BOOK REVIEW: 4 Stars - AFTERLIFE by CLAUDIA GRAY

Title:   AFTERLIFE (EVERNIGHT #4)
Author:  CLAUDIA GRAY
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 360 (paperback)
Acquired:  Gift from my Twinny Michelle


Rating:  4 WRAP IT UP WRAITH STARS !!

Goodreads Description:

Bianca and Lucas have always believed they could endure anything to be together. When a twist of fate not only transforms Bianca into a ghostly wraith, but also turns Lucas into a vampire—the very creature he spent his life hunting—they are left reeling.

Haunted by his powerful need to kill, Lucas can turn to only one place for help... Evernight Academy. Bianca is determined to remain with him. But with the vampire leader of Evernight waging a war against wraiths, her former home has become the most dangerous place she could be, despite the new powers her transformation has given her.

A battle between wraiths and vampires looms, and Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They’ve overcome every obstacle life has thrown at them, but is their love strong enough to survive the challenges after life?

REVIEW:

I heard many mixed reviews regarding Afterlife before I had given it a read....lucky I don't always pay too much attention to some reviews!!

Though Afterlife was paced at a more "cruisy" speed compared with the first three, I felt it deserved to be so considering Bianca's move to the Wraith realm!  

We had some wonderful interactions between all the cast - some of which will no doubt spill into Balthazar's own book!!

The real reason behind Mrs Bethany allowing the humans and their ghosts into Evernight is revealed - and yet again Claudia throws in a wicked twist surrounding this portion of the story.

We see "frenemies" Lucas and Balthy unite - though awkwardly - to return to Evernight Academy to help Lucas come to terms with his new found position in the world. 

Balthazar's evil sister Charity returns to torment Lucas on a whole new level!  It would have been nice to read more wicked ways from Charity and her interaction kind of came to a very quick and easy halt.  In saying that, there were still a few items that needed wrapping up and only 1 book to do it in.

In my eyes, Balthazar is always the first choice - and I am so pleased to be opening the pages of his own book "Balthazar" which has now been released (YAY!!).  Many many fans out there will be feeling the same way.

True to Claudia's writing with the Evernight Series, she has thrown in a few twists and turns and an ending that I can imagine will leave many wondering if they like the way it ended.  Personally.....I do!  When I started reading Afterlife there was no way I had imagined the ending to go the way it did!

Well I am off to read Balthazar again.....yes I know I just can't get me enough of the strapping lad!!  And I am really excited to be meeting Claudia Gray in a couple of weeks in Perth when she is on her tour of Australia.  Be sure to check back here at the end of March 2012 for some awesome Evernight & Balthazar giveaways I will have on offer!!  eeecckk.....I am so excited!!

ENJOY!

MARISSA

BOOK REVIEW - AFTERLIFE by CLAUDIA GRAY - EVERNIGHT SERIES # 4

By : Claudia Gray
Published By : Harper Teen
Released : Available Now
Details : Paperback, 360 Pages

RATING:  4.5 LUCAS STARS !!!!

Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

The fourth book in this electrifying vampire series has all the romance, suspense, and page-turning drama that have made Claudia Gray’s Evernight books runaway successes.


Having become what they feared most, Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They must return to Evernight Academy, Lucas as a vampire and Bianca as a wraith. But Lucas is haunted by demons, both personal and supernatural. Bianca must help him fight the evil inside him, combat the forces determined to drive them apart—and find the power to claim her destiny at last.


Readers have fallen in love with Bianca and Lucas, and they will be thrilled to read this exciting conclusion to their romantic adventure.
 
BOOK REVIEW:
 
‘ Afterlife’ , picks up from where ‘Hourglass’, left off. Lucas, the projector room, and a decision to be made.



‘Afterlife’, I think is a more mellower story. I thought more could have been done with Charity’s character. The final book in the series is more about Lucas’s struggles and Bianca trying to find how she can fit into Lucas’s life and where it leaves her as a wraith. I really enjoyed ‘Afterlife’ once I realised that ‘Hourglass’ , was the book that contained Charity at her evil best and her minions and this book was a different story.


There are a couple good POW’s which I really didn’t see coming , they put a smile on my face as Ms. Gray is very good at those.


Ranulf , gets a couple nice one liners that are in true Ranulf , style. Vic is still such a honey and always there for his friends, if they will let him.


Would I have liked Charity to have gotten a bit wilder like she was in ‘Hourglass’, sure would have, but this was a story going down a different path, a path of acceptance .


Mrs Bethany is still up to her secretive ways for her own means and much comes to light .


I was happy with the way the series finished as quite frankly this could potentially have been an ongoing e.g. 8 book series with Black Cross, Charity and the Evernight crew filling the pages , Bianca and a whole story there, with a side order of Vic and Ranulf.
4 books was the sum that Ms Gray came up with , so an end had to be written. I think I missed Charity at her evil best ..lol!! I am looking forward to ‘Balthazar’, the book, as we all loved Balthazar, he just wasn’t meant for Bianca. I liked the way Claudia snuck in a little bit of Charity and his past, a little taste of what is to come possibly in ‘Balthazar’. I am sure Charity is going to pop up in his book, and remind me of her evil self.


 I have to admit I had this whole other story of where I thought ‘Afterlife’, was heading after ‘Hourglass’, finished. Claudia really surprised me with the way she wrote her final book in the series. I think the title should have been a hint...lol!!


This story shows the reader that you have to make the most of what life has dealt you. Everybody is different and acceptance isn’t always easy . Claudia injects emotion and funny humour with ease into all her Evernight series and those ‘ewwww’ moments ...lol!!! I must admit I had always wondered about a certain thing that an answer was given for in this book. You work it out when you read it, I’m not saying but Samuel was involved. I ..errrr... think it classifys under ‘ewwwww’..lol!!!


FAVE QUOTE:


"Vic bears you no ill will. He is outside drinking the Dew of the Mountain and will be glad to see you yourself again" Ranulf said to Lucas."

 
 

Michelle