THE LOWDOWN:
In this conclusion to the Wildefire trilogy, teen volcano goddess Ashline Wilde learns her former love, Colt Halliday, has an evil plan to kill the Cloak, benevolent beings who oversee the gods. Also, he wants to merge Ash and her two sisters back into a single, too-powerful goddess, Pele. Ash must stop her trickster-god ex-boyfriend once and for all, by feeding a few flames.
FIRST IMPRESSION:
Colt’s snowmobile picked up speed as he revved the engine, racing north across the vast glacier. Even with the Arctic wind stinging his cheeks and his cold fingers numb on the handlebars, he couldn’t stop the excited smile that crept across his face. After all, out of the hundreds of gods he’d hunted down throughout his many lifetimes, Mnemosyne was always his favorite goddess to kill.
—Hardcover edition
SNAPSHOT:
Jumping in less than a day after the end of the second installment, Ashline Wilde is a strong, courageous narrator, relating in first person her tale as she navigates the treacherous waters her life has become. With her ex-boyfriend Colt chasing her so he can force her and her sisters to become one person—the goddess Pele—all Ashline really wants is to find someone who can help. But she doesn’t realize: all the help she needs is already there.
Beyond fiery and feisty Ashline, the secondary cast was well-developed, particularly her sisters Eve and Rose, and Colt. Eve is not who anyone thinks that she is in the beginning of the book. Meanwhile, Rose is trapped inside a body that is too old for her.Colt is a curious villain, having apparently once been attached to Ashline. Unlike the other gods and goddesses who are reborn without memory of their past lives, Colt can remember all of his past lives. Including killing gods. But beyond that, Colt is very alone, missing the only person who has ever been able to understand him.
Even without reading the first two novels in the series, readers will enjoy as Ashline and her sisters struggle with the dire situation Colt has them in—and as they chase after him before he can kill the benevolent Cloaks. The girls understand that they were split apart for their own good and the good of the rest of the world. They do not want to be Pele—and why should they? The sisters like having their own brains and lives.
Appropriate for ages 15+. Sexual situations, death and loss, violence and murder.
Deals with family, guilt, and self-identity.
GET IT ON YOUR SHELF:
If you…
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Love kick ass heroines
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Are a fan of non-Eurocentric mythology
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Enjoy the Percy Jackson series but want more edge
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Have ever had someone you love turn into someone you hate
THE ESSENTIALS:
YA Paranormal Romance
Hardcover & Ebook, 336 pages
Published November 12th, 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (ISBN 1442450371)
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Afterglow/Karsten-Knight/9781442450370
(Review copy provided by Simon & Schuster.)