Eternal Rider [Mass Market Paperback]

Eternal Rider is the first book in a new spin off series from the popular Demonica paranormal romance series. It's about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Immortal. Powerful. The fate of the world rests in their hands.

If their seals break, they turn evil. If two fall, the Armageddon will begin--loosing Satan's minons on the world. From the last Demonica book, we saw Pestilence's seal break after Sin started the warg disease. In this book, he's the big bad guy. Ares (aka War) is his primary target. They are both after the "agimortus" who carries Ares' seal--Ares to protect and Pestilence to kill.

Meanwhile, Cara gets called out into the night to heal a dog who is hit by a car and shot. She's human, but with the little known ability to heal animals. Turns out that dog is a Hellhound puppy. He is so happy to be saved, he gives her 'Hell's Kiss'--tying their life forces together and pulling her into the supernatural world. Ares meets her while hot on the trail after the fallen angel who carries his seal. But when the fallen angel passes his seal to Cara, Ares takes her back to his home to protect her. Humans are not strong enough to carry a seal, but due to Hell's Kiss hopefully Cara will hold out a bit longer to allow time to find another fallen angel to transfer. Of course, Pestilence is killing the fallen angels or sending them back to Sheol. So the race is on....

The first part of the book started a bit slow/choppy (typical of many first books in a series while world building), but then it picked up and the last half was great. High action/suspense with some good twists and turns. The premise of the book was very original--not your typical vampire or shifter PNR. I liked the four horseman theme, and thought it was cool one of the horsemen is actually a gal. And I liked the glimpses we saw of the Demonica characters. The ending was awesome and very original. Ione has a great imagination! Look forward to the next one--Immortal Rider, which is scheduled for release December 2011.

Reading order:
Pleasure Unbound (Demonica, #1)
Desire Unchained (Demonica, #2)
Passion Unleashed (Demonica, #3)
Ecstasy Unveiled (Demonica, #4)
Sin Undone (Demonica, #5)
Eternal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #1)
Immortal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #2) -- December 2011

If you are on the hunt for more books like this, check out my list of paranormal romance favorites...
http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-action-romance-must-reads/lm/R214ESW3HL12HM/ref=tag_lag_rb_munk_lmfull
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The plot of this has been discussed by other reviewers and they give a pretty good background on it. Larissa Ione has the makings of another succesful series(see demonica series)Eternal Rider is the first book in the horseman series. It stars front and center War aka Ares. To prevent the next step in the end of the world he must protect Cara an innocent human who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This was a fast paced novel and despite a few sections of info dump, I absolutely loved the chemistry around War and Cara. It was nice to get some very interactive cameos from the Demonica series characters but they dont take away from the cast that is the main group for the horseman books. Of course Ione also gives us her classic heroine may die as a result but we know she would never do her fans that way. It still adds a nice touch of suspense and adrenaline rush wondering how it will all play out. To wrap it up the novel ends with a great bang and the resolution is a believable yet unique one that had me mentally giving a hooray.

Absolutely worth the buy and build up

**Review contains SPOILERS**

He is a powerful warrior with unmatched skills and if his Seal is broken Ares will become War, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, and bring about the end of humanity. He must now find the only person who has inside them the key to save, or destroy the world. Cara Thornhart had no idea there was a paranormal world until a strange mark appeared on her chest and Ares informed her that her death would have dire consequences. Now containing a power no human can live with inside them, the race is on for Cara and Ares to find a way to transfer what's inside her to another before the life fades out of her, plunging all into a world of evil and darkness.

Each of the Four horseman have their own Seal and agimortus, a trigger that will break the Seal. It can be a person, event or object. In Sin Undone, the last book in Larissa Ione's Demonica series, a Seal was broken and Pestilence was released on to the world. Eternal Rider takes place 6 months later with the fight to keep Pestilence from finding Ares' agimortus and destroying it. For Ares, his agimortus is inside of a fallen angel but when his brother starts killing fallen in order to break the Seal and release War, it is transferred into a human. Cara and Ares' paths were set on the same course the moment she opened her door and took in what appeared to be an injured dog. Thinking she was just helping a hurt animal, Cara uses an ability she has kept hidden in order to heal the animal with her touch. Immediately after, the dog is taken from her and she is saved from Aegis, humans who fight again evil, by Ares. They meet up again later on when Cara follows a dream she had of Hal, the dog she saved, to the U.K. and lands in the middle of a fight between Pestilence, Ares and the fallen who holds Ares' agimortus. Moments from being killed, the fallen transfer the agimortus into Cara and from that point on Ares and his siblings try to find another fallen to take the agimortus from Cara before she dies.

Cara is rightfully scared out of her mind at first because of everything that is going on. Horseman? Demons? Dogs that are really Hellhounds? Apocalypse? None of this was real to her before now and to make things more difficult for her, she has a ticking time bomb inside of her. None of this is made easier by the hostility that Ares shows towards her. The timid, scared girl finally snaps when she recognizes her importance and refuses to be pushed around by Ares anymore. She will no longer allow Ares' to move her around as he pleases and will have her opinion be heard. I had a hard time warming up to Cara until she finally found her backbone. She started to stand up for herself against Ares and refuses to be left out. You have to love a character who talk backs to an almost seven foot immortal that kills on a regular basis.

Ares' has a problem with Cara for reasons that are not her fault. He lived as a mortal thousands of years ago and his family was killed so he looks at mortals as being weak. She also makes Ares care and crave her, something that his mortal father taught him was also weakness. Often by abusing him. The very intimidating Ares is callous towards Cara in the beginning but grows to care for her. He holds back his intense lust for her, but the newer stronger Cara will have none of that. I thought these two worked together because they didn't click perfectly right from the start. They fought, made each other angry but they also made the other care in ways neither of them has before. They've both faced tragedy in the past and together they are able to heal old wounds, move on and fight together.

What I really liked about the Horsemen in this book was that they are not automatically evil. They each have a chance to fight for good but once their Seal is broken, they are forever turned evil. Pestilence wants to find a way to break his siblings' Seals and start the Apocalypse. Ares along with his brother Thanatos and sister Limos start working with the Aegis in order to stop Pestilence from his mission and also try to find Deliverance, the only weapon capable of killing a Horseman. Each of the Horsemen, and woman, have their own distinct personality and I can't wait to find out more about each of them. It was great to see familiar characters from the Demonica series. Kynan, Arik and Reaver are just a few faces I was glad to see again. They play the biggest roles in this new series so far and Arik will be an even bigger part of the next book.

Eternal Rider starts of a little slow even though there are important things happening right from the beginning. This is a spin off of Larissa Ione's Demonica series so I'm already acquainted with the paranormal world she previously created but there are still several new things I was introduced to. Time is spent on the Horseman legend as well as finding out more about the Horsemen themselves and getting a more in depth look into the demon world and its creatures. Some details slowed the pace down but I found it all to be useful and didn't think any page time was wasted. What I loved most about Eternal Rider was that Larissa brought everything that was great from her Demonica books into this one while giving the book its own identity. The story is dark, the romance is enticing and at times heart breaking and the characters are complex. Paranormal romance fans need to add this to their 'to buy' list.

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