Review: Rift by Andrea Cremer

Rift by Andrea Cremer
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 431 pages
Publisher: Philomel
Series: Nightshade Prequel #1
Source: Borrowed from Danelle!

Description from Goodreads:
Chronicling the rise of the Keepers, this is the stunning prequel to Andrea Cremer's internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Sixteen-year-old Ember Morrow is promised to a group called Conatus after one of their healers saves her mother's life. Once she arrives, Ember finds joy in wielding swords, learning magic, and fighting the encroaching darkness loose in the world. She also finds herself falling in love with her mentor, the dashing, brooding, and powerful Barrow Hess. When the knights realize Eira, one of their leaders, is dabbling in dark magic, Ember and Barrow must choose whether to follow Eira into the nether realm or to pledge their lives to destroying her and her kind.

With action, adventure, magic, and tantalizing sensuality, this book is as fast-paced and breathtaking as the Nightshade novels.

I was sincerely distraught after finishing the Nightshade trilogy. Honestly, I could rant about that ALL. DAY. LONG. So naturally, after having my heart torn to pieces like that, I was...hesitant going into another book by Andrea, let alone one set in the same world, only hundreds of years earlier. Still, despite the hesitation, this book turned out to be worth it and sucked me in completely.

I will admit, the beginning didn't wow me as much as I thought it would--partly because of the Nightshade trilogy and partly because of the formal way it was written--but once the book got going, I was taken away yet again in a wonderful Andrea Cremer story. Her writing is just as wonderful as before, and she writes the most fantastic action scenes.

Character Rundown:
Ember: I liked Ember more than I liked Calla. Ember knows what she wants and sticks with it. I had little to none of the utter frustration Calla made me feel. Ember was a solid, respectful character. I look forward to reading more of her story.

Barrow: I love this guy. He is my boy in this series, no doubt about it. Jana from The Goddess says in her review that Barrow is very much like Dimitri from Vampire Academy. I agree with this--I did, in fact, find myself reminded of Dimitri a few times. Barrow is strong and mature and pretty much god-like. I adore his character!

Alastair: Alistair. What to say about him? I suppose he's a third point in this love triangle, but I don't feel much of that kind of love for him. He can be a cool guy, though he is a bit delusional at times. Poor guy. He doesn't make the best decisions given his situation, and I didn't like that. I'm a very judgemental reader, you know. And Alistair made me want to slap him a bit. Still, though...por guy. I feel for him.

Other characters: I loved reading them all. They were great in their roles and it was fantastic. That is all.

The plot. As I already said, this book takes a chunk of the beginning to really get into, but after that it's pretty much smooth sailing. I enjoyed this book very much.

Sweet things. This book has loads of sweet things. The only problem is that they're hidden within the time period norms. The romance was undeniably THERE--and so completely heart-warming--but it wasn't as obvious for most of the book as I would have personally liked. It takes a bit for something to truly happen with this. On the bright side, though, I have no doubt that the next book will make up for it tenfold.

The ending. What else would you expect from Andre Cremer than a cliff hanger? It didn't make me want to punch somebody, though, so as always, that is a plus.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than I expected to going in, as I was hugely skeptical. Needed to protect my poor little heart this time. Nevertheless, this book reeled me in and I'm officially stuck in it. I await the next book with everyone else. Hopefully there won't be as much heartbreak as in Nightshade. *fingers crossed*

♥Jessica(: