Title: Day Zero (The Arcana Chronicles #3.5)
Author: Kresley Cole
Release Date: August 1, 2016
Publisher: Valkyrie Press
Pages: 174
Source: ebook provided by Sullivan + Partners
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Overall: 4 STARS

SUMMARY

Arcana means secrets, and these Arcana Chronicles short stories from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole are filled with them. Experience firsthand the beginning of the end and behold the apocalypse through the eyes of characters you only thought you knew.

Ashes to ashes . . .
Evie Greene’s story of the Flash is just one of many. All over the world, those connected in some way to the lethal Arcana game—like Death, Jack, and Fortune—must first survive a horrifying night of blood and screams.

We all fall down.
Some will have to grapple with new powers; all will be damned to a hellish new existence of plague, brutality, desolation, and cannibalism. Find out who they lost, why they endure, and what they sacrificed in order to live past Day Zero. . . .

MY THOUGHTS
In one more week, the wait will soon be over to read Kresley Cole's Arcana Rising, the long-awaited fourth installment in the Arcana Chronicles! Ever since Dead of Winter came to a thrilling cliffhanger finish, I've been anxiously waiting to learn the fates of our favourite characters. The world was left burning as the Emperor made his move, but who would survive the horror? 

Well, as we wait just a little bit longer for Arcana Rising, Kresley Cole has gifted us with Day Zero, the perfect in-between read to revisit the world of the Arcana Chronicles and refresh our memories of the major players in the game. Day Zero is a prequel novella set just before the Flash occurred and North America became a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Told in multiple short stories, we revisit the past from the perspective of other characters connected in the game before they became the dangerous Arcana figures whom Evie encounters in the book.

Death, the Endless Knight (Aric); The Emperor, Stone Overlord (Richter); The Priestess, Ruler of the Deep (Circe); and The Moon, Bringer of Doubt (Selena) are just some of the characters featured in Day Zero with their own short story. Some have been raised with the knowledge of the Arcana, training their entire lives for the game to begin. Others are completely clueless, unaware their lives are about to forever change. It's remarkable how each short story is so utterly unique, offering thrilling backstories or heartbreaking tales of losing loved ones during the Flash. Since the series is told from Evie's perspective, what we know about the Arcana is limited, so Day Zero really gives us a better understanding of the other players.

It also makes you realize just how much everyone has changed and grown in the present. Everyone has lost someone. Everyone has made sacrifices. Everyone is determined to survive the game. And just to tease us, Jack's POV is included in the novella, even though it's still not confirmed if he's an Arcana or not. But my stance is still the same: I'm Team Death! If you're a fan of the Arcana Chronicles, you definitely won't want to miss the chance to read Kresley Cole's Day Zero! I've been in the worst reading slump the entire summer, but Day Zero has helped me break it. I'm absolutely ready for Arcana Rising now!