The 7th and final book of The Arcana Chronicles.

The end of the game draws near. Arcana Majors are being pushed closer together and shaky alliances are formed, while the Minors make plays to push the game towards it’s final days. Jack has left Castle Lethe, Evie is dealing with her pregnancy, and Aric is trying to make amends with his wife. They’re surrounded by other Majors, planning to bring down the Emperor and Fortune. Secrets come to light, mysteries are answered, and we find out whether or not love can transcend time.

This is the last book in a series that began a decade ago. It finishes one of the most interesting takes on Arcana that I’ve ever read. Making the Arcana cards fight to the death in a post-apocalyptic-style game orchestrated by the Gods? Yes, please!

I enjoyed Kresley Cole’s many characters. They had a wide range of appropriate abilities and personalities that closely matched their tarot cards, and even the ones who were non-arcana were interesting and brought a lot to the story. The only character I don’t care for is Evie, who I have not liked since the beginning. I appreciate her style and her fierceness, but she’s abrasive, immature, and stubborn beyond belief. I know, she’s technically the main character of this whole series, but the story is good enough, and the surrounding characters are full enough to make up for it.

The first half of this book was a set up for the climactic “end”. The final battle where they plan to take down Richter and Zara as a group. After the final battle though, things don’t go as planned, in fact, everything actually changes. The last half of the book captures what happens in the aftermath. There’s also what seems to be several epilogues… this story just takes forever to end, spanning decades of time.

We do get an answer to the ultimate questions though:
1. Who will Evie end up with? Aric or Jack?
2. To what extent was Matthew, The Fool, controlling the game?

Overall, I will admit that I enjoyed this book immensely. It had all the things I loved about a good apocalypse story and it was full of heartbreak, heartache, tragedy, and yet, still some happiness. While I was annoyed with the ending (the last ending… at the very end of the book), I think that Cole wrapped things up really well and it all did make sense. I’m glad we got closure and I’m glad it all sort of worked out *wink*. Even though I don’t care for Evie, I loved what I experienced and I wish I could read it all over again from the very beginning for the very first time. It’s worth the 10 years it took to get to the end. Great job, Kresley.

Overall, I give it a 5 out of 5.

If you’d like to read more about From the Grave by Kresley Cole, check it out on Goodreads.

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