Underworld
Last year, Pierce died – just for a moment. And when she was in the space between life and death, she met John: a devilishly handsome boy who ushers souls from one world to the next. Pierce tried to fight her attraction to John but has now accepted her fate and gone to live with him in the dark realm between heaven and hell. She may finally be safe from the Furies – the angry, vengeful souls of the dead – but is she safe from John? When she discovers that she’s a prisoner and her family are in danger she must escape even if it means risking everything, even her life . . .
I have been waiting for this since having the ARC of Abandon and I haven’t been disappointed.
Underworld begins right where Abandon left off. Pierce wakes up in the Underworld with John. She has to try and process everything she has just found out; her grandmother is a Fury and has just tried to kill her, she has tried to kill her before (!), the Furies are after her as a way to hurt John and they won’t stop until they get what they want. Phew, on top of all this she is now in the Underworld for safety and because of all the above can’t really go home. Being with John might be a dream come true, but life in the Underworld? Pierce doesn’t feel ready to let go of her Mum and her cousin Alex just yet.
So with all that in the background Pierce begins to explore her knew home and her relationship with John as she realises there is a lot about him she doesn’t know, and she wants to find out. She discovers he has some ‘undead’ friends living in the Underworld with him and her. Curiosity continues to grow, not just about John as the head of the entrance to the Underworld, but about his life, his family, the ship he sailed and most of all his death and how he came to be undead. Being the second book in a trilogy not all the answers are revealed, but over the course of the story we do get to know more about the enigmatic John.
Pierce is also worried about her cousin, Alex, who she sees on her phone trapped in a coffin. Her phone shouldn’t work in this other realm so Pierce is desperate to make sure he is alright. John is worried about taking her back, not only because of the danger from the Furies but because now Pierce lives in the Underworld she might find visiting her family a bit difficult. Pierce’s insistence that they go leads to all sorts of drama and it reveals more about the history of Pierce’s own family and the links it might have with John’s history.
In addition to all this is the development of John and Pierce’s relationship. Pierce is unsure if she wants to be stuck in the Underworld, although she is sure she wants to be with John. The connections to Hades and Persephone come to the fore as Pierce grapples with whether or not she will be able to leave the Underworld for good at all. We finally discover the significance of those pomegranate seeds!
Verdict: There is loads going on in the novel and I was hooked. There is plenty more action I haven’t covered. Its a real page turner and I still want to know more and see how it all works out. Hurry up book 3!
