Deliverance by C.J. Redwine

From Goodreads:

Everything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.

Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.

Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.

But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?

Rating: 5 Stars

Deliverance is the epic conclusion to the amazing Defiance trilogy. There’s absolutely nothing more I could have asked for from this series; I loved everything about it. I read and reviewed both Defiance and Deception; this review of Deliverance will be spoiler free for the conclusion, however spoilers from the previous books will be included.

The continuation of the story took a much darker turn, but it was wonderfully suspenseful and beautifully crafted. The trilogy maintains the alternating points of view between Rachel and Logan, both narrating in first person.

Deception left us in a major cliffhanger; Rachel and Logan were separated. Rachel was badly injured and kidnaped by Ian, Logan’s estranged brother, and is being taken to Rowansmark to receive the pain atonement for not returning the stolen tech once she knew where the tech came from.  At the same time Logan is imprisoned in Lankenshire with Willow. His only chance to get Rachel back is to ally himself with the one person he vowed to kill, the Commander.

The final battle is upon us in Deliverance. Rachel and Logan are both fighting for the same goal: get rid of the Commander and the tech that controls the Cursed One. While separated, Rachel discovers new horrific information that makes her reconsider her wish to escape Ian’s capture. Her new plan is to try to destroy Rowansmark from the inside; but before she can do that she has to survive the journey to Rowansmark.  Rachel’s character grew so much in this novel. She endured tremendous loss throughout the series and the grief was starting to take its toll on her in Deception. However, in Deliverance a more mature, stronger, wiser, and worthy heroine emerged.

Logan, whom I simply adored since Defiance, also grew as a character. He finally came to terms with his origin and came to embrace his role and abilities of a true leader. He is the exceedingly good guy, extremely smart and kind. He loves Rachel with a fierceness that was just amazing to read.

Even though they are separated in this book, the love and devotion they have for each other is so strong. I think they are the perfect balance for each other; Rachel is very impulsive and sometimes jumps the gun, while Logan is very strategic and likes to plan out all possible outcomes. Even though they both were dealing with their own inner demons, the love they shared was stronger than everything they had to endure.

Willow and Quinn were also heavily present in this book. They are both pivotal characters that leave quite an impression on the reader. I loved how well developed they both were and the more involved roles they played throughout the novel. I don’t think either Rachel or Logan would have been able to overcome everything that was thrown at them without Willow and Quinn by their side.

All of Redwine’s characters were so well fleshed out. While reading it seemed that every character had such a major role in the overall story. Every death had meaning, every speech had a lesson to be learned, and every character’s actions were very well thought out for the overall story, making every single character very impactful.

One of the most fascinating things in Deliverance was C.J. Redwine’s ability to take some of the villains in the story and give enough development to allow the reader to see some vulnerabilities and make them more relatable. Even though we can’t forget all the horrible things they are responsible for, we get to see that these characters weren’t born evil. There were many events throughout their life that had a negative impact and created the monsters we now face.

Deliverance is an action packed, fast paced, and totally epic conclusion to a series. The character development and world building that Redwine delivered in this book far surpassed my expectations. As great as I think each book in the series was, this conclusion completely blew my mind. Everything wrapped up in a highly satisfying way. Redwine’s writing style was flawless, she is an amazing storyteller and I am looking forward to her future projects.