Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2) by, Kresley Cole

Summary:

Shocking secrets.
Evie has fully come into her powers as the Tarot Empress, and Jack was there to see it all. She now knows that the teens who’ve been reincarnated as the Tarot are in the throes of an epic battle. It’s kill or be killed, and the future of mankind hangs in the balance.

Unexpected allies.
With threats lurking around every corner, Evie is forced to trust her newfound alliance. Together they must fight not only other Arcana, but also Bagmen zombies, post-apocalyptic storms, and cannibals.

Gut-wrenching treachery.
When Evie meets Death, things get even more complicated. Though falling for Jack, she’s drawn to the dangerous Endless Knight as well. Somehow the Empress and Death share a history, one that Evie can’t remember—but Death can’t forget…

In this seductive follow-up to Poison Princess, #1 New York Timesbestselling author Kresley Cole takes us deeper into the dark world of the Arcana Chronicles. (Via Goodreads.com)

Pages: 320

Release Date: October 1st, 2013

Review:

     I started The Arcana Chronicles in mid-January this year by reading the first novel, Poison Princess. I absolutely loved Poison Princess and wanted Endless Knight so bad. I rated Poison Princess a 5 out of 5 stars and Endless Knight a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I would highly recommend these books to anyone that enjoys romance, action, paranormal, apocalypse and The Hunger Games.  

*Spoiler Section*

     The covers of both Poison Princess and Endless Knight are absolutely stunning. The color schemes are gorgeous and the backdrops are amazing. My favorite out of the two covers would have to be Endless Knight. I live in Pennsylvania so during our winters we get a ton of snow and I am bias because I love pictures of snow. Recently the cover of the third novel, Dead of Winter, was released and they changed the covers! Now the covers are mostly words without any people. I hate cover changes. 
     There was only one thing in Poison Princess that bothered me, and continues to in Endless Knight. At the very end of Poison Princess when Evie kills Arthur, Jackson makes the sign of the cross with his fingers at her, I felt that was so out of character for Jackson. Evie brings it up in several occasions in her mind during Endless Knight because she is ashamed of what she is and that Jackson hates her for it. But, every time she brought it up it bothered me. The Jackson I know would not have cared about Evie's powers. He would have embraced them, not shamed them.
     Speaking of Jackson, we have this epic love triangle going on in Endless Knight. In Poison Princess I assumed that there would eventually be a love triangle between Jackson and Death. If you would have asked me before I read Endless Knight who I liked better with Evie I would have with no doubt told you Jackson. But after reading Endless Knight, my mind had been changed. A lot of the time love triangles are so obvious as to who will win but in The Arcana Chronicles I am not too sure. I am rooting for Death but there is a possibility Jackson and Evie could get back together. I do not want Jackson and Evie to get back together because I feel so bad for Death after he told Evie their own back story and how she has caused him so much pain. Death reminds me so much of Warner from the Shatter Me trilogy. Also, I do not want Evie with Jackson because he used her to get to his half brother, Evie's old boyfriend, Brandon. But, I believe Evie still wants to be with Jackson, even though she likes Death. So, anything could happen. 
     I really like the characters from The Arcana Chronicles, they are extremely reliable. Since we met Matthew in Poison Princess I always picture my cousin, Andy, as him because they are both autistic and love space. They do not have similar physical characteristics but I can't help imagining Andy as Matthew. Matthew also reminds me of Jude from Never Fade. Jude was my favorite character from The Darkest Minds trilogy. I think they are similar in my mind because I feel like something bad is going to happen to Matthew like something did with Jude (technically I did not just spoil anything from Never Fade). If something bad happens to Matthew in any of the following books, which I feel will happen because something always happens to my favorite characters, I will be really depressed because I love Matthew. 
     I was glad Lark made a list of players because I was getting really confused as to who they were sometimes talking about. I hope in Dead of Winter and the rest of the books in this series will have a page with all the players and their names on the opening page for reference. I also liked how Evie talked about the rules of the game on the beginning page of the book because I actually forgot that this series had to do with a game. Refreshing my memory of previous books in a series is one of the most useful things an author can do (also maps and flow charts work too).
     I love all the world building Kresley Cole has done. It is based in the United States but after the apocalypse it feels like it takes place in some completely different world. Plus, Death's castle does not help, how did he hide it from people before the apocalypse? 
     Overall, Endless Knight was action-packed, romantic, funny, thrilling, and cliff hanging. Kresley Cole has a gift for extremely detailed writing and crafting amazing worlds. I can't wait for the release of Dead of Winter in early 2015.
~Casey