Oh hi friends! Today we're bringing you some mini (or, at least, I thought they'd be mini..) reviews for The Arcana Chronicles series as Hollis decided to reread the first few in advance of the big finale.
She could save the world--or destroy it.Sixteen year old Evangeline"Evie" Greene leads a charmed life--until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, killing everyone she loves, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future--and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.
But she can't do either alone.
With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally trust Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?
Who can Evie trust?
As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side...
Title : Poison Princess
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book one)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 369
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date : October 1, 2012
Hollis' 2 star review
Welp, for some reason I thought my first go at this book was a lot more successful than it was so I was kind of sad knowing the drop in rating that was to come. But apparently I wasn't all that sold on book one after all and it's only dipping one star. It was the next two books that I think really had solidified this series for me (I guess? this was before I was reviewing but both got four stars!) -- hopefully that still holds true.
But anyway, wow. This was.. rough. In some ways. Definitely Cole hooks you with the concept; a big apocalyptic event has occurred and things go the usual way, especially with women becoming something of a rare breed due to the events of the end of the world. But it's compounded by the fact that a group of kids have been.. reincarnated isn't the world but imbued with powers aligned with the Major Arcana of the Tarot and as a result the games have begun. There can be only one winner and Death reigns as champion.
Evie, our POV, is the Empress but because she's our POV she naturally knows the least about, well, everything. Her allies, as of the close of book one, are almost mostly unhelpful as they are either keeping things to themselves on purpose or just meant to be vague per plot.
But that isn't the worst of it. I could grit my teeth and bear Matthew's vagueries. But Jack, Jackson, Cajun-boy.. oh my god. I don't remember if I enjoyed him the first time around but I literally want to murder him. He made getting through this book such a slog; he is the worst kind of love interest. Mash up all your least favourite characteristics and cram him into an eighteen year old body and voila, The Worst
. But what really makes it The Worst is we, and Evie, get toyed with his soft side, his protective nature, just enough to tempt us into believing oh maybe he's a viable option, maybe he's okay, and then he trips and falls into assholery and it all starts up again. I think maybe that's why I rated the next book higher, I think we get less Jack time. And honestly, I can't wait.
I'm also looking forward to getting further into the plot because book one is mostly trekking out into the unknown and dealing with the breakdown of civilization with a few nasty supernatural bits to content with as far as zombie creatures, and instead I want more of the various players and the history and, obviously, the big showdown. As Shania Twain says, let's go, girls!
In this second book thrilling book of The Arcana Chronicles from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole, Evie struggles to accept her place in the prophecy that will either save the world—or destroy it.
Evie has fully come into her powers as the tarot Empress, and Jack was there to see it all. As one of twenty-two teens given powers following the apocalypse, she now knows a war is brewing, and it's kill or be killed.
When Evie meets Death, the gorgeous and dangerous Endless Knight, things get even more complicated. Though falling for Jack, she's drawn to Death as well. Somehow the Empress and Death share a romantic history, one that Evie can't remember—but Death can't forget…
Title : Endless Knight
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book two)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 320
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date : October 1, 2013
Hollis' 2.5 star review
You won't be surprised to know I spent a good chunk of the first half of this annoyed. Why? Because Jack didn't disappear from the pages soon enough for me. He lingered like a bad smell.
As if the events of book one weren't scary and unsettling enough, Cole ups the ante by finally having us face the cannibal crew. And they are as nasty as you would imagine. There's also a showdown or two and we get to see that alliances or no, some people are gonna die. And they did. I'll be real happy when Jack's added to that pile.
