YA Paranormal Fantasy Review: Tempting Fate by April White
Tempting Fate by April White (The Immortal Descendants #2)
review copy courtesy of the author
Synopsis from Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Clocker, Saira Elian is back on the run and being hunted by Mongers. The Descendants of War are amassing power in the 21st century, bent on controlling all the Immortal Descendants. Their attempt to kidnap Saira, a rare Descendant of Time and Nature, reveals just how brazen they’ve become. Archer, the vampire who has loved Saira for over a century, is willing to risk everything to protect her.
When a horrific vision reveals Ringo, thief and loyal companion from 1888, being tortured at the hands of the bloodthirsty Bishop Wilder in a Renaissance prison, Saira and Archer realize there has been a ripple in the river of Time, and they must travel to 1554 to find its source and save their friend. Their rescue mission lures them to the Tower of London, site of the most notorious executions in history, where they encounter the mysterious Lady Elizabeth who is confronting a terrible fate of her own.
The time-traveler, the vampire, and the thief will need all of their skills and ingenuity as they race against time to steal a document that could change the course of history and put the Immortal Descendants at the mercy of the Mongers. Can they stop a madman bent on collecting the blood of history’s most powerful Seer before the executioner’s axe falls?
Amazon US/UK | Amazon kindle US/UK
8.5/10
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What a nerve-wracking, delightful piece of young adult time travel fiction!I've already said that April White's Marking Time which I had the opportunity to read last year was wonderful, and I recommended it to everyone left, right and center. In many ways Miss White follows the path carved by Deborah Harkness and successfully interweaves magic, destiny, vampires and time travel.
Saira, her main heroine and an illegal half-breed Clocker is a descendant of Time who continues to hunt a rogue vampire, Wilder, travelling through time and causing ripples which threaten everything she knows.
If last book was spent chasing The Ripper through Victorian London, in Tempting Fate, Saira, Archer and Ringo are forced to go further down in history trying to save young princess Elizabeth from being beheaded in The Tower of London.
I would say that first third of the book is pretty quiet, but it picks up when Saira appears in pre-Elizabethan London, and becomes pretty intense and scary in its last third. I know I could not stop reading and was so involved with the characters my whole body did not relax until I got to the end of the book.
What I enjoy in this series is a refreshing level headedness of its characters and the absence of over dramatization which is so typical for YA. Saira is not a loner, she has a strong circle of friends, and while Archer loves her, and she loves him, both of them keep their heads cool which allows them to work as a team through a lot of awful situations.
Ringo as a Victorian thief is an absolute delight as well. I'm glad that Saira could drag him out of his time stream and let him help her in her mission. I hope we'll see him again in the next book.
Overall, it's a lovely series which I recommend to all the fans of paranormal YA fantasy and especially to those who have a weakness for time travel novels.
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Я рада, что в прошлом году мне удалось познакомиться с творчеством Эйприл Уайт. Она - прекрасный автор подросткового, удачно идущая по стопам Деборы Харкнесс, и вторая книга серии это только доказывает.Если в предыдущем романе потомок Времени, клокер Саира встречает Арчера и Ринго и гоняется за Потрошителем по улицам викторианского Лондона, то в этот раз троица вынуждена углубиться ещё дальше в прошлое, чтобы спасти принцессу Элизабет от топора в Лондонском Таэуре, чего добивается мятежник вампир Уайлдер, пытающийся изменить историю в пользу его потомков.
Если первая треть книги довольно медленная, то вторая набирает ритм и под конец кусаешь губы и сжимаешь кулаки за главных героев, настолько атмосфера мрачная и напряжённая.
Мне также очень нравится, что Саира не склонна к чрезмерной драматизации событий и чувств. Она - нормальная молодая девушка с кучей поддерживающих её друзей и с любящим её бойфрендом Арчером. И хоть их любовь взаимна, заниматься сексом они не спешат, а работают в прекрасном партнёрстве друг с другом и не теряют головы в очень стрессовых ситуациях.
Ринго - это тоже ещё тот задорный весельчак-мошенник, и я судовольствием буду ждать его появления в последующих книгах серии.
В общем, замечательная книга, советую читать всю серию поклонникам паранормального фэнтези, а также путешествий во времени в сочетании с вампирами, сильными героинями и волшебством.
