Dead of Winter: Arcana Chronicles, Book 3

I seriously thought this was going to be another trilogy and thus the end of the Arcana Chronicles. Despite the excruciating cliff-hanger ending I am so relieved that this series will continue on for at least another book (or hopefully more). I get utterly lost in this world that Ms. Cole has created. She is hands down my favorite author and she did not disappoint with this one. I will be holding my breath until the next book which undoubtedly will not come soon enough. Curse you Ms. Cole and your brilliant writing.

Emma Galvin's performance, once again, made this a fantastic listen. I read the ebook while I listened to the audiobook and Emma Galvin's narration made the book even better. I am a big fan of Kresley Cole, but I found that (in Dead of Winter at least) she went a little overboard with her use of exclamation points! It gets distracting to read like that after a while! See what I mean!?! Emma Galvin softened those exclamations and put such life into the story.

I am firmly Team Death. He doesn't treat Evie like a fragile damsel in distress and, unlike Jack, Death is always honest with her.

Yes, and she is one of my favourite narrators. I found Poison Princess (book one in the Arcana Chronicles) by searching for books narrated by Emma Galvin. Her voices for the main characters are consistent and distinct. If she could just differentiate the voices for the other characters a little bit more, this would have been a five-star performance.

The ending. Kresley Cole, you are killing me with these cliffhangers! I hate it when books end in such a harrowing cliffhanger, but it also brings a little hope for those who were wishing for a different outcome. With fifteen minutes left in the audiobook, I wasn't sure if I was happy about how the book was ending, but the conclusion was such a dramatic twist and it wiped out my theory as to where the next book is headed.

Evie's whining was quite annoying and very much teen angst and took away from the main story. the first two books were great and I'm a huge fan of Kresley Cole but this time it wasn't quite there

Let's be honest, you cannot go wrong reading any book that KC has written. I am continually amazed at how creative she is. The writing is strong and entertaining. She must do some serious research before every book she writes because the background is so well developed.

I will say I am team Jack, not going to lie, I love that cajun! However, mostly I am team Evie! that girl rocks. She is intense, strong and also vulnerable.

Narrator is amazing. Awesome listen as always! Can't wait until book 4.

Just gets better and better. I guess there's another book to come. This is a cliff hanger of the worst kind. How long will we have to wait. Aaaaah I want MORE

DEAD OF WINTER was on the top of my most anticipated listens for 2015 and the team of Cole and Galvin delivered!

But I had to take away one star from my normal 5 stars for this series because of the love triangle. Not that it was bad! Yes this is an element in the series that needed to be addressed but maybe not for about 70% of the book. But have no fear Kresley Cole wrote it well. Sure there was some angst but it was not whiny.

In most love triangles I’ve read there is a clear front-runner (at least for me). Cole has made it hard for Evie (and me) to pick which guy she should be with. Just when I think I’ve picked the one I want her with the other guy does something I like and makes me change my mind. Both Jack and Aric (Death) has pros and cons. But I’ve decided that I’m for Aric all the way.

Why?

“I take no actions that I wouldn’t publicly recount. If you can’t speak your deeds, then don’t do them.”

That quote along has pushed me 100% over to “Team Death”. Aric might be many things but he has always been honest with Evie.

Ok romance aside we get more information on two of the Arcana Cards, The Lovers. WOW are those two freaky and all kinds of fucked up! We get some of the signature darkness of the series. We get little of the bagmen and slavers, none of the cannibals. So yeah about 70% of the book is about the love triangle.

The ending promises the next book could bring us back to the epic world Kresley Cole has built with her Arcana Chronicles. So I’ll impatiently wait for it and gobble it up like all the others on audio because Emma Galvin continues to knock the narration out of the park! She has the prefect voice for the series.

It took me a little longer to get through it, but I loved it. I'm so glad this isn't another trilogy considering all the trilogies in this genre. I just hope it isn't long before the next one.

Another cliffhanger. More of the second book barely met one new arcana. I'm disappointed and if I gotta wait another year I'm going to crazy!!

This audiobook was #4 on my most anticipated reads of 2015 list, so it’s with a heavy heart that I give it 3-stars. The dystopian universe created by Kresley Cole in THE ARCANA CHRONICLES that I’ve come to adore was dwarfed by this series’ love triangle, and the plot whittled down to Evie’s boy toy choice. Now, perhaps I’m slightly bitter because she didn’t go with the team that I was rooting for, but in the end that really didn’t seem to matter because the author threw another cliffhanger at us making the heroine’s decision moot.

My primary fascination with these novels stemmed from the world-building’s link to Tarot, and so far we’ve met new cards in every installment, until DEAD OF WINTER. Ok, that’s not entirely accurate because The High Priestess and The Emperor threw their lot in with the rest, and we also learned more about The Lovers and The World’s abilities, however these elements were so microscopic in comparison to the drama between Evie / Jack / Aric that I barely took note of them. I did enjoy the flashbacks to what happened to Death and the Cajun post ENDLESS KNIGHT, but again, I needed more.

This story was all about the love triangle which just plain sucked because the trio wound up working together for the better part of this book, and that in turn lead to angst, angst, and more angst. Subsequently, all of the originality was siphoned out of this series in favour of the biggest Young Adult trope of them all. In the past, I’ve liked the apocalyptic flavour of THE ARCANA CHRONICLES, yet this latest installment was no longer about surviving Baggers, cannibals, and the game, but rather what boy Evie Greene’s heart belonged to. Yes, that quagmire was solved, except no, not really.

Emma Galvin’s narration was like a lighthouse in a storm because without her delivery to keep me listening, I most likely would have finished this audiobook in a week instead of two days. I enjoyed the intensity with which she performed this tale, and the slower pace at which she reads this series definitely draws you in. Jack piles on the French in this novel, and that was unfortunate because Galvin’s mastery of that language really leaves something to be desired, but she tried her best, and this particular shortcoming is only noticeable to francophones, so I let it slide.

DEAD OF WINTER could have been a grand conclusion to THE ARCANA CHRONICLES; instead there will be a book 4.

I thought this was the end, but clearly it's not. Great work Kresley, I couldn't stop reading this!!!- it was incredible, and now I'm sad to wait once again for the next book....