White Knight (Cornerstone Run Trilogy, #3) by Kelly Meade
Urban Fantasy
Released: January 20, 2015
Intermix
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: “Figures, an old crazy house.”
Knight McQueen has suffered greatly due to the hybrids increasing violence against his people. Forced to hide due to the hybrid’s agenda concerning him, Knight teeters between extreme guilt, rage, and depression. When the one person who helps him hold on to his humanity is kidnapped, Knight loses his tentative grip on his self-control and begins a steady decline into the abyss.
Shay Butler was traumatized by the massacre of her Run by the hybrids. Taken in by the Cornerstone Run, Shay finds hope and healing with the Run’s white wolf-Knight. Abruptly kidnapped by her half sisters-the hybrids-Shay is forced to care for an unknown newborn. Chained, starved, and forced to wear a collar of silver, Shay fears she will lose her sanity before she is rescued.
Help comes from the most unlikely of sources…Archimedes Atwood. Byrnn’s father and the Magus who started this war. He waves the white flag and offers to help find Shay if the Run will protect him from the hybrids. The McQueen’s agree and soon a diabolical and dangerous plan is hatched…one that will save Shay, destroy the hybrids, and deal with the Magus once and for all.
White Knight is the third and final installment in Meade’s Cornerstone Run Trilogy. An action packed dark urban fantasy that revolves around a family of loup garous-the McQueens. If you haven’t read books one and two, I highly recommend you do so as the ongoing arc is extremely important to the storyline and characters bleed over with little to no recap. Each book focuses on one brother. Though we see the same high impact action scenes and shocking revelations that were present in the first two books, this installment was tamer in a sense and focuses more on Knight’s emotional healing and his relationship with the black wolf-Shay.
Knight is in a bad place from the previous events. He has some issues that he has tried to bury for the good of his pack. Being a rare white wolf, his gift of empathy helps to balance the emotions of those around him. He can’t afford to let his emotions out for fear they will backlash on the pack. Fans have waited for Knight to finally admit to his family and Shay everything that happened to him when he was in the hands of the hybrids. It’s heartbreaking.
Shay was probably my favorite character in this series. Hit from all sides repeatedly, left without family or friends, her strength, intelligence, and ingrained leadership qualities allowed her the ability to know when compassion is needed and when death is required. She and Knight are true soul mates in that they heal and ground one another. Their chemistry is magnetic and it’s in here they finally throw caution and rules to the wind and fully commit to one another.
Revelations are made that explain the origins of the hybrids, their link to Brynn and Shay, and why they want Knight so desperately. Though they are dangerous and insane, they are but merely a product of their birth and environment and ingrained with a strong will to survive. Meade has always had an interesting outlook on good and evil and most often than not, her characters comfortably straddle the line between them. I had pity for the hybrids towards the end. I enjoyed the meeting the additional supernatural factions and seeing the world through their eyes.
While I enjoyed the story overall and was happy to see the conclusion addresses most of the issues and provides us with a plausible ending, there was a distinct lack of anticipation, suspense, and yes, violence, that I came to associate with the series. As I mentioned earlier, the book centers on Knight and his emotional and mental healing. Dialogue is at a premium but also takes over during intense moments. I felt there were too many other POVs that derailed the momentum the story was trying to build. There were some issues that didn’t resolve fully for me and I questioned the change in direction and attitude.
Regardless of my qualms, Meade wraps up White Knight to satisfaction and leaves an opening in which to revisit again.
RATING C+
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