But finally, finally, we get to the moment where Evie is confronted, and captured, by Death and after some excruciatingly mundane and Ground Hog-esque day scenes (which the character feels, too), we get some backstory. We understand why everything is so personal to Death, that this isn't just another Major Arcana showdown but something more (not to mention some of the differences in the games that came before). And I liked it. Having said that, Death doesn't get off scot free for his own problematic attitude. He's as bad as Jack but in different ways. And it's a little more insidious because he's a far more palatable character, with airs of gentility and restraint. But by the same token, Evie is not really doing herself a lot of favours, either. She was all over the map emotionally and, I hate to say it, even if she claimed she wasn't trying to mess with Death.. she was. And she did. She had finally seemed to turn a corner but then whoops, we need a big conflict of a cliffhanger at the end, so now she's back on her old bullshit. Which I mean, is it Evie or is it author-for-plot-reasons? Kind of the same thing.
I wish these characters had been aged up a bit because all this talk of pairing up and such when characters are spanning fourteen to sixteen just.. doesn't feel right. It would make the whole thing a bit more believable in a New Adult lens, especially for some of the darker content. But Jack behaving the way he did at his age? Everyone else just kind of going along with it, Evie even thinking it's romantic? Not to mention the Death angle? It just kind of beggars belief.
So this wasn't quite the homerun I remembered it being but maybe we'll knock it out of the park in book three.
Heartbreaking decisionsEvie was almost seduced by the life of comfort that Death offered her—until Jack was threatened by two of the most horrific Arcana, the Lovers. She will do anything to save him, even escape Death's uncanny prison, full of beautiful objects, material comforts…and stolen glances from a former love.
Uncertain victory
Despite leaving a part of her heart behind with Death, Evie sets out into a perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland to meet up with her allies and launch an attack on the Lovers. Such formidable enemies require a battle plan, and the only way to kill them may mean Evie, Jack, and Death allying. Evie doesn't know what will prove more impossible: surviving slavers, plague, Bagmen and other Arcana—or convincing Jack and Death to work together.
Two heroes returned
There's a thin line between love and hate, and Evie just doesn't know where she stands with either Jack or Death. Will this unlikely trio be able to defeat The Lovers without killing one another first...?
Title : Dead of Winter
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book three)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 336
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date : January 6, 2015
Hollis' 2.5 star review
Holy drama queens, Batman. And by that I mean, almost everyone.
This book was really just a travel adventure where Evie is trapped with both love interests as they duke it out to earn her love. Because she can't make a decision. And rightly so! It's the end of the world as she knows it, she's sixteen, with little to no romantic experience, and her options are an eighteen year old drunken hypocritical alphamale and an immortal bulldozer who up until recently wanted her dead. So you know, options are limited..
Except, this time, Cole has made them both so absurdly palatable, smoothing away all their rough edges, that it does actually make it hard to choose. And this time it's Evie who is the problem child because she spends three hundred plus pages hemming and hawing over her feelings and it sort've makes you wonder : why in the hell are these guys so hard up? I mean, Death I can kinda figure, but Jack? Nah. Because unfortunately, murdery urges aside, Evie is lacking in personality. She's a classic main character in that sense. Other than being conventionally attractive, she's just a bit of string caught in a breeze, being pulled in one direction or another. Having said that, again, those murdery urges? That's when she get fun.
But speaking of murder, I'm a little bummed the big showdown with this instalment's conflict wasn't more.. intense? Drawn out? I suppose, considering all the travel time, and the time spent on Evie being sorta wooed, there just wasn't space left for it. Though I'm glad some of the word count was devoted to finally closing the door on the player that made the love triangle into a square. Maybe.
Even though the romance was way too central, and often annoying because hello we have bigger things to worry about, this was the easiest read yet. We had some pretty interesting interactions, there was some clever alliance work when folks needed rescuing, and though I absolutely do not endorse certain choices made before the horrible cliffhanger, I completely understand why they were made -- even though, like, seriously, forgiveness was given way too soon. This was also the least Matthew-heavy book and I was glad to have a reprieve from the cryptic jabber and having Evie condescend to him constantly. But yeah, once again, that cliffhanger? Brutal (even if I'm giving it a lot of side-eye and doubt). No wonder I didn't want to continue this series until it was complete. But with that said.. onwards!
