Review: Immortal Rider – Larissa Ione

Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione
Series:  Lord of Deliverance #2
Release Date:  November 22, 2011
Publisher:   Grand Central Publishing
Page Count:  432
Source:  Publisher
Buy the book at: Amazon

The signs are everywhere…disastrous world events. Evil rising up, unleashed upon the innocent. The prophecies were there…but no one listened. Until now. The time has come for those who can either usher in Doomsday…or prevent it. They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Arik Wagner, a soldier with the U.S. Army’s paranormal unit, the R-XR, kissed a girl and liked it. And then he went to hell as punishment. Where he’s spent weeks being tortured…and plotting revenge.

Limos, Horsewoman of the Apocalypse, isn’t your average girl. She’s immortal, dangerous, and her fiancé is Satan himself. In a moment of weakness, she gave in to her desire and kissed Arik, triggering her fiancé’s wrath – and his claim on her. In order to save Arik, and the world, Limos must make a dangerous pact with her recently turned evil brother, Pestilence. A deal that might just cost her her soul…and her heart.

Wow!  Just…WOW!

Limos (or Famine as she’s known in Horseman world) wants to have what most woman want:  family and friends to love, to find a man who will love her forever and to be a mother.  Sure, she can start a famine and wipe out an entire continent, strike down demons and other uglies with a flick of her sword or dagger just as good as her brothers and she happens to currently be engaged to Satan…but she’s still a woman at heart.  And it’s hard for that woman to be remotely interested in a man when she knows that come the time to become intimate with a man, her chastity belt becomes a problem.

Enter Arik Wagner.  He’s part of the governments R-XR unit which works to keep things all paranormal hidden from humans.  He’s working with Kynan and the Aegis to try and figure out a way to stop Pestilence (Reseph) from further spreading his wrath across the globe while helping the remaining horseman ensure their seals don’t break.  Arik is especially drawn to Limos and in a weakened moment at her brother’s engagement party he kisses her.  That kiss sends him on a journey straight to hell.

Limos and Arik have quite a journey to get to their HEA.  To start, Limos is still engaged to Satan.  But then there’s saving Arik from hell.  Saving Arik from Pestilence who’s determined to use Arik’s soul.  Finding Limos’ agimortus and keeping it from Pestilence.  All this in between their budding romance developing.  Of course, there’s still that chastity belt issue..but they work around that *wink, wink*.

I never really liked Arik when he was in the Demonica series.  He’s was always a bit of an ass.  Sure that could have been his military training, especially given the unit he works in, but I always thought it was more of a prejudice thing against those that weren’t exactly human.  Suddenly with Limos, we see this other side to Arik.  The softer, sexier than hell side of him.  We learn why he’s a bit biased towards demons and such, but we also watch him fall in love with a woman who’s so much more and his perfect match.

Limos is an enigma.  On the outside she appears as a party girl with her flirty skirts and skimpy bathing suits.  On the flip side, she’s also a horseman that can kick the crap out of anyone or anything that comes after her.  But deep down, she’s a woman who’s afraid the lies of the past will destroy her relationship with the brothers that she loves and the man who has come to mean so much to her.  Like the rest of us mere mortals, she struggles with how ask for forgiveness from those she’s hurt and hope they can move forward.   It’s quite refreshing to find 5,000 year old immortals have the same issues as us.  LOL!

Thanatos and Regan’s secondary storyline was a great set up for the next book, Lethal Rider.   I’m not sure how that one is going to get pulled off since Regan has caused Than to enter into a entirely new sphere of pissed off.  I can’t wait!

An awesome installment in the Lord of Deliverance series.