Book Review of Eternal Rider by Larissa Ione

Title: Eternal Rider

Author: Larissa Ione

Release Date: March 29th, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

His name is Ares, and the fate of mankind rests on his powerful shoulders. If he falls to the forces of evil, the world falls too. As one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he is far stronger than any mortal, but even he cannot fight his destiny forever. Not when his own brother plots against him.

Yet there is one last hope. Gifted in a way other humans can’t-or won’t-understand, Cara Thornhart is the key to both this Horseman’s safety and his doom. But involving Cara will prove treacherous, even beyond the maddening, dangerous desire that seizes them the moment they meet. For staving off eternal darkness could have a staggering cost: Cara’s life.

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: Eternal Rider is the first book in a new series from Larissa Ione that focuses on the lives of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  The four horsemen, who are also siblings, lead their lives and pretty much leave others alone.  They have no desire to start the end of the world and actually go out of their way to avoid doing so.  They all have “seals”  that basically hold their evil side at bay and when broken all hell with literally break loose on Earth.  Each seal has a different trigger and when certain events break the first horseman’s seal, the others are scrambling to protect their own and save their brother who’s evil side has taken over.

This is a good time to mention that the events that trigger the first horseman’s fall happen in Larissa’s Demonica series.  The events start in Ecstasy Unveiled and spill over into Sin Undone.  Do you have to read that series to understand what is going on in Eternal Rider?  No.  Is it going to help you out while you read this book?  Yes.  I say this because almost all the previous characters from the Demonica series appear in this book a couple of times and having read that series it was nice to get an update on their lives.  That being said though, Larrissa does a nice job of explaining enough about those characters in this book so you are not left in the dark, but knowing their full back story made me appreciate thir appearances more.

Eternal Rider focuses on the story of Ares and yes, the Greek God was named after this guy, so cool right?  Anyways, Ares is also know as the horseman War.  Whenever there is a war going on he is drawn to the violence and because he is War he also fuels the fire whenever he is around them, so it is like a double edged sword.  His seal can be broken by killing the one who bears something called the agimortus mark.  The person bearing this mark is usually a falling angel because any being less than that would burn out and die from bearing the burden of the mark.  The angel bearing Ares’ mark is killed, but not before he transfers it to a human woman named Cara.  An innocent bystander, who is now sucked into the Ares world and leaves him forced to protect her.  She does not come fully unprepared though, because she has a gift, the ability to heal animals with her touch.  She used this just before meeting Ares and inadvertently cured a Hellhound who was so grateful he bonded with her.  By doing that their life forces are bound together and they need one another in order to survive.

Ares is a man who always wins and never takes orders from anyone, so when Cara finally stands up to him and doesn’t take any of his crap, he is completely thrown off.  His life has been a string of sad, horrifying events that have left him jaded and harsh.  Cara begins to breath new life into his world and together they learn that not everything and everyone in your life is going to let you down.

Overall I really enjoyed this start to this series and getting to know a whole new mythology and cast of characters.  The Four Horseman is a concept I have not seen explored before and getting a chance to was really exciting!  I am not sure how many books are in the series total, but I am going to guess it is four since that is how many Horseman their are.  I know the next book comes out later this year and focuses on the only female horseman of the group who is also meant to be Satan’s bride.  Yeah, wouldn’t that suck?  I am hoping she manages to get out of it, but we will have to wait and see.  If you are a fan of Larrisa’s previous paranormal books then you should definitely check Eternal Rider out!

FTC:  I received this ARC from the publisher.

4 Responses to Book Review of Eternal Rider by Larissa Ione

  1. Great review, sounds interesting. I have yet to read any of her books but I will definitely consider it on your recommendation! :)

  2. I love Larissa’s take on the paranormal, actually her books are the first ones that I actually loved Demons in. I have Eternal Rider and can’t wait to dig into it.

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