Gideon is the main character. He was alright. I think I grew to like him as the story went on. He was in the army before his accident so its appropriate that he becomes war. I though he was very pushy at times and felt like he needed to lighten up. He had a lot of rage and anger inside him which made him unstable at times. Gideon did have a good heart and was trying to understand the mission and help. He just got too angry sometimes. He was a soldier so everything with him was about intel, control, the mission and training. He was very strategic and wanted to protect Daryn at all costs. I liked that he took the mission seriously.

Jode is one of the other horsemen and he's kind of forgettable. He come in late in the book and while I did like him well enough he didn't have much part in the book except in the battles. Marcus is the last horseman and I didn't like him at first. He had a bad attitude, always wanted to fight and was hostile. Actually the whole hostility between Marcus and Gideon was getting so old for the amount of time it lasted. They were at each other throats and always wanted to fight. It was annoying. But once the horsemen decided to work as a team and both Gideon and Marcus stopped acting like asses I liked them more. 

I really didn't like Daryn. She was just ehh. She is the seeker whose job is to get the horsemen together. She is very secretive and keeps information from the guys throughout the whole book. She wants them to do their "job" but doesn't want to give them any information about it. She also leads Gideon on with wanting him but then saying she can't be with him but then doing things like hug him and hold his hand. WTF man, pick something already. Either yes or no to him. I just didn't liker her or really see a reason for her to be there. She was always arguing with Gideon and didn't really contribute anything except for the locations of the other horsemen. 

I enjoyed the mythology behind the horsemen with their weapons, abilities and their horses. They weapons were awesome and I loved seeing them train with them. Personally I would of wanted the bow and arrow for my weapon. They're abilities on how they can affect people was awesome too. Individually they were ok but used together they were awesome. I absolutely loved the horses. Each horse was different and manifested different, had different personalities and abilities. My favorite was Gideon's fire horse. That horse had a bad attitude in the beginning and I could totally see him as a warhorse. 

The demons in this book were interesting as well. They're abilities were awesome and their true forms were so nasty and gross. The leader was Samrael and he had a nasty power that could take down any horseman. Personally, I think he was the strongest being in the book, way stronger than any of the other demons and the horsemen. He was also pure evil and was good at it. 

This book did have some action in it in the form big of battles but they happened at the end of the book which was kind of a long time to wait but oh well. 

The ending killed me and it ensured that I will read the second book in the series to find out what happens. I hate cliffhangers. 


Rating: B+

No comments:

Post a Comment