Book Review: Silver Knight

Silver Knight (Silver Series #1)

Author: Caron Rider 

Published by: Smashwords 

Publication Date: 24 February 2012 

Page Count: 278 

Buy it at Barnes and Noble or Amazon 

Source: e-book provided by author 

Audience: Young Adult – Paranormal

Silver Knight by Caron Rider is not just about 17-year-old Diana, a girl who has dreams about past lives. It’s also about Demons of the Dark and Warriors of the Light, and an ongoing battle between the two that stretches through time to the very beginning.

Diana is just an ordinary 17-year old just trying to survive high school. She also has constant, terrifying dreams that repeatedly see her fighting black shadowy creatures and in most cases, dying horribly. She olny confides in those closest to her about her crazy dreams, until one day she watched a YouTube video of a priest begging for Warriors to heed his call. Diana actually recognizes this priest from one of her dreams, and soon realizes that what she is dreaming are past lives. She goes to New York, to a house she knows from these dreams and finds four other Warriors waiting for her. They take off for Rome, where the priest lives, to battle hundreds of demons hiding out in the Catacombs beneath the city. Along the way, she meets people she has known from her past lives, good and bad, but the lines between the two are blurring.

This story definitely intrigued me. I loved the synopsis, having past lives, being reincarnated each time you die to start fighting all over again. Some might say that’s a harsh way to live, never knowing when you’ll die, but reliving every death you’ve ever had through nightmares. And honestly, it really is. You would think that as some point, you would just give up, but not so for Diana and her new Warrior friends. They fight, they die, and they fight all over again. It would take great warriors to do this over and over again, the strength to keep going, never knowing when or if they’ll win the fight, let alone the war.

I did feel, however, that Diana took to the whole reincarnation, fighting evil, dying lots, thing quite easily. If I had just connected my dreams to past lives, familiar people I shouldn’t know but do somehow, or knowing how horribly I had died hundreds of times, I might have had a moment or two of panic attacks. That’s just me, though. Diana and her friends decided within ten minutes of talking with the priest she recognized that they were flying to Rome to fight demons. To me, that’s doesn’t seem realistic. Take a moment to let your character freak out before she rushes headlong into a war up until now, she’s only dreamed about.

The other characters fascinated me as well. All the reincarnated people are great heroes and characters from legends and stories we’ve grown up knowing and loving. You have Paris and Helen of Troy, King Solomon, David from David and Goliath, and Alexander the Great, to name a few. They are scattered throughout historical events as well, events that obviously, history never mentioned them in. I’ve always loved stories like that, where they find a way to intertwine their characters throughout historical events. To me, it shows great imagination.

The story is written about half present day, and half backstories for the characters, explaining how they each got to where they are today. It was very interesting reading their backstories, learning who they were. I think the author did a lot of research into these characters, to make sure they all fit into history and legends as seamlessly as possible. I did feel, however, that when reading Diana’s history, it was a bit chaotic, hard to follow because they jumped back and forth in time, no particular order. I found myself going back and checking the dates above each flashback several times to get my bearings.

The story was written mainly from Diana’s point of view, but Helen, Jarrett, Solomon, and David each got to tell their own parts. If not for the heading above each chapter the character told, it was hard to distinguish each of their own voices. The writing style for each was too similar, not enough distinction between them. I sometimes had to check to make it hadn’t switched back to Diana.

This is definitely the first book in a series because for one, it leaves you with a cliff-hanger. It also leaves a lot of questions disappointingly unanswered. The story did intrigue me enough to want to read the continuing stories in this series, so I am looking forward to finding out more about the Warriors of Light.

One Last Thought: The writing style is a bit stilted in places. The author does use contractions, but I feel like she could have used them a little more often, to make the speech of the writing (not necessarily the dialogue) a little less formal. It was still overall a good read.

Favorite Thing About This Book: I love the little plot twists, not giving away any spoilers.

First Sentence: It was dark…and then there was light.

Favorite Character: Diana

Least Favorite Character: None from this story.

Synopsis

A Struggle Against Evil-Love Through the Ages-A Destiny to Fulfill What would you do if you were a reincarnated, demon fighting warrior, and then came face to face with the demon you had loved, betrayed, and been killed by through the centuries?

When seventeen-year-old Diana recognizes an elderly priest in a video on YouTube, she realizes that reincarnation is real and that she's been alive before! Every night in her dreams, she views her past lives learning that it's kill or be killed.

Now a bishop at the Vatican whom she saved in another life calls on her once more. She is needed to help defeat an infestation of demons living within the catacombs of Rome.

But when she arrives in Rome, she meets Alexander - the man of her dreams! Through the centuries she has loved him, betrayed him, and been killed by him. Will she give him another chance or this time will she strike first?

Silver Knight takes you on an adventure where demons and heroes from the past blend with history, action, and just a hint of romance.