** spoiler alert ** ok. the truth is that i rated this a 4 because there is no 4.5. but just pretend its a 4.5 stars rating. so i really liked this book. i thought that the romance between Nick and Zara was a little weird in this book though. its not in a bad its just the fact that they call each other "baby" so much. i dont know why but it just kind of bothered me. Other than that i thought it was much more interesting than the first book. more things happened. There were also really cool new characters introduced that i really liked. there were also some twists. and here is where the real spoilers are so be warned.
so first, you would think that Issie and Devyn would be together from page 1 but no. Theres this girl which Devyn dated in the 4th grade named Cassidy, who hangs out with him a lot. a little too much actually and this has Issie sad and it has Zara a bit angry. but can you blame her? so anyway, as the story progresses, you get to read about how sad Issie is about the whole thing and how Devyn is comepletely oblivious that Issie is falling head over heels for him. but no worries because in the end you find out that Cassidy is actually part elf and can tell if people are evil and see what people are doing yadda yadda yadda, and Devyn and Issie get together.
Also, a bunch of evil pixies try to kill Zara though i don't see how any of them would really classify as "cool new characters" so yeah. But, There is this new blonde, green eyed pixie that is king and claims to be on the side of good. Zara saved him at the begining of the story from a Valkyrie (i'll explain that later on) because she was going to i guess kill him or take him to Valhalla. im pretty sure it was kill him. he was deeply wounded by Nick who had nearly killed him earlier but instead settled for tying him to a tree. it doesn't show that scene but it is later explained. so she saves him and then later on he saves her a few more occasions. another cool thing is that she turns blue every time he's near as well as most of the time. So during most of the book he tries to convince her that he isn't like her father (evil, or comepletely evil) and neither are all pixies. Zara of course doesn't believe him. he also spends a good deal talking about how it is destiny for Zara to become his queen. His name by the way is Astley. it means star (swoon) lol
Moving on. I have to admit i was kind of but not extremely sad about what happened to Nick. (ANOTHER WARNING: i think i have been pretty fair putting this review hidden 4 spoilers and saying it again up there in the begining but just in case i'll say it again and specifically for the Nick lovers, stop reading if you want a helluva surprise)
Nick gets badly wounded fighting with a new pixie king in town. this is that part in the book where i started cursing at it...anyway it started with Nick and Zara going to feed the pixies in the house but guess what? they escaped or someone let them out. all the pixies were dead on the floor and this was actually quite detailed. in the house Zara just had to see if her father a.k.a evil yet not evil on the good side yet not on the good side pixie king. Nick being Nick went with her. Thats where they encountered the new pixie king. Nick and the pixie fight. the pixie leaves promising to return 4 Zara (never does btw) and then the Valkyrie come to take a bloodied wounded half dead Nick to Valhalla because supposedly he is a warrior and warriors are needed for a big battle that will happen. Zara and everyone else assume he is dead
This is when Zara finally gives in to the self-pixie-turning-kiss from Astley because this will make her stronger and able to enter Valhalla and rescue Nick. So she does and becomes Astley's king. she then finds out he doesn't know how to get to Valhalla and is pretty pissed. and who wouldn't be. but he promises to find out. she covers herself with glamour though to not even see her new non-human pixie self. after that Astley takes her to Issies house and leaves. Zara jumps super-duper high (new pixie ability) to the window of her room. She sees Issie there and Devyn too holding her hand. (because its the dance at the school) but she also sees Cassidy. They see her and Issie is going to open the window. Issie totally trusts her but Devyn and Cassidy dont. Then Zara tries to convince them she's still her and Cassidy goes and touches her forehead and checks that she in fact is pure and good and no evil intentions. this is where you find out she's part elf. She then uses her part elf magic and reveals from a little crystal that Nick is in fact alive. They see him lying on a bed made of wood and fur mouthing one word: Zara. Thats the reason actually that Devyn and Issie get together: Devyn realizes life is too short.
so yeah. over all i give this a 4.5. it ends whith a MAJOR cliff hanger so i am definately going to get the next one. this is really a great series.