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Review

4 stars!

Kresley Cole has delivered a fantastic start to The Arcana Chronicles, with a story that is exciting, intriguing, imaginative and utterly unique. I had a great time listening to this one, and am well and truly hooked on this series.

Evangeline (Evie) Green is a 16 year old girl living a privileged, yet difficult, life. Her family is wealthy, she is a popular cheerleader, has a fantastically hilarious best friend, a gorgeous and devoted boyfriend, and seemingly has the world at her feet. But the truth is that Evie’s life a mess. She has terrifying hallucinations, her mother believes she is crazy (even sending her away to an institute for ‘treatment’), and if she’s so happy with her boyfriend, why is she so drawn to Jackson, the badboy Cajun from the ‘wrong’ part of town who is new to her school?

And then, an apocalypse known as ‘The Flash’ devastates the entire globe – destroying all plant life, evaporating all water and turning millions of people into piles of burnt ash. The survivors are few and far between, some of whom have turned into cannibalistic zombie-like creatures, others who have joined a militia out to reclaim ‘order’ and others, like Evie, who are just trying to survive.

But as devastating as the apocalypse is, Evie has seen it all before – it’s what she saw in her hallucinations, and she knows the only one who can give her the answers as to why this is happening, why she seems to be such a big part of it and why she is suddenly developing new and strange powers, is her wise, story-telling grandmother who lives states away.

When Jackson shows up at what is left of her property with questions of his own about Evie’s apparent foresight, he agrees to travel with her and protect her on her journey to her grandmother’s house to get answers. But the visions continue, and the voices in Evie’s head get louder and louder, and as she and Jackson meet up with others along their way, Evie learns that she is part of the Arcana – a legend based on tarot – and an ancient prophesy is being resurrected which will have tragic consequences. Who will she be able to trust when the stakes are so high and nobody is as they seems?

“Come touch…but you’ll pay a price”

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the uniqueness of the mythology and the complexity of the storyline. There is a great explanation given, and I thought the way the story unfolds is really clever, but it’s one of those stories where you know there is so much more going on than what we have already learned, and I’m excited for the possibilities of where the story might go.

I loved Evie! She’s a wonderful narrator – smart, funny and very believable as a character. Her reactions and responses to all that she is going through are realistic, and I appreciated the balance of her terror at her situation and her sass and teenage attitude.

My looks had gone from well-kempt cheerleader to apocalyptic disasterpiece.

The group of characters who join with Evie in her journey are fantastic! In particular, I love Matthew and his adorably quirkiness and Finn is freaking hilarious! But it’s Jackson that has me the most intrigued. His hot-and-cold interactions with Evie are both excitingly romantic and frustratingly unclear. There’s definitely chemistry between them, and some great build up, but their ‘relationship’ is far from smooth. Honestly, I’m still not sure how I feel about him, he has more than one dick-moment, but he certainly has romantic hero potential!

“Evie, if you ever get taken from me again, you better know that I’ll be coming for you.” He cupped my face with a bloodstained hand. “So you stay the hell alive! … You and me can get through anything, just give me a chance”—his voice broke lower—“just give me a chance to get to you.” He buried his face in my hair, inhaling deeply. “There is nothing that can happen to you that we can’t get past.”

I am a huge fan of Kresley Cole’s PNR and adult contemporary writing, and was wondering how she would translate over into YA post-apocalyptic/fantasy, and she nailed it! Her characters are believable, relatable and highly entertaining, her world is complex but well-developed, and the story is funny, dramatic, emotional, mysterious and, suspenseful with great action, and an angsty teen romance. It’s everything that I love about YA PNR/UF, and after that cliffy ending, I can’t wait to continue on.

4 stars

Note – I listened to this as an audiobook, and loved the narration. Emma Galvin does a wonderful job telling the story, and the accents and inflections are spot on. I highly recommend listening to this one.