Ashes to ashes . . .Evie Greene's story of the Flash is just one of many. All over the world, those connected in some way to the lethal Arcana game—like Death, Jack, and Fortune—must first survive a horrifying night of blood and screams.
We all fall down.
Some will have to grapple with new powers; all will be damned to a hellish new existence of plague, brutality, desolation, and cannibalism. Find out who they lost, why they endure, and what they sacrificed in order to live past Day Zero. . . .
Title : Day Zero
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book 3.5)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 174
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Valkyrie Press
Release Date : August 1, 2016
Hollis' 1.5 star review
From the outside, this looked a lot like potential filler. But I was given some hope in the promise of finding out what the day one (or, rather, day zero) of the apocalypse would be like for the characters we knew, but also the characters we hadn't yet met -- with an added bonus of, well, basically flipping through pseudo-character cards to finds out info about said characters.
Except, well.. it was filler; for me, at lest. And it wasn't interesting; not to me, at least. I'm frustrated that a few days' break from this world, and trying something a little different within that world, didn't spark any excitement. So I may drag my heels for a few more days before jumping back in. Even though for you.. well. You won't even notice!
When the battle is done . . .The Emperor unleashes hell and annihilates an army, jeopardizing the future of mankind--but Circe strikes back. The epic clash between them devastates the Arcana world and nearly kills Evie, separating her from her allies.
And all hope is lost . . .
With Aric missing and no sign that Jack and Selena escaped Richter's reach, Evie turns more and more to the darkness lurking inside her. Two Arcana emerge as game changers: one who could be her salvation, the other her worst nightmare.
Vengeance becomes everything.
To take on Richter, Evie must reunite with Death and mend their broken bond. But as she learns more about her role in the future--and her chilling past--will she become a monster like the Emperor? Or can Evie and her allies rise up from Richter's ashes, stronger than ever before?
Title : Arcana Rising
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book four)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 280
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Valkyrie Press
Release Date : August 15, 2016
Hollis' 3 star review
I didn't expect to be coming in with the highest rating of this series (so far) right after the lowest rated of this series (so far) so that's a fun twist!
Surprising no one, however, the big cliffhanger at the end of book three is revealed to be, well, not as devastating as imagined, making that twist less fun but, again, no less expected. The bonus to that is that bit of plot was very lowkey and by partnering them up with another character's return, another who had historically annoyed me, I was happy to have the reduced page time for them both. Except the little bit we saw of the second character was so far removed from who they had been before and with everything we learned about them.. I am intrigued.
Basically, this book pissed me off the least because everyone who annoyed me was basically an afterthought. Except Evie. There was no escaping her, as she's the main character, and boy was she a pain in this one. Riiight up until the end when she got a little interesting; but it's more just that I'm interested in the ramifications of what might have been happening to her. Everything else, the exhausting weird repetition of her buried guilt, the weird contradictoriness of her feelings towards a love interest, it was all just tedious.
The more I write this review the more I question the three stars but honestly it did give me that kind of feeling! Plot-wise, I was interested. We saw some new faces and I liked them. We have some intrigue. We had some real consequences to all the big end-of-the-world stakes. And we finally closed a loop on a few bits that had been dragged through the previous books. Plus, the end is in sight.
In a world teetering on the edge . . .When Evie receives life-changing—and possibly game-changing—news, she has trouble believing it. Why doesn't she feel any different? Is it possible someone she trusts might be
lying?
With enemies at every turn . . .
Tensions seethe inside the castle of lost time as Evie starts to doubt her own sanity. Answers can be found outside their stronghold, but will Death help her find them—or prevent her from learning the truth about her future and Jack's possible survival?
Darkness beckons.
A mysterious, sinister power begins to affect the Arcana in its path. Forced out into the wasteland alone, Evie must depend on unexpected allies. But as a battle with Richter looms, can her new alliance defeat the Dark Calling before hell reigns on earth?
