Mini Review--Scarlet Rain by Kristin Cast

 

The co-author of the "New York Times" bestselling House of Night series returns with the mesmerizing second book in The Escaped series. 

In "Amber Smoke," Kristin Cast introduced her legions of readers to Alek and Eva. Alek, immortal son of the Furies, has been charged to save his home and recapture the souls of the damned, evil creatures who escaped Tartarus into the Mortal Realm. He can't, however, do it alone... 

Eva has discovered that she has been both blessed and cursed with powers beyond her comprehension. With a destiny to fulfill, she cannot escape the beings who will stop at nothing to destroy her. 

Now, in "Scarlet Rain," the Nosoi spirits of plague have been unleashed on the Mortal Realm, releasing a pandemic as clever and adaptable as it is insidious. Alek and Eva must capture and banish the Nosoi back to their Underworld prison but Eva has yet to harness the abilities needed to defeat such a powerful enemy, and Alek sustains catastrophic wounds in the attempt. They must rely on detective James Graham, and Eva s best friend Bridget, if they are to even slow down the plague. But can mere mortals come through in the face of such overwhelming peril?

 

 

I dove straight into Kristin Cast’s Scarlet Rain, expecting heartbreak since it’s not looking like the final book exists. While I did experience a little bit of heartbreak I was surprised by the ending of this one. It was shocking and astonishing and I am filled with so many questions, but I guess I was expecting something bigger since this is a canceled series we’re dealing with.

In this one, we see Eva and Alek having to deal with a new enemy from Tartarus. This escaped evil soul is a plague and we caught a glimpse of it in at the end of Amber Smoke when it affected the married couple and it ended in screams of terror!

I really liked that Cast didn’t leave us hanging on all of Amber Smoke’s cliffhangers as we see right away what happened with the couple…as to what caused that all, well, that’s still the mystery but the blurb gives you some ideas. Then we go back to the detective, James, who had been chasing Eva and held a gun at her when she suddenly disappeared. Well, turns out she was brought to Tartarus by Alek’s mothers. Now James is trying to tell himself he’s not crazy, but he knows that something weird is going on in town that goes beyond the normal explanations.

I really liked how we got to see more of Eva’s best friend, Bridget and James starting to work together. I thought this series would just focus on Eva and Alek but Cast took me by surprise by having secondary characters get a bit of spotlight time. The chemistry brewing between Bridget and James came about fast and I wondered at its sincerity, just because of the novella length, but it ended up being genuine.

This book really packed its punches in the end. It was nonstop jaw-dropping action and I am still left reeling and now a bit upset as who knows what was meant to happen. As I peeked at the novella, it seems to go back in time or some such and focus on different characters. I wasn’t expecting it to be anything to give me better answers to what would’ve been the final fate of Alek and Eva and their worlds, but I guess a teeny tiny part of me was hoping for maybe something like that.

This one did end in a way that you almost think things are through, but then that last sentence packed a punch! Of course, once again, I am running a dozen theories in my head and am dying to know if any of them would’ve been right or not. I am hopefully meeting Cast at the end of the month, so hopefully I can get a few answers to see how things would’ve gone if she was able to finish this series.

I will say that I really enjoyed this installment better than the first one! It was quite exciting and the action and tension were intense and thick! There were some steamy romantic interludes as well, mostly the one with Bridget and James and a tease or two between Alek and Eva. But romance is romance! Lol. Let’s just hope Cast planned for everyone to be all lovey dovey and happy after saving both the worlds in the ultimate unfinished end.

 

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars