**REVIEW** Horde by Ann Aguirre

Release Date:  October 29, 2013Published By:  Feiwel & FriendsReview Copy:  ARCProvided By:  Raincoast Canada for honest review

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  The horde is coming.

  Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they're not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce from the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn't run. With her knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade's love.

  Ahead, the battle of a lifetime awaits. Freaks are everywhere, attacking settlements, setting up scouts, perimeters, and patrols. There hasn't been a war like this in centuries, and humans have forgotten how to stand and fight. Unless Deuce can lead them.

  This time, however, more than the fate of a single enclave or outpost hangs in the balance. This time, Deuce carries the banner for the survival of all humanity.

  Brilliantly written, masterfully planned, with the perfect ending Horde blew me away.  I have been involved in this series from the first chapter in Enclave and was terrified to pick this book up and say goodbye to the series that I fell in love with.  There is much to love with this series and though I loved each book for its own reasons, Horde topped the first two and will surely be one of my top ten of 2013.  This is the type of book that makes me want to fangirl out, hug it and then cry a little because it is all over.

  The plot in this one takes everything just a step or so further and pushes the characters to their limits and causes more loss than I had ever expected.  Everything is coming to a head.  Deuce has lost her home below and Salvation is in danger.  Although most people in Salvation don't care for Deuce or her uncivilized ways she has found a home and family in this unlikely place and the need to help protect it is undeniable.  Setting out she knows things are changing...the freaks are changing but no one is prepared for just how much.  There is just so much of this book, this plot that I want to share and tell you about but there is so much that could ruin this amazing read for all of you, so I will have to stick that for now.

  What I love most about Deuce is that she has grown so much since we first met her but even with her growth she retains who she is at heart.  This is the girl that had to fight below to live, wanted to protect those she loved, that helped people get to safety in a world above that she had no idea even existed and the person that will do everything in her power to save the people that don't understand her.  With how she was raised and what she knew it would have been understandable if she hadn't adjusted but it was a constant show of her inner strength that she grew with each change and each challenge.  I think that this installment of the Razorland series really highlighted just how amazing Deuce really is and just how much she is willing to give up to become better and save every person possible.  I know this may seem a little repetitive but really Deuce is an outstanding character that I will forever remember.

  Fade and Deuce are...struggling.  Fade still induces my need to scream at him and shake some sense into him and yet I understand.  There has always been an edge of romance with these two, even when there was complications in the last novel but things change once again in this one.  In a way I had a hope that Stalker would become the top contender and win her affection but when it did come right down to it, it was obvious who exactly her heart belonged to.  I love that the romance in this series has always been there, maybe not front row and center but right there behind the action and the survival.  Aguirre really did create one of my favourite dystopian/apocalyptic romances in this series.

  There is much redemption in Horde as well.  Not just with Deuce and Fade but with many characters that had made choices that they weren't so proud of throughout all three of the books.  Sometimes it was hard to deal with how the redemption was dealt out and we do lose a character.  Yes, Aguirre has killed off a character...well she has killed off many in this one but she more specifically kills off someone you wouldn't expect her to.  She also expands upon the freaks and you get more into the origin and the why that was always lurking somewhere behind the scenes.  There is so much more that I did want to know in the end but I remain calm about it because of the amount you do get to learn that you had always questioned in the prior two novels.

  This series sunk its claws in me and kept a tight hold.  With the end of the series those claws were slowly released and I found myself relaxing.  I would never say that I am glad that it is over because I seriously will miss every character that graced the pages of the trilogy.  With Aguirre's spectacular writing and impeccable pacing there is more than enough to love about this series.  These books were clever, addictive and quickly became  a series that had me addicted.  Everything tied up nicely but it was not rushed and I would tell everyone I know (and anyone else that would listen) to pick up this entire series.  Basically what I am trying to say is PICK THESE BOOKS UP!

  I had been prey often enough that I recognized the prickling feel of enemies near by.  Unfortunately until the wind shifted just right, it was impossible to know how far away the freaks were.  We had to rest while we could and then press on.  Fighting wasn't our top priority; our mission was to summon help, and I couldn't contemplate the cost of failure.

  "If you had any idea how much I want to hold you-"

  "I'm not going anywhere, Fade.  You're my partner.  I choose you.  I always will."

  After that, I simply sat beside him, listening to him breathe.  It wasn't enough, but it was more than he'd let me do before.  Step by step he would let me back in.

A lesser boy would've wound up in the gangs and let them take away everything his parents taught him.  Instead he fled to the dangers and darkness down below, determined to hold fast to the person they'd taught him to be.  Even down below the elders hadn't touched the inner core that made him special.  I admired him for that.

  On the map, this settlement had a slash mark by it.  I could interpret most of Longshot's symbols but this on defeated me.  But id Gaspard was dangerous, surely he would've noted it in a more obvious way.

  The whole house was awash in blood and feces, as if the madwoman who had broken inside had been a wild animal.  She ate and excreted, and from what Thorton and I saw, that was all.