Book Review, Paranormal Style: On the Edge (The Edge #1)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have a problem – when I really like a series by an author, and then I see that they have another series with different characters, I do not want to read that series. Because it won’t be the same. And that means it will be inferior. And I’m angry that they’re wasting time on this series when they could be spending more time writing the series that I want them to.
But, apparently Ilona Andrews is not my bitch (Yet.) (Ha! I jest! I haven’t even figured out where Ilona & her husband Andrew live!) and is writing another series that has nothing to do with Kate Daniels. Whatever. For some reason, I ignored my prejudices and bought this book.
The Story
Rose Drayton lives on the edge of two worlds – The Broken, which is like our modern world, with big box stores and no magic – and The Weird, with all the magic and none of typical modern conveniences. People who live on the Edge can go between worlds, although it’s really hard for inhabitants of The Weird or the Broken to go to the other worlds.
Rose is responsible for keeping her two younger brothers alive, fed and out of trouble, a task that doesn’t always come easy. One of her brothers is a cat shifter and the other has the unique ability to raise the dead.
Inhabitants of the Edge typically have some magical powers, and Rose worked for ages to show that although she was born just poor, white trash, Fancy was her name. Oops, wrong story. She worked for ages so that when it was time for show & tell (high school graduation, I think), she could prove that even though she wasn’t from the best family, her magic was still awesome. And it was. Magical ability is proved by “flashing” (not like that) your magic, and Rose flashed white, meaning there was some aristocratic blood in her background.
There were a lot of marriage proposals (most of which seemed to involve threats of violence), and she turned them all down. Things seem to be pretty mundane (in a manner of speaking), until some creepy monsters start appearing on a regular basis.
A couple mysterious men appear in her life, and there is romance! And magic! And action/adventure! And no plot spoilers, here!
Overall, an entertaining read. Ilona & Andrew have once again done a fantastic job world building, but I thought the character development was weaker than in the Kate Daniels series. I know the second Edge book is out, and the third is slated for release this fall, and I’ll probably read them (I have some airplane time coming up soon), but I’ll mostly be holding my breath for the next Kate release.
The score!
Romance/Sexytimes: B. Although the slow build-up of the romance was nice, and there was some wooing, it wasn’t really as exciting and sweaty-palms inducing as the Kate/Curran romance. (Should I stop comparing this book to the Kate Daniels series?)
Writing: A- I think that the writing is definitely one of the strong points in the Ilona Andrews books. It’s not slop, like some paranormal romances/urban fantasy books that are (apparently) relying on magic to carry the writing as well as the story line.
Paranormality: A+ Again – fantastic world building. I think that’s a major strength of Ilona Andrews books. The fantasy worlds of the Weird and the Edge merge very well with the more reality based Broken, and it all fits together seamlessly and believably.
Book Overall: B+ Again, I prefer the story of Kate Daniels, but this was a decent first book in the series. I could wish that the characters had a little more depth and a few more dimensions, but overall, I did enjoy it.
Series Overall: B+ Same grade as the book, since it’s the first in the series & I have nothing to compare it to. It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished it, and now that I’ve written about it, I am feeling compelled to pick up the second book. Dammit!
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