Endure by Carrie Jones

About the book

Endure is the fourth and final book in the Need Pixies series by Carrie Jones. It was published by Bloomsbury on 10^th May 2012 and the book is 288 pages long.

Plot Synopsis

Not too long ago, Zara’s life was completely normal. She was a regular human getting on with high school and making new friends. Then she discovered that pixies exist and has now become one herself. Not only is she a pixie, she is Astley’s pixie queen. After saving her boyfriend Nick from the mysterious place Valhalla, things have gotten even more messed up. Neither of them are the people they once were and with a massive war brewing, they really need to be able to get on and work together.

Zara has a plan to save everyone she loves but neither Nick or Astley agree with her thinking. The only thing anyone agrees on is that the war is coming and they know not everyone will survive. Whose lives are going to be lost on the way to saving the world.

What I thought

It has been quite a while since I last read about Carrie Jones’ world of pixies. I have so many books from a series on my ‘to be read pile’ and I am so far behind with a lot of them. Recently though, I have been trying to play catch up and finish some of the smaller series, this being one of them. Although it has been well over a year since I read the third book, it was easy to get back into what was happening.

Zara has now become Astley’s pixie queen, saved her boyfriend from Valhalla and has been fighting for the good pixies and trying to get rid of the bad ones. At the beginning of Endure, Zara has Nick living with her due to Grandma Betty being missing. Zara and Nick have had a fabulous relationship throughout this series but now, everything is extremely strained. He doesn’t remember anything about Valhalla, especially Zara saving his life and he also hates pixies. That isn’t a good thing considering his (ex?) girlfriend is now one. There is no clear break up between the two but it is clear that they aren’t the couple they once were.

On top of Zara having to deal with Nick’s new feelings towards her, she also has to deal with ruling as a pixie queen. Bad pixies are killing off people one by one in the town where she lives and there are mutterings of a prophecy and her stopping the end of the world. I really liked where the plot was taken in this final book. There is quite a lot about old mythology and how humans have changed/ rewritten this over time. I really enjoyed this aspect of Endure, especially as there were some really great new characters brought in.

As with the other books in this series, there is so much action throughout which was something I really enjoyed. In Endure, the biggest fight of all is about to happen and Zara knows she and the good pixies aren’t going to be enough to stop humans dying. Although going behind some people’s backs, Zara makes a choice and involves the humans in Bedford (where she lives). People have been going missing and she thinks it’s only right that they get to fight for themselves. I really admired Zara’s choices throughout this book and it really showed what kind of a person she is. Unlike other characters, who do only think about themselves, Zara thinks about everyone around her and protecting everyone.

The only aspect of this book that was slightly disappointing for me was the romance. As I said before, Zara and Nick’s relationship has been at the forefront of this series but that really wasn’t the case in Endure. Nick has completely changed from the person he was in book one and instead of it being for the better, he turned into a bit of an ass. I really missed the fun interaction between these two characters and due to Nick’s behaviour; it pushes Zara into the arms of another. Although this has been a possibility throughout the series, I never thought it would actually happen.

Overall though, apart from the romance, Carrie Jones ended this series extremely well. All previously open questions were answered and I really did enjoy where the characters ended up. The Need Pixies series is a fantastic read and one I would definitely recommend.