Review: Eternal Rider by Larissa Ione

Eternal Rider 

by Larissa Ione 

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Release Date: March 29th 2011

Series: Lords of Deliverance Book 1

They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

His name is Ares, and the fate of mankind rests on his powerful shoulders. If he falls to the forces of evil, the world falls too. As one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he is far stronger than any mortal, but even he cannot fight his destiny forever. Not when his own brother plots against him.

Yet there is one last hope. Gifted in a way other humans can't-or won't-understand, Cara Thornhart is the key to both this Horseman's safety and his doom. But involving Cara will prove treacherous, even beyond the maddening, dangerous desire that seizes them the moment they meet. For staving off eternal darkness could have a staggering cost: Cara's life.

~From Goodreads

Eternal Rider is the first novel that I have read by Larissa Ione and what a great introduction to her world. This is the first book in her Lords of Deliverance series. The four Horsemen are: Reseph (Pestilence), Ares (War), Limos (Famine), Thanatos (Death). These siblings are the product of a onetime sexual encounter between Lilith, a succubus demon and Yenrieth, a good angel. The brothers are sent to live in the human world while Limos is kept in Sheoul with her mother Lilith.

The brothers find out they are not human when demons rise up and try to use them against humans as they spread terror all over earth. After witnessing the murders of their human families and the destruction of their lands, the siblings rage war against the demons. Unfortunately, they manipulated and used humans to help them fight the demons. Because of their selfish disregard for human life and almost bringing about the end of mankind, the siblings are punished. They are charged as the keepers of Armageddon. Each is given a seal. If they defend their seals until the prophecy in the Bible comes to pass – they will save their own souls and mankind. But if they allow their seals to be broken prematurely they will turn evil and initiate the ultimate battle between good and evil.

In Eternal Rider we are introduced to Ares who is the Lord of War. He’s a sexy seven foot tall Alpha male who is still scarred from losing his wife and children to demons centuries ago. He’s a born leader and warrior who because of his seal is attracted to battlefields and fighting. His presence amongst humans incites anger and violence within them so he cannot mingle with them for long.

Cara Thornhart is a human who gets drawn in accidentally when a dying dog is brought to her home for treatment. This “dog” unbeknownst to her is really a hellhound from Sheoul. After saving his life with her special gift of healing the hellhound or Hal as she names him, bonds himself to her and so begins her journey into the underworld. Hal is soon kidnapped by a fallen angel named Sestiel who is the keeper of Ares’ agimortus. If Sestiel is killed then Ares’ seal will break and he will become War. 

Ares is able to track Sestiel to Cara’s home but not before he escapes with the hellhound. As Cara is now bonded to Hal and can sense where he is, Ares decides to take her home and use her to track the hellhound and angel. In the beginning, Cara is just a means to an end for Ares.  But then his agimortus is transferred to Cara before Sestiel’s death and it becomes a race against time to find another fallen angel that can carry the agimortus before it kills Cara.

There was plenty of action and violence in this book but it was balanced nicely with the romance between Ares and Cara. They developed feelings for each other slowly but it was a slow burn that culminated into some hot, sexy love scenes. Ms. Ione did an impeccable job of world-building and introducing us to the numerous cast of characters both new and old. As a new reader I was able to follow the story without feeling like I was missing out on any back story from her Demonica stories. I’m looking forward to the next installment, Immortal Rider which is due out in December 2011.

Eternal Rider gets 3.5 out of 5 stars