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Inside Drops of Crimson |
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On the Edge by
Ilona Andrews |
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 I
was one of those lucky individuals who managed to get an ARC
to review. Trust me, this was NOT a hardship at all to read
this book. One, it was written by
Ilona Andrews who writes one of my favorite
urban fantasy
series, Kate Daniels. I am willing to dive onto any
story written with this name on the cover. They have even
improved from their debut work, Magic Bites, with each
novel. This is a RARE thing to find. I enjoyed their debut
work, but each book installment I find I like even better.
So of course I was curious to try their new series.
The novel in question is ON THE EDGE by Ilona Andrews (
http://edge.ilona-andrews.com which also has the
first chapter available to give it a whirl), a "romantic
contemporary fantasy " (at least that is what the flyer
labled it as). Or you can call it
urban fantasy or "rural fantasy" (the latter is what
the authors call it). Yes, there is some romance in it, but
it doesn't dominate the book so I think those who like just
regular fantasy or contemporary fantasy or even paranormal
will enjoy it. And of course, there is enough romance that
the paranormal/fantasy romance crowd should enjoy it as
well. I seen a pretty even mix of all the genres in it.
Romance, action, horror, fantasy, contemporary, family
relationships, and of course humor. Always a nice blend. I
do believe the Andrews label of "rural fantasy" fits as it
doesn't quite set completely in the
urban fantasy
genre nor the fantasy genre. It is something new
which blends the best of both in a
satisfying format.
Book description:
"Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between two worlds: on one
side lies the Broken, a place where people shop at Wal-mart
and magic is nothing more than a fairy tale; on the other
side is the Weird, a realm where blueblood aristocrats rule
and the strength of your magic can change your destiny. Only
Edgers like Rose can easily travel between the worlds- but
they never truly belong in either.
Rose Thought that if she practiced her magic, she could
build a better life for herself. But things didn't turn out
the way she'd planned, and now she works an off-the-books
jobs in the Broken just to survive. Then
Declan
Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part
of the Weird, comes into her life determined to have Rose
(and her power).
But when a terrible danger invades the Edge- a flood of
creatures hungry for magic- Declan and Rose must overcome
their differences and work together to destroy them, or the
beasts will devour the Edge and everyone in it."
I liked this book. I enjoyed it enough to say that there
better be a sequel as I would like more please. Especially
in regards to one of the supporting characters. Or maybe
that character can have a book devoted to that person. Yes,
I am trying not to spoil it. I adored that character. Hell,
I adored a lot of the characters. That is always a good
sign. There are many characters to enjoy this book. Yes, you
have Rose and Declan, but there are so many others to
enthrall you with their personalities, secrets and agendas.
One of the reasons I enjoy this book is because all the
characters have many layers to them. After being exposed to
a few books with one dimensional characters, this is a nice
switch.
And I find it amusing that even the evil has it's own agenda
and secrets. It has its own
twists and
turns and the rural area that the "edge" is as
interesting because I enjoyed seeing how the humans "live"
there and interact with the other "two worlds". The
world building
is done very well and is explained with ease throughout the
story without the feeling of an "info dump" being thrust
upon the reader. And I liked the different uses of magic and
some of the fallout of using it or the actions that are
provoked by doing so. Every decision made by any of the
characters always had realistic reactions to it. And the
magic itself had its own rules that had to be followed that
didn't always make things easy on any of the characters for
good or bad. Just like nature would be.
The interactions between Rose and Declan can be amusing at
times though at times I had to shake my head at certain
assumptions made between them. Pretty realistic on how often
that happens in any type of relationship. Declan at first
comes across as a very "alpha male" stereotype at first.
Yes, he has his sight set on Rose and isn't going to be
scared off like most of her other "suitors and is very
bossy. It's part of his charm. Give him a chance and I think
you will find yourself surprised at how much personality he
does have compared to most "Alphas: in
paranormal
romance books. Pretty much the first meeting with the
two leads show how messed up the whole teaming up will be.
This is a good thing in my opinion as a reader.
As for Rose, I enjoyed her as I related to her on some of
her struggles to just survive with her family. She is not
perfect, but you can tell she may be tough on the outside,
but she is a softy under where it counts. Her interactions
with family are some of my favorite parts. Plus, how can you
resist a character who not only has a sense of humor, but
has some sass and fire to her? Not enough to make her a
jerk, but enough for the sarcastic snark to be part of her
charm. And like I said, she makes mistakes and is not
perfect which allows for her character to grow. Something I
don't always see in most
urban fantasy
books with female leads anymore so I always make a
note of the ones that do allow for growth and change.
There are many others I enjoyed in this book, but I don't
want to spoil it for you by mentioning it. But I will say
that the "evil" in this book was just as interesting and the
dialogue....oh yes! Loved it! Twisted, but humorous while
creepy. What's not to like? The violence is not as heavy as
the Kate Daniel series and neither is the "gore" factor.
Overall, this book is a lot lighter than the Kate Daniel
series (which I still love). It is a nice change and
something different from most urban fantasy books out there
on the direction it went with.
I especially enjoyed the end of the book. I like books that
make me smile while I am reading the end of a story.In some
ways, I wasn't ready for it to end because I didn't want to
leave their world and wanted to learn more about their world
and the characters. I always find this a good sign with any
new book. I would recommend it for those who are fans of the
Kate Daniel series,
paranormal
romance fans,
urban fantasy
fans and even contemporary fantasy fans as
there is
something for everyone. Good start to a new series
and an easy quick read to enjoy. |
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About Shar
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Shar is one of those rare readers who doesn't
want to write books. She just wants to read everyone else's
instead. Her dream is to own the most massive book library
on the planet. She lives somewhere in the Appalachian
Mountains where she can be found harassing the local
bookstores for more books. Her favorite genre lately is
adult or young adult
dark fantasy,
urban fantasy, and
paranormal romance. You can read more of her
ramblings at her
shartyrant.livejournal blog where she tries to corrupt
others into joining her on her quest to find more books to
read.
You can pick up On the Edge through the Drops
of Crimson bookshop powered by Amazon.
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