Title : The Dark Calling
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book five)
Format : eBook
Page Count : 318
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Valkyrie Press
Release Date : February 13, 2018
Hollis' 2 star review
So much for those good vibes from book four!
Unfortunately what I thought was being set-up with Evie was, in fact, not the thing being set-up with Evie. And instead there's a reveal that basically has us right back to square one-ish both with the interpersonal dynamics but also some romance dynamics. Which was all incredibly annoying. Especially considering how this book wrapped and like.. honestly, what was the point. The tiniest bit of non-closure closure but wow it was not worth it.
Having said that, the twist with the Chariot? That blew my mind a little. That was another thing I had no ability to predict but truthfully it was masterful. Well played.
And we finally got to see some Minor Arcana in the mix! That was kind of fun. I had a hard time picturing the whole ships thing but if it's even half of what I conjured up in my mind? Pretty cool. Plus, it was nice to get that little bit of extra worldbuilding into play.. yes, even in the second to last book there's still more being added and tossed around. Wild.
Sadly, Evie just continues to disappoint as a character. Not only did she spend most of the book -- and will likely spend most of the next -- complaining about something that was out of another person's control, something she herself has experienced, and blaming them for it, she's also a walking question mark; both in regards to her feelings, what she wants, and just in general. She's like a three year old, lobbing questions at everyone in her general vicinity as if they are her own personal google, and it bothers me every book, but I guess this is the first time it's tipped me over the edge to complain. In summation, she sucks.
So here we are, right before the end, and I have no idea what's going to happen. My investment is hella low. But I am hoping, even if I can't love it (and honestly, who is even expecting that at this stage), that Cole surprises the hell out of me in at least one way. Guess we'll see!
When even the gods hold their breath . . . To defeat the Emperor and Fortune, Evie, the great Empress of Arcana, must repair her bond with Death, despite the earth-shattering developments between them.
And danger lurks in every shadow . . .
Their allies—a sea witch, a band of roving warriors, and more than a couple of rogues—overcome terrifying obstacles to help them. But when Jack makes a shocking discovery, the fallout threatens to tear their alliance apart.
One girl could deliver salvation—or doom.
If the Empress and her friends can remain united, will their powers be enough to defeat a catastrophic curse on the world, or will hellfire reign forever? The end looms for us all until the best hand wins. . . .
Title : From The Grave
Author : Kresley Cole
Series : The Arcana Chronicles (book six)
Format : eBook
Page Count :
Genre : YA paranormal romance / dystopian
Publisher : Valkyrie Press
Release Date : April 18, 2023
Hollis' 1.5 star review
Welp, it's over. That's the important thing.
Listen, I don't know what I was expecting (I think, in fact, I had no expectations as I had no predictions) but it wasn't this. Mainly because this was incredibly underwhelming.
So much of this just felt like waiting. Time passing, rehashing conversations and worries, blah blah. Obviously events do occur, though nothing surprising; we get a few deaths, only one of which hurt a tiny bit. And then.. well, the end.
Except the end takes a very long time. And as happy as I'm sure it makes a lot of actually invested readers, it was a yawn for me. And I'm sorry but you can't actually expect me to believe those were age-appropriate behaviours after all that. Not believable. But then again I felt that to be true from book one in the opposite sense, too. So clearly it's just a Cole thing.
As for whether or not the game ends, and what it means for them all, all that, I won't hint at anything. Except to say someone redeemed themselves for me, and I thought it was well played, but for the end-end? I don't know why because in theory I'm on board but it just feels like a cop-out. Again, underwhelming. But we made it. It's over. And I never have to think about this series, or these characters, ever again.
Is this a series you've come across before or is this the first you're hearing of it? Have I convinced you that you need to run far far away or are you interested despite the car crash that was this experience? Would love to know!
And as always thank you for clicking in and reading; especially for this one which wasn't just a lengthy but also contained semi-lengthy reviews.
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