Review: Endure

Title: Endure
Author: Carrie Jones
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Paranormal
Pub Date: May 2012, Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

Synopsis (from the dust jacket)

There was a time, not long ago, when all Zara wanted was to have Nick back.  Rescuing him from Valhalla should have made all her problems disappear.  He's Bedford's greatest warrior, not to mention Zara's true soul mate.


Except.


Nick isn't the person he used to be.  And neither is Zara.  She's a warrior now, and a pixie queen.  Astley's queen.  She has a plan to stop the evil pixies that are ravaging her town, and her ideas are not the same as Nick's or Astley's.  One thing they can all agree on though:  war is here.  And if Cassidy's premonitions are correct, then not every warrior will make it in the end, and Zara's gravest choice is yet to come.


My Thoughts

Well, I'm a little sad to see Carrie Jones' Need series come to an end.  I've enjoyed following Zara, Nick, and Astley throughout their quest to save the world from an evil-pixie-led apocalypse.  To tell you the truth, I regret that I don't have a review of the third book, Entice, on this blog because, well, I don't quite remember everything that happened!  I do recall that I enjoyed it more than I did Captivate, the second book in the series, but it's been so long since I read it during the great Blogging Hiatus of 2010-2011 that I don't remember much else about it.

All that said, I thought Endure was a great conclusion to the story.  It was well-paced and I think the characters were the strongest they have been in the whole series.  I didn't find anyone annoying this time around, which is always a bonus.  I remain staunchly "Team Astley," as I switched to his side when reading Captivate.  I also appreciated Zara's group of friends more this time around as well -- it just seemed like Jones hit her stride in writing about the key people in the story.  The dialogue was sharper and I found myself with a better "mental image" of everyone as I read.

Something that I really enjoyed was Jones' brief intros to each chapter -- news blurbs, samplings from social media, police radio calls, etc.  While sometimes serious, they were frequently quite humorous and usually at the right time.  But it really all comes down to how much the writing has improved from the first two books in the series.  I think that's why the characters were more relatable, the pacing was spot on, and the suspense really kept me reading.  Oh, did I mention there's a Plot Twist at the end?  I confess, I wasn't too caught up in it, but I don't want to give any spoilers, so I will just say I was satisfied with the ultimate outcome.

If you've been keeping up with this series, you really must finish it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  No, there is not 100% resolution for every story line, but there is just enough to provide a satisfying ending and make you wonder what the rest of Zara's life will be like.

My rating:



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