Title: Steel’s Edge
Series: The Edge, Book 4
Author: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: bought
Published: November 27, 2012 by Ace
The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…Charlotte de Ney is as noble as they come, a blueblood straight out of the Weird. But even though she possesses rare magical healing abilities, her life has brought her nothing but pain. After her marriage crumbles, she flees to the Edge to build a new home for herself. Until Richard Mar is brought to her for treatment, and Charlotte’s life is turned upside down once again.
Richard is a swordsman without peer, future head of his large and rambunctious Edger clan—and he’s on a clandestine quest to wipe out slavers trafficking humans in the Weird. So when his presence leads his very dangerous enemies to Charlotte, she vows to help Richard destroy them. The slavers’ operation, however, goes deeper than Richard knows, and even working together, Charlotte and Richard may not survive...
Reviewed By: Babs
In a Nutshell: Great read/listen. I think Steel’s Edge is a nice conclusion to The Edge series.
Why I Read This Book: I’m a big fan of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and their Clean Sweep serial. I read/listened to The Edge series after Clean Sweep finished online and I was waiting for my next Ilona Andrews fix.
What I Liked: I find the creations of the Broken, Edge, and Weird worlds unique. Maybe similar to fairy worlds of October Daye and Merry Gentry worlds? I think crossing over to the different “worlds” is like the portals to fairy but different.
Both Richard and Charlotte make huge sacrifices for each other. I think it was an interesting balance that Charlotte had health problems she couldn’t fix for all her power. And I appreciate there wasn’t some “magic” cure at the end. I appreciated the wrap-up at the end with some updates on how past characters in the series were doing.
I have really enjoyed The Edge series and am sad this is the last book. Charlotte wasn’t my favorite Edge heroine but I still enjoyed her story. George and Jack were players in this story and had their own demons to slay.
The narrator for the audiobook, Renee Raudman, is very good and has done all the Ilona Andrews books. I can’t imagine her as Kate so I haven’t listened to those on audio but she worked for me for The Edge books and Clean Sweep.
What I Didn’t Like: I had to stop listening for awhile and step away (or put it in the freezer if it was a real book) when I could tell something bad was about to happen early on. I get it had to be done as a catalyst for future events but ugh, definitely tough to get through.
Overall Impression: Lovely performance by the narrator and great storytelling from the authors. I like the uniqueness of the setting and story. They’ve characterized this series as “rural” fantasy rather than urban fantasy which I think is a great description of the series. I recommend this series to Ilona Andrews fans—definitely check it out if you haven’t yet!
Bab’s Rating:
I'm a huge Ilona Andrews fan so I love it when their reviews pop up! This was my least favorite of the Edge series and I've never put my finger on why - something about Richard and Charlotte might be too real - if that makes any sense, LOL. The "rural fantasy" tag is interesting, too. Never heard that before!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge Ilona Andrews fan. Also a Renée Raudman fan. I think they make a great team. I've listened to everything they've put out. One thing I love the most about Andrews is their ability to create and describe some strange creatures. They do it in every series they write (Hidden Legacy has the least weird in it, but it was not without). Raudman is great at pulling out the snarkiness of the characters.
ReplyDeleteI was so glad with this book that we got a little more time with the boys. They were my favorite characters in this series. I just love them.
Great review.