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jacey13/3/11
Ilona Andrews: Bayou Moon – The Edge #2
Not quite fantasy, not quite paranormal romance, this is a heady mixture of both genres, dropping down on the side of fantasy, I'd say. Loosely connected to 'On the Edge' in that William, a supporting character in the first Edge book, is now the one of the main characters of this one. It's not until the very end that the two books join up and it becomes obvious that there will be (at least) a third book. (Four according to the website.)
The edge is a dirt-poor borderland between the Weird (magic) and the Broken (our world with no magic but plenty of technology). The two nations in the Weird, the Dukedom of Louisiana and Adrianglia currently hold to an uneasy peace. Those with too much magic can't cross into the Broken from the Edge, but some of the Edgers can and do cross and trade there. Some even work there, under the radar, of course.
William is a changeling, a wolf shapechanger, brought up in a cruel Adrianglian orphanage and mercilessly trained to be a top-notch black ops soldier and a superstrong, superfast natural born killer in both human and wolf form. Physically perfect he's still a bundle of hangups. He's been court-martialled out of the military and has left the Weird and now, having failed to succeed with his first choice of mate (Rose from the first Edge book) lives in the Edge whilst working in the Broken, laying floors for cash. He can cross over because he doesn't technically have magic, he is magic.
He's lonely but just about getting by until he's co-opted by the Adrianglians for a mission to find the Spider, the Louisianan spymaster, magic abuser and cruel killer of changeling children. William has a personal score to settle with the Spider, and besides, he's not given much choice, so he agrees. The Spider is in the Mire searching for something that will give Louisiana a winning ticket in the almost inevitable war to come.
To find the Spider he must travel into the Mire – a vast tract of swamplands in the Edge – and there he crosses paths with warrior-trained and spiky-as-hell Cerise Mar, de facto leader of the unruly magic wielding Mar clan since her parents have disappeared mysteriously. He steps right into the middle of a bitter and violent family feud, Mars against Sheeriles, but since it seems that Cerise and William are ultimately hunting the same bad guy, he sticks close and pitches in. Together they have more chance to get the Spider and find Cerise's missing parents.
William's a moody, sexy, engaging hero, but as a changeling he has impulsive wolf characteristics that sometimes screw up his human reasoning, especially where relationships are concerned. That makes for an interesting courtship and a not very straightforward romance. Cerise is an edgy, hair-trigger spitfire with all the insecurities of someone thrown into a job she doesn't feel cut out for. 'When the two families go to war, she's the one ordering her loved ones into battle.
Her relatives alternately encourage the romance, get in the way, or just plain annoy the hell out of William and the romantic tension is stretched about as far as it will go without snapping, but it works. Even the minor characters ahve plenty of depth to them and the world-building is excellent. The Mire becomes a character in itself, harsh, fetid, full of peat-mud, rotting vegetation and strange things that slither, mostly deadly.
This is an excellent book that suffers just a little at the end from going too far beyond the climax and setting up the situation for the next one. The aftermath of the Big Finish is maybe just a little too tell not show, either that or it maybe should have ended a little before it did, since it incorporates some of the political stuff that by rights you feel should be in the next book. I may not say that when I read the next book, of course. And I will be reading it. Highly recommended.
Ilona Andrews: Bayou Moon – The Edge #2
Not quite fantasy, not quite paranormal romance, this is a heady mixture of both genres, dropping down on the side of fantasy, I'd say. Loosely connected to 'On the Edge' in that William, a supporting character in the first Edge book, is now the one of the main characters of this one. It's not until the very end that the two books join up and it becomes obvious that there will be (at least) a third book. (Four according to the website.)
The edge is a dirt-poor borderland between the Weird (magic) and the Broken (our world with no magic but plenty of technology). The two nations in the Weird, the Dukedom of Louisiana and Adrianglia currently hold to an uneasy peace. Those with too much magic can't cross into the Broken from the Edge, but some of the Edgers can and do cross and trade there. Some even work there, under the radar, of course.
William is a changeling, a wolf shapechanger, brought up in a cruel Adrianglian orphanage and mercilessly trained to be a top-notch black ops soldier and a superstrong, superfast natural born killer in both human and wolf form. Physically perfect he's still a bundle of hangups. He's been court-martialled out of the military and has left the Weird and now, having failed to succeed with his first choice of mate (Rose from the first Edge book) lives in the Edge whilst working in the Broken, laying floors for cash. He can cross over because he doesn't technically have magic, he is magic.
He's lonely but just about getting by until he's co-opted by the Adrianglians for a mission to find the Spider, the Louisianan spymaster, magic abuser and cruel killer of changeling children. William has a personal score to settle with the Spider, and besides, he's not given much choice, so he agrees. The Spider is in the Mire searching for something that will give Louisiana a winning ticket in the almost inevitable war to come.
To find the Spider he must travel into the Mire – a vast tract of swamplands in the Edge – and there he crosses paths with warrior-trained and spiky-as-hell Cerise Mar, de facto leader of the unruly magic wielding Mar clan since her parents have disappeared mysteriously. He steps right into the middle of a bitter and violent family feud, Mars against Sheeriles, but since it seems that Cerise and William are ultimately hunting the same bad guy, he sticks close and pitches in. Together they have more chance to get the Spider and find Cerise's missing parents.
William's a moody, sexy, engaging hero, but as a changeling he has impulsive wolf characteristics that sometimes screw up his human reasoning, especially where relationships are concerned. That makes for an interesting courtship and a not very straightforward romance. Cerise is an edgy, hair-trigger spitfire with all the insecurities of someone thrown into a job she doesn't feel cut out for. 'When the two families go to war, she's the one ordering her loved ones into battle.
Her relatives alternately encourage the romance, get in the way, or just plain annoy the hell out of William and the romantic tension is stretched about as far as it will go without snapping, but it works. Even the minor characters ahve plenty of depth to them and the world-building is excellent. The Mire becomes a character in itself, harsh, fetid, full of peat-mud, rotting vegetation and strange things that slither, mostly deadly.
This is an excellent book that suffers just a little at the end from going too far beyond the climax and setting up the situation for the next one. The aftermath of the Big Finish is maybe just a little too tell not show, either that or it maybe should have ended a little before it did, since it incorporates some of the political stuff that by rights you feel should be in the next book. I may not say that when I read the next book, of course. And I will be reading it. Highly recommended.
