Review: Riders by Veronica Rossi

Riders (Riders #1) by Veronica Rossi

Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.
While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.
They fail.
Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.
But will anyone believe him?

GR
Publishes in US: February 16th 2016 by Tor Teen
Genre: YA fantasy
Source: library
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not effected by the book being free.
Series? Riders #1
Seeker (Riders, #2) Expected publication: 2017 by Tor

My reviews of 
Under the Never Sky
Through the Ever Night
Into the Still Blue 

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    I wanted to read riders because I like Rossi previous book series a whole lot the romance and action and pretty much does everything about it so I definitely wanted to give her new series a try. I liked the fact we have male narrator because that is pretty rare, and I also had a lot of respect for the fact that he was following in his father's footsteps and not just joining the Army, but training for the elite unit.

   First chapter starts after getting in had died and I guess already done some of the apocalypse horse rider stuff because he was being interrogated and he was frantic to get out and do something about the chaos outside of those walls. And I think again to tell the story to the people questioning him we go back in time a little bit and get to see him as he's just joining the Army and trying to get into the elite Rangers unit.

   But man was this book SLOW for me. There were several times I thought about putting it down because it was a back and forth timeline, there were a LOT of characters, and we start out even more confused than Gideon. But I wanted to love it, and I thought the premise was good. It just wasn't what I expected.

   One of the most important character development or story arcs I think was when Gideon was really struggling with himself with the question of "am I good?"
he was the horseman war and war generally brings about suffering and death and just the name of the four horsemen is death famine and conquest. it really doesn't paint a pretty picture if you think about it. but Gideon had some things in his past already that made him wonder would I have heard this person more if I haven't stopped or wrestling with scenarios like that.

   Glad I got through this one, but will not continue. 

Bottom Line: Too slow, but wanted to enjoy.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Which horseman would you pick?