Endure by Carrie Jones
Book Stats:
Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Genre: Paranormal
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release date: May 8, 2012
Series: Need #4
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed by: Tynga
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
It’s all-out war (and no-holds-barred romance) in the climactic conclusion to Carrie Jones’s bestselling series.
Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .
Zara and her merry band of acolytes already accomplished a lot to rid their town of evil pixies, but when the End of the world is at stake, the expectations are higher. If the sheer pressure of the task wasn’t enough, you could add to Zara’s burden, the fact that she has to deal with the consequences of becoming a pixie. She might have sacrificed a lot to save Nick, but he doesn’t seem all that grateful and it adds to our hero’s stress. The End is near, can a group of teenagers avert the Apocalypse?
Endure is the last book in the Need series and I’m still not sure I liked it. I think I’ll have to go with the “It’s not you, it’s me” cliché because this book was really up to par with the previous ones in the series, but I found myself kind of disconnected for a good two-third of the novel. I guess it’s a good thing it was the last novel, because I’m not sure I’d have picked the next installment. I think I might have out-grown the series, if that makes any sense? Well let’s get onto details!
First, I had some issue with the novel’s pace. The first two-third of the book were really slow and close to eventful. Everything revolved around two elements: figuring what’s the next step in the Zara vs Pixie war and the love triangle between Zara-Astley-Nick. The former element was really stagnant and it bothered me. The kids want to create some sort of army, yet they don’t really know what’s really going on and why they are training aforementioned low-budget army. The latter was a necessary evil in the Entice’s events’ aftermath and Nick, that ungrateful *fill in the blank*, really rubbed me the wrong way. His attitude simply disgusted me, and I guess it’s somehow a good thing because it was the only emotion I felt for the first half of the novel. I used to love this fur ball, but Astley really stole the show in my heart.
Now that I’m done complaining, here’s the good part. At around 60% of the book, the plot starts making sense. Zara undercover some information after being attacked and the teens finally have some kind of plan *halleluiah*. Zara, Nick, Issie, Astley and Amelia head to Iceland hoping to find the gate to Hel (the Norse version) and some answers. That’s the moment things picked up for me and the pace kicks up. A chain of unexpected events will unfold and I really liked that I was surprised by a couple of plot twists, which I won’t mention for your sake =)
The conclusion was great, for both the novel and the entire series. Carrie Jones created a really great heart-pounding final battle, with a couple of very interesting surprises. She also blessed us with closure, something I find often misses at the conclusion of a series.
Also, I’d like to take a second to mention how gorgeous this cover is. By far my favorite in the series!
All in all, this book was true to the previous books in the series, and I’m sure fans will appreciate it. Endure didn’t quite work for me, but it’s probably my own fault hehe. Has it ever happened to you before to realize a series isn’t for you anymore, even though it’s still good?
I felt exactly the same way about this series. It was still good, but the books were all slow starters for me. One out of the four, I enjoyed...although it was a good ending, there was just not enough action for me.
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