ARC Review: Riders by Veronica Rossi

Riders (Riders #1)  

by Veronica Rossi

My Rating: 4 stars

ARC provided by the Publisher. Thank you!

Preorder: Amazon/ TBD/ B&N

Summary:

For eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake, nothing but death can keep him from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

Recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can't remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen--Conquest, Famine, and Death--are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now--bound, bloodied, and drugged--Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he's fallen for--not to mention all of humankind--he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

****

I love Veronica Rossi’s Under The Never Sky series.  That’s why when I heard about Riders I knew I have to read it. Fortunately, I got a review copy thanks to the publisher.

Riders is nothing like Under The Never Sky. For starters, it’s told in first person POV, by a male narrator. And it’s told like a “narration”. The book starts with the main character in an interrogation room. It shifts from present to past, while Gideon tells the interrogator the things that happened that lead him there.

So, Gideon is the representation of War, one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse. He narrates what happened after the accident that killed him, how he met Daryn, the mysterious girl that told him he was War, how he meet the other horsemen and everything after that.

I like to be honest and say that I wasn’t impressed in the first chapters of the book. Though, Veronica Rossi’s writing is amazing. I loved how real Gideon’s voice was. He sounded angry and… well, male. He sounded like a military guy.

The only thing didn’t love was how fast he agreed to follow Darryn. I understand he was used to accept orders and needed answers, but still, it felt too easy.

Except that, the plot felt good. The characters were well developed and the fantasy… or mythical? aspects of the story were fantastic.

While I’m not crazy in love with Riders (I wasn’t crazy about UTNS, either. It was until Through the Ever Night that I fell in love), I’m sure I will enjoy the sequels. I did enjoy this one a lot.

Riders is a good start for this series.