Arcana Chronicles (2) - Endless Knight by Kresley Cole
And part 2 of 5: Endless Knight (Chevalier éternel, Der Herr der Finsternis). I read it in English where it contained 320 pages, originally published 2013.
Back again with the Bringer of Doubt, the Master of Illusions, the Fool and her wanna-be boyfriend can be pretty hard… if you’re a) an Arcana card as well and have b) given in to the dark side of your powers and gone all Carrie on someone with your plants. But regaining Jack’s trust and cementing the alliance to end the game isn’t Evie’s main problem: It’s Death. Because she simply can’t outrun the Endless Knight, and he is keen on paying her back for everything she ever did to him – but what did actually happen? And why is she drawn to the man with the touch of death?
I LOVED that book!
Okay, first of all a confession. In the middle of a chapter, I stopped, closed the book, sat down and made a table with all the information I had on the cards – appearance, Arcana calls, powers. And then I read on.
Yeah, I know I’m a freak.
But seriously, this world, this book is so damn complex, gorgeous and fascinating!
I love the magician, he’s something for sure – and I like Lark as well, she’s far more than you’d think. I like how the two of them meet, this “Infinity” thing… And I like Lark’s familiars, especially the one that follows Evie around like a lapdog.
Apropos Evie.
That girl really made herself. I love how she struggles with her past incarnations, her powers, and, most of all, Jack. He’s right, the two of them are better off when they don’t talk. But what kind of relationship works that way? Hey, whenever I open my mouth I hurt you and vice versa. Let’s have sex!
Right. Totally what I’d love to have.
But Jack’s fascinating as well.
I don’t think he’s human any longer. First of all, there are all these hints about how good he is at determining what the people around him think (except for Evie). Second, he’s a damn good survivalist. What if he’s a card? The Emperor, for example? Or the Hanged Man? That’d be kinda cool. I love the bathtub scene, by the way, how Evie doesn’t let herself be bullied and where he’s open, for once. Even though she’s right: Every time he wants something from her, he takes it without asking. Not nice.
To the rest of the cards.
I like how Selena turns out and I’m kinda sorry for her. She’s into Jack, but he ignores her. And now Finn doesn’t care, either!
The Hierophant is creepy as hell, I was glad when he was finally gone.
Tess is fascinating, with her powers. “The world wasn’t built in one day” – that’s such a sweet scene!
But I don’t trust Matthew anymore. Really. He’s… I think that he plays with the “Little brother” image, I think he’s far more intelligent and capable of living than he lets on. And He keeps far too many secrets…
As for Ogen. He’s something as well, as are Jules and Gabriel – I’m especially sorry for Jules, how he lost Callie… well.
Now to the most fascinating characters of this entire series:
Aric.
He’s so damn awesome.
Sure, he tortured Evie in nearly every possible way. That’s not exactly nice. But This character is so layered, so damn fascinating! First of all, I’m sorry for him, for his past.
Spoiler:
Living over 2000 years and the only person you can touch is the Empress? And every time he trusts her, and she pays him back with an attempt to kill him on their wedding night. Seriously?! I’d be pissed, too, and after their last encounter, I wouldn’t trust Evie as well. No wonder he’s more than careful, no wonder he’s cruel. He saw how ruthless she was, a seductress and an actress, playing at feelings and surrender, at pain: Only to come back to torture him in every way possible. That doesn’t mean it’s okay what he did. But in this game, after this history? I get it.
What I don’t get is their… well, what he demanded of her in the end. I was so disappointed in him, that he’d do that! That’s terrible!
I was in the unfortunate situation that I was taken with two characters at the same time and couldn’t decide who was better for the girl.
Aric has tortured her and tried to own her.
Jack has kept really important stuff from her, lied to her, and tried to own her himself – only in another way.
But I think I like Aric better, Evie can at least talk to him. And his opinions and reactions are fascinating – as is the way Evie tries to get to him. Yes, she did wet-t-shirt him. So awesome, this scene!
And I love how she begins to see the good in him, how she begins to see his intelligence and all of that. At least she can see the good in him – she had her problems doing that with Jack.
Now. I could go on and on about this book, at least for an additional two pages. But I cut it short.
The ideas were original and fascinating and you basically can’t sleep until you finish it. And after, because there are still horror elements in it. The characters were awesome-sauce with extra awesome, and I have lots of hypotheses about how this will go on and what really happened.
In brief:
I give stars for character, ideas, content, style and last but not least the Jack-Aric problem and the background, because OMG!
Prequel:
Sequel: