ARC Book Review: Afterglow by Karsten Knight

Title: Afterglow
Author: Karsten Knight
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: Nov 12, 2013
Rating: 3/5

Cover Impressions:  I did a little searching and found out that Laurent Linn is the cover artist for all three books.  Man, does he ever do good work.  All three of these covers are stunning and, as I said before, I loved that extra step of making the covers velvety soft.  They make me want to cuddle them. 

Review:
Afterglow is an enjoyable read with enough action to keep most readers interested.  Unfortunately, it does suffer from some of the same issues that the previous books did.  Ash has grown into her powers and is, at the same time, more and less reluctant to use them to hurt other gods.  Eve is back, and electric as ever (heh - see what I did there?).  I almost wish the series were written from dual (or tri) points of view.  I would have loved seeing different scenes from inside the heads of each of the three sisters.  I am a fan of the flashbacks though, they showed an interesting view of the Goddess Pele and gave some insight into the way in which the past has been influencing the present. 

As I mentioned in a previous review,  I really liked how we got to see a number of gods from different cultures but I wish that there was more time spent developing those characters rather than just dropping them in to hit some sort of multi-cultural quota.  I am a little bitter about the arrival (and quick dismissal) or one my favorite characters from the first book.  I really wanted these characters to be more than just plot movers.  Every time we met an awesome and amazing god - They Die!

As with the last book, this one has definite peaks and valleys.  There are lots of exciting moments and action scenes.  There are, however, very few wins in the good guy category.  It got a little old to see Ash and crew constantly having their asses handed to them or, when expecting a win, having it snatched out of their hands at the last moment.  This does have the positive side effect of making me really hate Colt.  By the end, I was itching for his death just as much as Ash was. 

And then there was the ending.  I was left a little unsatisfied.  There were some awesome characters that were lost and then we had this strange afterword that was more than a little unbelievable*

Overall, the series was an enjoyable read, and I liked seeing all the different incarnations of the gods.  And the plot was fast paced enough to keep most readers interested.  Definitely buying this one to add to my classroom collection.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 15 and up
Gender: Both
Sex: Kissing, Possible sex - very vague
Violence: Death by supernatural means, hand to hand combat
Inappropriate Language: Fuck, Bastard, Asshole, Whore
Substance Use/Abuse: None

* Seriously?  You expect me to believe that after 80 years, the new incarnation just happened to pick out Ashline's book from the millions that would have been printed in all that time?  Assuming that the book was actually still in print?!