First off, can I say how terrible I feel for both Hades and Cataclysm after reading their story. Both of these two deserved some happiness in their lives since they both are being punished for what they did in their past. Hades though has been continuously been punished by the Grim Reaper himself, Azagoth due to what he did that is unforgettable and unforgivable. (At least to Azagoth it is) Although, it is a VERY extreme punishment even in my eyes. Cataclysm on the other hand is punishing herself for what she did with Gethel. Larissa Ione does a superb job on covering what happened in both back stories of Cataclysm and Hades, and why they are where they are currently. I enjoyed every page of Hades, while reading it that I didn't want it to end.

Cat is going to find herself in even more trouble after she almost ends up having another apocalypse happening in the human realm. It was an accident though, so she will try everything to redeem herself. She ends up in the Inner Sanctum with the cocky, sexy Jailor of the Underworld who's the only one that can help Cat redeem herself. He's been a jerk to her from the get go, but Hades is going to show another side of himself that Cat is going to find even more irresistible. (He is one sexy, scary Fallen Angel that I can see why Cat can't resist him. I couldn't.)

Hades is full of everything I have come to love from Larissa Ione. You have tension, drama, romance, action, and gruesome moments within the story and Larissa's characters. She brings very descriptive details, which makes you feel you are actually watching the events unravel in front of you. Characters who you fall immediately in love with and feel emotion for whatever they go through. Seriously, the whole entire time I'm reading Cat's and Hades story I'm feeling terrible for them, which made me root for the ending so much more.

The best part of Hades was the VERY ending. How these two got together finally was EPIC! I was not expecting a certain someone to react the way he did and what he made Hades do was truly funny and astonishing.

I give this book 5 stars and look forward to reading even more from Larissa Ione. Yes…I even enjoyed the sneak peek of the next book that Larissa Ione is bringing out this year at the end of Hades.  Ahhh!!! Seriously, anything Larissa Ione brings out takes priority and this book will take priority like ALL the others.  =)

I haven’t read the Demonica series by this author and I’ve heard it is set in the same world as this new spinoff “Lords of Deliverance” series. I’m thinking I probably should have read the 6.5 books in the Demonica series first but reading a series out of order seems to be what I do. Now I will be the first to admit that I am a person who is easily confused and during the first two hours of this audiobook reading I was lost and overwhelmed by the brutal avalanche of information dumped upon my tired brain. There is a glossary, tons of character introductions and an elaborate setup that boggles. But I stuck by it and restarted it no less than five times because everyone seems to love this author and I’ve been told I give up too easily (and it’s probably true). And do you know what? It paid off in the end. Phew, that almost never happens!

Eternal Rider is narrated by Hilary Hubar who has a no nonsense way with her narration which suits the intensity of the book. Her manly-man characters are done very well but there are two characters, Ares and Arik, whose names and sexy growly, gravelly voices are so similar that I mistakenly thought they were the same person, adding to my continued confusion, until the book was nearly over! Huber’s female voices are strong and pleasant to listen to and I could always tell Cara from Limos. Unfortunately, something is a wee bit off in the production here, either that or the narrator was whispering, because I had to rewind and turn up the volume numerous times because the volume would go way low and I couldn’t make out the words.

Let me sum up the complicated setup for you, best as I understood it anyway. Eternal Rider is Ares’s story. Ares is one of four immortal siblings born out of a forbidden and unholy sexual tryst between sex demon Lilith and an angel who liked his drinky too much. The kiddos caused all sorts of trouble on earth and ended up being cursed and now they are “The Four Horsemen”. Yes, those four horsemen. They are bearers of the Apocalypse and each wear a seal that when broken releases their evil alter-ego and brings on the beginning of the End of Days. Ares is the God of War. He’s a tough guy, covered in armor that keeps his body and his emotions in check and whenever he walks in a room people get an urge to brawl. Soon after the story begins, the most charming brother has his seal broken and he transforms into Pestilence, bringing on the plagues and reveling in the death, the gore and the pain. Oh noes! Ares is worried because once a seal has broken they are all in danger of transforming into this:


1887 painting by Victor Vasnetsov

And then there’s something about called an agimortus that protects the seals (methinks) and can only be transferred to a fallen angel. Pestilence needs his siblings to turn evil and thus most of the surviving fallen angels have gone over to the dark side to avoid being stuck with an agimortus after learning about the broken seal and rampage. Really, who can blame them? I know I wouldn’t want a great big target for Pestilence on my ass. So somehow a human named Cara ends up with Ares’s agimortus engraved on her chest. As if that weren’t bad enough, she heals a wounded dog only to later discover the dog she’s named “Hal” is a hellhound. And he has bonded with her out of gratitude. If he dies so does she and he’s been taken prisoner and is being tortured. Ares tracks the agimortus to Cara and the two get embroiled in a race to save humanity all the while falling in lusty love.

