Book Review: Riders By Veronica Rossi

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Riders
Riders #1
Author: Veronica Rossi
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: February 16 2016
Review Source: Tor Teen

Riders. A new fantasy adventure from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Veronica Rossi.

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

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?

Gideon is a teen who has felt that he has found his path in life when things start to change for him. After an airplane jump gone wrong he is burdened with some new found powers. Unsure how to handle it, he's just trying to make sense of things when he meets Daryn who might have the answers that he is looking for.

For some reason books like these have been falling into my lap lately. I absolutely love fantasy, and the story that is behind this is amazing. It's just weird to me that even television shows I've been watching have surrounded their story around the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But I'm not going to argue about it because, like I said, I really enjoy it.

The writing style that Rossi uses in Riders is what drew me in right away. I love that it goes between being Gideon's thoughts to the conversation Gideon is having between Cordero. I know I'm not explaining it well - it's difficult to because it doesn't necessarily change POV, but it does change. It's like one minute we're in Gideon's head and the next we're in the interrogation room with him and Cordero. And I absolutely loved that.

I have a terrible preconceived notion in my head  that when the author is a female the lead will be a female. So I was shocked - in a good way - when the lead was a male. And the fact that Rossi was able to portray a male so well was another thing that drew me into the story.

But my favorite part would have to be how Rossi opened the book. We start in the middle of the action. Gideon is captured by Cordero, who is looking for some answers. And we get the back story as he is being interrogated by Cordero. And that makes a reader go "Wait...WHY IS HE THERE?!" Which is exactly what you want because then readers will be flipping pages until they get their answers!