Entice (Need #3)

Entice, the third book in the Need series by Carrie Jones, is mostly a story of Zara’s quest to rescue Nick from Valhalla. He’s dead (sort of), but apparently there is a way to rescue him from this sad state because Nick has been saved as a warrior to fight with the god Odin in the great final battle that is preparing to take place. But how does one reach the mystical halls of Valhalla? Zara devotes herself to discovering this during this book.

But this is not a book about Nick and Zara. This is a book about Astley and Zara. Zara has agreed to become a pixie because it is necessary for her to be a pixie in order to be allowed to enter Valhalla, and as long as she allows herself to focus on this quest she can mostly be at peace with her decision to give up her humanity. But her choice to change did not just involve her alone. She is now Astley’s queen, and that could definitely throw some confusion into the matter if she manages to pull Nick out of Valhalla. As a pixie queen Zara is responsible for an entire group of pixies who look to her for strength and guidance. It isn’t the easiest thing for her to handle. One minute you’re an awkward teenager worrying about teenager sort of things, and the next you are still a bit of an awkward teenager, but you are supposed to radiate courage and strength. The pixies need to see Zara and Astley as a strong team, but because Zara is still in her save-Nick mindset, Astley is weakened a bit as a king. That is going to have to change. You would expect that Astley would be pushing Zara hard to perform her role as a queen more effectively so that he has all the strength he needs to fight this new war against the bad pixies, but he doesn’t. This is the story when Astley becomes Way Amazingly Awesome in my view!

Astley obviously has strong feelings for Zara. It isn’t exactly clear how strong those feelings are, but through his actions he proves to be true to her in every regard. He doesn’t just say that he cares. He shows her by being there for her in all circumstances, whether it is difficult for him or not. Zara cannot stop focusing on her quest for “her Nick”. You would think that this would irritate Astley, and I’m sure that it does to some extent. There are a few times when I can sense his difficulty in giving Zara the space she requires. However, he puts these emotions to the side and volunteers to lead the quest to find the way to Valhalla. He swears to Zara that he will help her to get her wolf back. And he is amazing at it! There are so many struggles that he has had in his life, but he pushes concern for his needs to the side in order to serve Zara in everything. Only a couple of times in the novel does he let down his guard and truly show how difficult all of this is for him. I absolutely LOVE this character, and I am totally rooting for Zara to open her eyes and see exactly who this pixie king is so that she can allow herself to fall in love with him. Please, please, please let this be the ending to this series!

Because I became more and more entrenched in Team Astley for this book I will admit that the entire basis for the story had the potential to become annoying. After all, the whole plot of this book was driven by Zara’s need to bring Nick back from the dead. I didn’t want for Nick to end up back with Zara. As nice of a character as he was, I still never felt all that enthusiastic about his relationship with Zara. I would almost equate it with your first real love in high school where you thought the sun rose and fell with that person, only to grow up and realize that you only had a very surface relationship, finally allowing yourself to see reality and find your true love waiting for you. Maybe that doesn’t make sense at all as I’ve described it. But that’s my feeling about the Nick/Zara relationship. It was nice, but it isn’t meant to be. So potentially I could have hated this book for that reason. But I ended up feeling like Astley at the end. Zara needed to do this so that if Astley does end up with Zara, it will be because she truly loves him and chooses him. Astley could never compete with a ghost and Zara’s memories of awesome Nick. Allowing Zara to find and retrieve Nick will clear things up for the future. So I rooted for Zara to find a way to Valhalla in this book. I just wish she would have stopped constantly referring to “her Nick” throughout the book. Especially when Astley was being Mr. Awesome all the time. Erg!

There were interesting themes in this book as Zara started to come to terms with her identity as a pixie. What made her who she was? How would her new identity change her relationship with the world around her, especially with her family and friends? Is it worth the risk to everyone for Zara to find Nick and bring him back, or should she accept his death and move on? There is a traitor in the pixie world, and should Zara be more concerned with serving in her new role as a pixie queen than she is in holding on for dear life to her old role as a human in this wacky world? All very interesting to read about, and the themes kept me thinking outside of the reading as well.

So this was another good book in the Need series. This is the book that really got me onboard with the story, mostly because of my love for Astley as a character. I hope all works out for them in the end, and that makes me eager to begin the fourth and final book of the series right away.

The books just seemed to keep getting better for me. The third installment of the Need series took me on a real wild ride. I loved the direction this series has taken.

The story continues for Zara, Nick, Astley, and friends. Zara is really focused on going to Valhalla and getting Nick back. Astley is focused on making Zara the queen she needs to be and the rest of the gang just wants to stop the pixies. There are so many problems and so little time for Zara and the gang to figure things out. The mythology really came out in this book with Zara’s trip to Valhalla. I loved the world that the author created in Valhalla. Wet a few new characters and had some good battle scenes. Valhalla definitely was a great addition to the story. The plot definitely thickens more!

