Words on Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole (The Arcana Chronicles #3)

Think The Hunger Games with magic
Feb 17, 2015
3 min read

Evie has managed to escape Death and Lark, but in doing so, she is left unprotected and must reenter the new, deadly world of the other Arcana and their lethal game. She manages to find her way to Fort Arcana, a sort of no-man's land for the good cards. Matt uses his powers to lock the cards there in a truce that keeps them from hurting each other. Guees who built the fort? Jack.

Being at Fort Arcana is great, but Evie has some (Okay, a bunch!) problems. The lovers, Violet and Vincent, have Jack, and Selena won't let it go. Not to mention that Evie still cares about Death, and Matt keeps warning her of a new threat: the Emperor card is coming. Evie also learns more about her past games, and it turns out the Empress wasn't very popular. There are very few people who Evie hasn't betrayed in the older games.

Even when Evie manages to rescue Jack, she's still torn over everything Death told her about him, and when Death turns up at the fort.... I mean, really. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Evie's the only card who trusts Death at all, and the others at the fortgive him plenty of space. Like it or not, all the cards are going to have to work together to take down the Lovers, and when Vincent and Violet take Selena, Jack, Evie, and Death set out to bring her back.

Evie cares about Jack and Death, and, obviously, neither of them really like each other. The boys are making her choose one over the other, and Evie doesn't want to.

So Evie has to

Take out the Lovers
Fix her little love triangle
Help Selena
Find a way to beat Richter when he comes
Finally find her grandmother (Yes, that's still a plot line.)

One big thing I liked about this book was that we see more of the cards. We've met Joules, Tess, and Gabriel, but we never really got to know them. Joules is a bit of an enigma. He's very angry, but I'm not sure why, really. I know that part of it is his hatred of Death for Calanthe's death. Tess knows that she's probably the weakest of the cards. She has some awesome powers, but she doesn't really know how to use them. She wants to help in any way she can, and she kind of looks up to Evie. It's cute. Gabriel is a bit old fashioned, but he tries to fit in even when he talks like these are the 1900s. He's also crushing on Selena. He's adorable. Oh, and I alomost forgot - we also meet a new card, The High Priestess. Her name is Circe Rémire. We don't see much of her, but she seems like she and Evie could get along just fine.

We also finally meet the lovers face to face, and they're as bad as I was expecting. They's absolutlely twisted. The Emperor cards is named Richter. Like the scale. I think he's a little insane. We don't meet him face to face, but he seems to be out to get Evie.

I liked the tension between Jack and Death as a sideplot. (Go Team Aric!) Everything I learned about the new characters was interesing, and there was plenty of action. The plot was well-paced and The cliffhanger ending was perfect. It left me practically salivating for the next book. 4/5.