Book Review: Endure

 

Title: Endure (Need #4)

Author: Carrie Jones

Genre: YA paranormal, fantasy

Format: Ebook and Print

Publisher: Bloomsbury May 2012

 

Synopsis (courtesy of GoodReads)

Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

My review (courtesy of me)

This series is one of my all time favorite series. For a long time I saw the first book in the series “Need” on the shelf at BN and I never picked it up. Okay, I did pick it up (because the covers in this series are awesome) but I always put it back down because it was about pixies. When I thought of pixies I thought of glitter and tinkerbell and tutu’s…

I did not want to read about tutu’s and glitter.

But then, a friend of mine decided to give it a try. She called me and said “you have to read this book.” I said, “oh really?” She said, “There’s a werewolf”. I went and got the book from her house.

I read it in like a day and I Loved it. And can I just say that when I think of pixies now I d NOT think about tutu’s and tinkerbell. Nope. I get creeped out because those pixies are creepy! (But creepy in a good way not creepy in a bad way…make sense? I think so.)

I have anticipated each new book in this series whole heartily. I would go and buy the book as soon as it came out and I would hug. Yes, I would. Like you’ve never hugged a book before. So imagine my intense delight when I walked into a BN on my birthday and Endure was sitting front and center. Of course, I bought it.  I read it in a day too just like the rest of them. (Yes, Ms. Jones, I can hear you thinking, but that book took months of sweat and tears.. and you read it in a day!? I’m sorry but I did.)

I love Zara, she has a voice all her own. She is strong but vulnerable, pretty but sometimes awkward, and she truly cares for everyone in her life. She has characteristics that are so endearing and make her seem so real. Such as:

1. she wears jeans with peace signs on them.

2. she recites the names and meanings of fears. (LOVE this)

3. she writes letters for Amnesty.

I like that she makes her own decisions even those decisions are the hard ones and everyone is telling her to do something else. To me, she is a character that follows her heart.

Zara has an interesting group of friends, most of them supernaturally inclined. I won’t tell you who is what because that would ruin it all for you. But it’s a real interesting mash-up of characters and creatures yet they all fit together so well. I think that is one of the most genius things about his series, the way it all fits.

Nick is another character that I love. Typical werewolf… strong, stubborn, unrelenting, unforgiving, loyal. I will say that the very things that make him special are also the very things that I find to be his faults. I was totally in love with him when I first met him in Need. I still really like him now that the series has concluded but I don’t seem to have that shiny “doe – eyed” impression of him. Now, he’s just a boy (or man) that has been to hell and back and has to live with his decisions and the decisions of everyone around him. I think he has real inner stuggle. Don’t worry Nick, I still love you.

Then there is Astley… *swoons*. He is some hotness too… at first in the beginning of the series I was so suspicious of him and I wanted Nick to eat him. But then he showed us his personality, his strength and understanding. Astley is a character that gets under skin, a character that makes you like him.

I will say that Endure was not my favorite book in the series. I did read it in a day and I was interested in the story and so happy to be back with the characters but in all honesty this book didn’t grab me the way the others did. In some ways I felt it was a little drawn out… maybe a little less jam packed with twists and turns? But do not be mistaken this is a good book and all the characters play a roll.

I liked the ending of the book. It wraps up well, and I am not disappointed with how it concluded. The writing is as good as ever and it was an easy book to read. Carrie Jones has a unique writing style, one that I admire and love to read.

As I said, Endure is the final book in this series and it was bittersweet, I am sad to see the series end yet all good things must end. Hopefully, Carrie Jones will write something else just as fantastic and I will certainly be reading it when she does.

So there you have it. My opinion.