Review: On the Edge

Reviewed by Jen
 

I read somewhere that Gordon Andrews* once called this series "rustic fantasy." It kind of fits. It's decidedly not urban. The setting is kind of backwoods, really. But it's quirky; it's kind of charming; and while it took me a little while to connect with it, the book grew on me more and more as I continued to read.

This series is nothing like the Kate Daniels books, except for this: the world building takes some getting used to. It's not really hard to understand, but it's also not like anything else out there. In this case, there are essentially two parallel worlds. The Broken is the regular world we live in: a world of Wal-Mart and electricity. Magic is just a myth. Whereas, in the Weird, there is a world of nothing but magic. There is, however, an in-between place. The Edge is a little of both worlds, and somehow neither, at the same time. This is where Rose and her two brothers live.

Rose has more magic than most other people in the Edge, or perhaps it's more accurate to say, she is better at using it. So everyone wants to breed with her, or sell her, or profit from her in some other way. She is raising her little brothers, working a menial job, and has given up hope that her life could be more. When Declan appears, she assumes the noble from the Weird is there to force her into marriage. But at the same time, strange and dangerous creatures begin showing up. Rose has to work with Declan to fight the threat. And as they spend more time together... well, you know how these things go.

Like I said earlier, I didn't love it right away. Maybe it was the backwoods thing; maybe I just had to get used to the concepts. But either way, I ended up rather engrossed in it. Notably absent was the trademark Ilona Andrews snark, but there was a pretty hot sex scene which helped me get over that. There are some interesting secondary characters... especially William. I hope we see more of him in later books. I'm curious to see where the series goes next, since the ending felt pretty settled for Rose and Declan. There is only one way to find out.

A little more than 4 stars.

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On the Edge

by Ilona Andrews

Release Date: September 29, 2009

Publisher: Ace

*Gordon is part of the husband/ wife writing team who write under the pseudonym Ilona Andrews