The gang is still great and some of the characters are edging their way to awesome. Zara struggles with her choices. She wants to save Nick from Valhalla but is concerned about being a pixie. She feels she made the right choice to be pixie but also knows it is changing her, drawing her closer to Astley and her pixies. She wants to be the queen she needs to be but how does she do that without leaving her friends behind. There are so many that she loves who exist to fight what she is. I could see Zara maturing more in these books, she thinks more and acts slower.

Astley keeps growing on me more and more. I really love Astley. As I get to know him more, I love him more. I know that Zara loves Nick and they have their story, but I really want Zara to be with Nick. I feel this is where she belongs. Astley has me believing that not all pixies have to be bad.

Of course the end comes, another cliffhanger. So again, have Endure really close by!

Pixies, like faeries, are sweet, cute, harmless creatures, right? WRONG! What happened to the cute little pixies we remember from our childhood stories? Now they have blue skin, are tall, with jagged teeth… Oh, and they drink people’s blood and torture them… Yeah, these are creeper pixies who can barely be controlled. But Zara was turned into a pixie at the end of the second book in this series, Captivate. Has she become one of these creepers in body and soul in Carrie Jones’s third book, Entice?

Now that Zara allowed Astley to turn her into a pixie to save Nick, she has to deal with who she has become- is she still Zara, the girl who writes letters for Amnesty International and worries about keeping people safe or is she Astley’s pixie queen with a legion of pixie followers (and traitors)? Most importantly, how can she save Nick from Valhalla where the Valkyrie took his warrior soul? Frank, the pixie king who let the trapped pixies loose, not only “killed” Nick and caused him to be sent to Valhalla, he has also unleashed pure evil upon the small town in Maine. With all those pixies loose, Zara and her “were” (were-eagle, were-bear, etc.) friends are struggling to maintain the protection of the people in town. Already a dozen young men have gone missing and the police and FBI believe a serial killer is loose. But Zara and her friends know the truth- pixies are capturing the teen boys to feed off of and torture.

While Zara continues the search to find Valhalla, she and Astley find themselves in a lot of danger. It seems someone else is aligning pixies that should be loyal to Zara and Astley. Each attempt to find Valhalla leads to unspeakable tragedy and loss. Zara also quickly becomes conflicted. She knows she loves Nick, but Astley has been so good to her and the few kisses they have shared are unbelievable. She feels as though she is betraying both men in her life- Nick for caring about Astley and even being a pixie and Astley for not being the queen he needs to rule his people. Can she figure it all out and still find Nick in Valhalla before it is too late?

All I can say is this had better not be a trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, the story was fun and exciting, but if this is truly the end, I cry foul! Sure, some stuff was definitely resolved, but is this really it?! NO! All I can say is there had better be a fourth book, or I am going to formally lodge a complaint with Ms. Jones!

The story is a little creepier than the others. It is definitely darker and more sinister, but the creepers aren’t as one dimensional as they have been in the previous two novels. This time, the pixies have some redeeming qualities and aren’t quite as evil… well some of them anyway. Others are still just creepy blue people with huge shark teeth. As long as this story continues, I will count it as a great installment. If this is the end, I admit I feel cheated…

Entice starts off right after Captivate where Zara’s friends are still struggling to accept that she is a good pixie and Zara is determined to rescue Nick from Valhalla.

This is basically about Zara learning about Valhalla and Norse mythology to find a way to rescue Nick both for her and as the defender of Bedford. At the same time Zara worries whether Nick will even accept her as a pixie. Also Frank and his evil pixies are terrorising the town and are kidnapping boys for their needs, and Zara plus friends have to help protect everyone.

One down side is the lack of Nick in this book although he does influence everything in this book. There are plenty of plot twists and turns and you do not know what will happen next.

What I love about this series is the relationships between the characters, especially Betty and Zara relationship, and how Betty overcomes her resentment of pixies because of Zara. I also like the friendship between Astley and Zara and how they are both there for each other when they need help.

Even though I love this book it is a bit of a filler between Captivate and Endure. However it is still a very enticing read and I would recommend for those who have the rest of the series of if you like YA paranormal books.

This series is developing fantastically. The characters are likable, there are surprises in store, and there is a good balance of teenage daft behaviour mixed with stepping up to the plate as and when needed. Zara, her friends and their town are still in trouble, and they are fighting the good fight. I don’t want to say too much, because their are surprises I don’t want to spoil, but if you enjoyed the first two books, or books by Claudia Dunkle, Stephenie Meyer, Kelley Armstrong and Rachel Caine etc. then definitely take a look at this series/book.

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