ARC Review--Underworld by Meg Cabot

ESCAPE FROM THE REALM OF THE DEAD IS IMPOSSIBLE WHEN SOMEONE THERE WANTS YOU BACK.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn’t dead.

Not this time.

But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey.

Her captor, John Hayden, claims it’s for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they’ve come back as Furies, intent on vengeance…on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves.

But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there…and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies.

And unless Pierce is careful, this time there’ll be no escape.

I received this ARC at the RT Booklover's Convention via my Welcome Bag!

I was ecstatic to find an ARC of Meg Cabot's Underworld in my RT welcome bag when I went! I did a little happy dance even! And it was awesome! First, the cover! I have to say that I LOOOOOVE this cover! I think it really represents the Persephone myth extraordinarily well! When Hades kidnaps Persephone (although from what I can remember it was because Eros [Cupid] was mad at him for something and struck him with one of his love arrows, Hades then saw Persephone and fell in love, so he kidnaps her)!

But yeah, I just love it! And seeing Pierce in her white dress that's mentioned at the end is another awesome trait on the cover designer's part!

Moving on, we pick up where we left off, so while it's been too long for me, for Pierce it's just the next day. So it was nice to have that sort of recap going on to remind me of what went down towards the end of Abandon. Pierce is basically in hiding for her own good. Since her Fury possessed grandmother still wants to kill her to torment John. Nothing like a little family love, huh?

Pierce is still trying to adjust to things, she knows she loves John, but having to give up everything she ever knew and loved to be with him takes time to accept. There's just little bits and things that she can't quite get used to yet, and I think that really speaks for her character. That she still yearns to be in the world she knew just to see her family--not necessarily granny dearest--and few friends, like Kayla.

John is adamant that she just try to forget about that world, it's too dangerous for her to go there now with the Furies looking for her. But when she gets a bizarre message/video on her phone of her cousin Alex, she is worried. Alex is in danger, or will be and she wants to prevent the worst from happening to him, so she convinces John to let her go with him to rescue him.

Along the way we get to see more of John and Pierce develop their relationship, they learn more about one another. We get a good look at John's past and it was quite intriguing! We also learn more about Pierce's family and how it connected to her uncle going to jail and it even connects back to John! So yeah, there's a lot of pieces of the puzzle being put together. And the ending was quite astounding as well!

One thing I kinda wanted to see more of was the grandmother, after the shocking revelation of what she is, I was hoping she would be the devious villain. But alas, it wasn't in the cards this time for she made only one appearance. I have no doubts though that she will have a more pivotal role in the conclusion!

The pacing was pretty good I thought, we basically just follow Pierce and John along on their mission which isn't as easy as it sounds. Back in the living world, everyone's looking for Pierce, her father even has a million dollar reward for any information that will result into her safe return home, so that presents a problem for Pierce when she needs to find her cousin.

It was an incredible read! Underworld is definitely a page-turner! I never wanted to put it down! I cannot wait to see how the trilogy ends next year.

Overall rating 5/5 stars

Underworld releases May 8, 2012