(Review) Riders

Riders by Veronica Rossi
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Pages: 384 (hardcover) 
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars

Goodreds Synopsis:
Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

My Review: 
I don't really know what I was expecting with this one, so I guess I got it? I loved Rossi's Under the Never Sky series, so this was definitely at the top of my list. I like how her writing is simple and easy to understand but with a good plot. 

I guess I was a little disappointed with the simplicity of this book. Gideon is an okay character. The synopsis is pretty clear about what happened to him. He pretty much "died' and then woke up as a horsemen. Soon enough he and Daryn, the seeker, are on a quest to find the others. 

This is all taking place, of course, as Gideon is tied to a chair and telling some sort of military personnel his story. As Gideon is telling his story, he's also trying to figure out where the rest of his friends are. They were on a mission and they failed, that's why they've been split up. 

The story is pretty interesting, if not slow. I love world building, but this seemed to drag for me. When Gideon and Daryn meet the other boys, then things started to get a little more interesting. Each of the horsemen have certain powers and weapons, so that was a great addition to the book. Of course, Gideon and Daryn have a connection, but it almost doesn't make sense to me. I feel like there was way too much other stuff going on for them to just "fall into" each other when they're supposed to be trying to save the world. I'm not crazy about the relationship, but hopefully it will be fleshed out more in the books that follow. 

I appreciated the ending and how the boys came together. Bas, Marcus, and Jode were great characters. They each had their little quirks and moments, a good balance from Gideon's anger and seriousness. 

Hopefully we'll learn more about the other horsemen in the rest of the series. 


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