Also by this author: , , Revenant (Demonica 11) by Larissa Ione
Also in this series: Revenant (Demonica 11) by Larissa Ione
Published by Grand Central Publishing Genres: Paranormal Romance
Title: Rogue Rider (Lords of Deliverance #4)
Author: Larissa Ione
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Published November 20th 2012 by Grand Central Publishing
What if your past was so horrendous that it was best not to remember? This is the case with Reseph, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse. His deeds over that past year have been so evil that they will have to redefine the world just for his actions. Reseph’s tale started in the book Sin Undone (Demonica Series) by Ione, but the author spun off four books that deal with each one of the horsemen: Ares aka War, Limos aka Famine, Thanatos aka Death, and Reseph aka Pestilence.
The horsemen are neither good nor bad in the Ione series, that is until their seal breaks. If the seal (the evil agimortus) breaks, their demon half comes out. Yes, these poor siblings have two halves, good and evil. That’s what you get when your mama is a succubus demon and baby daddy was an angel. So laid back party animal and playboy, Reseph, had his seal broken and became the demon Pestilence, who went about spreading, disease, death, and destruction throughout the earth for the last year.
But life changed, and he returned to earth as Reseph with amnesia, dropped into the middle of a blizzard’s snow bank in the Colorado Rockies. Pestilence was pure evil, but poor Reseph had been trapped inside his own body, forced to watch what his evil half did, unable to stop him. Pestilence is contained again in Reseph’s psyche, but will Reseph be strong enough to keep the evil that resides within him at bay, within a leaky psychological vessel? Reseph is found in the snow bank by an ex-FAA air traffic controller. Her name is Jillian, and she lives on her family farm in the Rockies, a long way from sunny Florida, which had been her home.
What I liked about this book was that I got to know Reseph, the real person without all the psychological baggage that made him a cursed horseman or the demon Pestilence. Pestilence is bad beyond belief, whereas Reseph is cocky but kind. He doesn’t really know how to be in the world because he never had a chance to really be the person he could have been. He had 5,000 years of bad choices to relearn. Reseph was able to confront the reasons for his bad choices and finally come to terms with them. He also had to learn to come to terms with what he did as his alter ego Pestilence. Mental insanity or the return of Pestilence could very well be in the cards for Reseph, first horseman of the Apocalypse.
I really enjoyed reading about the character Jillian. She has locked down her heart and pretty much lives as a hermit on 200 acres. She believes isolation will keep her safe from her past. Jillian, in my view, hasn’t really lived since she moved back to her childhood home from Florida; she is just going through the motions of living. She has tried to close off all of her emotions. Her only close relationship is with Susan, a deputy sheriff and childhood friend.
In the book some of the series’ major questions are answered. Plus, I was thrilled to find out my hunch about a character’s motive was correct. Something had not smelled right to me in demon and angel land, and I was right. I can’t tell because it would be a spoiler. Like all the Demonica and Lords of Deliverance books, multiple story lines are taking place and characters’ plots don’t just end when their main story is told. These books are in no way standalone. Too much has gone on in the world Ione has created to jump in with Rogue Rider. Yes, you could start the series with Lord of Deliverance #1, but I highly recommend reading the series with the very first Demonica book, Pleasure Unbound. You won’t be disappointed. As with all Ione Demonica and Lords of Deliverance books, Ione has done a stellar job in world building. The world is not strictly black and white; and if you are looking for pure good against pure evil, you will be disappointed because even humanity’s savior doesn’t have to be pure of heart to get the job done. I highly recommend the Rogue Rider and all The Lords of Deliverance and Demonica books.
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