From here it gets all adventure-filled and yummy and super sexy despite all of the gloom and the death. Cara and Ares are well developed and compatible couple who heat things up in a most believable and imaginative way. After the excruciatingly long setup I fell in love with the storytelling and am going to jump right into the next book. The ending with Cara and Ares and the resolution of the hellhound problem was pure perfection that warmed my cold heart and made get all gooey eyed. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better ending if I tried.

Sheesh, my fingers are tired and this review is too long. If you’ve made it this far all I have left to say to you is read the book until the end no matter how it pains you. And I won’t lie, it may pain you. Just trust me on this, it gets friggin’ fantastic. Paranormal romance does not get better than the last half of this book. 

Narrator Hilary Huber
Duration: 12 hours, 34 minutes
Published by Hachette Audio

Throughout the Lords of Deliverance series, Reaver was one of my favorite characters. He always seemed to be on the side of good, fighting scary demons, and he helped to thwart the imminent apocalypse. In Reaver, we finally learn more about Reaver’s background and his earlier relationship with Verrine.

Reaver is epic and action packed. Most of our favorite and not-so-favorite characters from the Demonica series make an appearance in this book. Reaver is essentially a rescue mission, where Reaver (going against the archangels’ instructions, risks all to journey to Sheoul to rescue Harvester. (I won’t go into the why – it gets spoilery too fast – but needless to say, these two have some interesting history – *zipping lips now.* The book then becomes a fast paced escape from the many regions of Sheoul with Satan’s armies in fast pursuit. There were so many demons, each scarier and deadly than the one before. The world building is so convincing, so well done, that as you read the story, it feels as if you are there, in the middle of the action.

Of course, exacerbating the situation is the meddlesome Gethel, a former watcher who is really up to no good. Yup, really bad things could spawn from Gethel.

We get a glimpse into Reaver’s past as Yenreith, where he was not the nicest character and how he hurt the young and impressionable Verrine by just being a stupid male. Some juicy revelations follow. (Yes, you really must read this book).

As mentioned above, there are some great cameos from our favorite Horsemen. It’s nice to see a touch of Happily Ever After for some of them, although their fate is intertwined with that of Reaver’s. We even get to see our favorite demon doctor and his staff over at UGH – Underworld General Hospital.

Amazing. Epic. Fantastic. Can’t wait for the next book – Revenant’s story.

Review posted on Badass Book Reviews. Check out the publisher's giveaway for a Kindle Fire.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for a review copy of this book.

DEMONICA

#1 ~ Pleasure Unbound (Eidolon and Tayla)

#2 ~ Pleasure Unchained (Shade and Runa)

#3 ~ Pleasure Unleashed (Wraith and Serena)

#3.5 ~ Eternity Embrace (Kaden and Andrea)

#4 ~ Ecstasy Unveiled (Lore and Idess)

#5 ~ Sin Undone (Conall and Sin)

LORDS OF DELIVERANCE 

#1 ~ Eternal Rider (Ares and Cara)

#1.5 ~ Vampire Fight Club (Supernatural) Nathan and Vladena

#2 ~ Immortal Rider (Arik and Limos)

#2.5 ~ Eternal Damnation (Apocalypse: The Lords of Deliverance Compendium) Lilith and Yenrieth

#3 ~ Lethal Rider (Thanatos and Regan)

#4 ~ Rogue Rider (Reseph & Jillian)

#5 ~ Reaver (Reaver and Harvester) - Dec 2013

Four horsemen, each have a seal,  may cause a worldwide apocalypse if at least two of their seals(from a curse) break. Each of them have their own agimorti(triggers for breaking seals). Cara became Ares's (2nd horseman)' agimorti when an angel passed the brand to her. To be able to not break Ares's seal that can cause war and destruction, he should protect her from anyone who might kill her, especially from Pestilence, the first horseman(and brother) who first managed to break his own seal.

>Very interesting characters. The characters and sub-characters have their own build-up that made the story broader and compelling.

>I liked the way they(horsemen) teleport with their horses coming with them. The armors and the swords was so gallant and very alpha-maley(pfft).

>Ares and Cora came from different worlds. There were so many people(vampires, hellhounds, demons, horsemen, angels etc.) involved that made their relationship complicated. Their attraction was so palpable and they always found themselves in each of other's arms. Although, they have potential, romance is not a big part of this engrossing paranormal series.

>Every characters can make or break a certain chaos that made this story fast-paced and action-packed in each of the chapters.

>It was very admiring how an author put almost all of the paranormal characters with BIblical and Demonical prophesies and other interesting sides in a series. It was a clean and adrenaline-rushed writing.

>I loved Hal(Short for Halitosis)! The hellhound bonded with Cara.

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this girl reading