Categories: BOOK BLOG POSTS, BOOK REVIEWS
ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Kresley Cole
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: The Arcana Chronicles, #6
Publisher: Valkyrie Press
Publishing Date: 4/18/2023
Format: Kindle
Page Count: 356
The Arcana Chronicles comes to a stunning conclusion in the last book of the series, From the Grave.
*** THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ***
After a five-year wait since The Dark Calling, fans finally get a thrilling conclusion with From the Grave.
Evie is pregnant. Death feels guilty for, well, trying to murder her and their unborn child in the last book.
Jack Deveaux goes on a suicide mission to assist in Death’s plan to wrangle their remaining allies and defeat their enemies.
Lark (AKA STRENGTH) is mourning the loss of her boyfriend (THE MAGICIAN), who perished at the hands of THE HANGED MAN.
Zara (AKA FORTUNE) and her ally Richter (AKA THE EMPEROR), garner strength with each passing day and Evie’s alliance is on shaky ground. For one thing, Lark insists on being a terrible houseguest and growing super animals by feeding them her blood. Creepy much?
THINGS LOOK BLEAK.
Evie struggles to keep harmony in the castle. Meanwhile, Kentarch (AKA THE CHARIOT), is overcome with grief from losing his soul mate, Issa, and is hell bent on killing himself so he can reunite with her in the afterlife. Jack insists he pause his suicidal ideations and help save the world. Kentarch relents.
Joules is still petulant because Death killed his girlfriend and doesn’t want to play nice.
Jack is still madly in love with Evie but must contend with the fact that she is still in love with Death.
Despite these challenges, Jack does his best to hold these dysfunctional Arcana players together in an alliance. The group band together to go on a daring mission to blow up the territory of Zara and Richter. They fail and run into Sol (AKA THE SUN) who is eager to break away from his old alliance and join theirs.
Joules, ever spiteful and suspicious, isn’t having it.
“Bullshite! Joules blustered. You’ve been with Richter almost from Day Zero. You and your filthy Baggers have been his eyes and ears.”
Frankly, Joules stole the show in this latest book. I love that angry little Irishmen and hope (fingers crossed) that he gets his own book to star in. He had a ton of LOL moments.
Back to the plot… Fortunately, despite Joules’ reservations, Jack takes a liking to the charismatic Sol, and embraces him joining the alliance. It seems strange how the group caters to Jack’s wishes, considering he has no supernatural abilities…that we know of.
When Jack is in the Pentacle territory, he learns he’s an Arcana Minor, The Page of Swords.
What this means, exactly, we never get a straightforward answer, something I wish the book would have supplied.
Meanwhile, Evie goes into labor after worrying about Jack. Must be a hoot for her husband.
Let me just say, if being in an apocalypse means I get not only one, but TWO, hot men willing to risk their lives for me and change dirty diapers, sign me up. NOW! RIGHT NOW!
Anyhoo, Death is the only one who can deliver the baby, but when he accidentally touches the baby, he almost has a heart attack. Did he kill the baby? Nope! Baby Tee is fine. He is immune to his deadly touch, just like his wife. Hooray!
NOT SO FAST.
What if Tee is just like his father? What if he can’t touch anyone without them dying? Uh, oh.
Fears are quenched when Circe (AKA THE PRIESTESS) risks her life to…. cuddle the baby?
I like babies and all, but I don’t think I’m risking my life to hug a Reaper Baby, even in an apocalypse. Circe does, and Hooray! Baby Tee will grow up to be a normal human.
Evie catches wind that her husband is planning on sacrificing himself to save their family and she isn’t having it. When Kentarch teleports her to a bunker with Jack, she threatens to kill Kentarch unless he puts her back in the fight. He relents.
The battle is on. And it is EPIC, the highlight of the book. Lady Luck, Zara, is a total femme fatale and kills Gabe and Joules. Sobs.
Then, Death kills her with his touch, but then Richter comes into the picture and it’s all over for Death. Louder Sobs!
Evie goes ballistic and The Red Witch emerges. Finally!
She shakes off Richter’s hot, molten lava, like it’s a steam bath.
Favorite line:
“I’d hoped one day to become a force of nature like my mother. Finally! I was abundance—could do this forever. I was vine. I was the trees. I was the very earth. Motherfucking Earth. And she was about to wipe out Richter.”
Evie releases spores for Richter to choke on. He deserves worse, honestly.
The Red Witch turns her blood lust on her remaining friends. They are helpless against her. Can’t reason with crazy.
Kentarch uses the last of his strength to bring Jack and Baby Tee to appeal to her humanity.
When Baby Tee gets a look at psycho mom, all Empress-y-like, he screams his head off. Evie re-emerges because she wants what’s best for him.
Now, here’s where things go off the rails. I re-read this chapter and still don’t understand. Comment below if you did. They all hold hands and restore the earth. They didn’t think to do this before? This was a lackluster wrap-up to the notion of ending the game. I didn’t buy it.
And where the heck was Matthew (AKA THE FOOL)? We never get an explanation why he never helped… or even kept in touch.
The rest of the book was bittersweet. The allies must scatter far away from each other to prevent further catastrophe. Jack and Evie have a happy life together and have a gang of kids. Matthew re-emerges when Evie is old and allows her to pass on, so she won’t have to live for centuries as an immortal.
In another life, Evie is reincarnated as a girl named Ivy. When she sees Matthew again, her memories reemerge. Matthew finally is allowed to die and be at peace. She finds Death AND Jack and instead of choosing between the two; she decides to be in a throuple.
THE END.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, although it is far from my favorite in this series. For starters, that ending. Throuple, really? I’m supposed to believe both men would be okay with this? Again, sign me up for this apocalypse!
Some subplots never really went anywhere like, for instance, Jack being a minor.
The characters were memorable, especially Joules, and each had their own distinct mannerisms. The battle scene blew me away, and it was satisfying to finally see Evie go full Red Witch.
Nonetheless, From the Grave felt like a vegetarian burger between two thick buns 🍔. I had to eat through the carbs to get to the best part. The beginning and the end were too slow-paced for my taste. However, I was left satiated with this gripping Young Adult Dystopian Series.
What were your thoughts on this book or series? Feel free to let me know by commenting below.
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IF YOU ARE CRAVING MORE YA DYSTOPIAN NOVELS, CHECK OUT THIS POST HERE.