On the Edge

On the Edge (2009) Ilona Andrews

After reading their new series, I was struck with a desire to re-read The Edge series.

Luckily, the eBook is available from the library, so I didn’t have to buy another copy to re-read it.

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the area between the magical and mundane lands, that can only be crossed by a few, and with a cost.

Too much time in the Broken, and you’d lose your magic. Too much time in the Weird, and the magic would infect you and the Broken wouldn’t let you back in. The Edgers had some immunity— they could last in either world longer than other people, but even they eventually succumbed.

Declan Camarine has entered the Edge in search of…something. Rose thinks he’s a slumming blueblood looking for a broodmare that can flash white. But it seems like he’s searching for something more.

“Your new boyfriend is a psycho killer!”

“No, he isn’t. And he’s not my—”

“I’m telling you he’s a Navy SEAL or something. Or one of the commando ranger guys. You know the kind who survive in the woods by eating bugs and take down the whole camp of terrorists with a handgun and a small rock.”

As with their other series, one of the strongest things about this book is the secondary characters. Both the elders and the kids have personality and their own thoughts and feelings.

Grandma said he looked like a grown-up version of Jack, wrapped in pirate garb. When he first dragged this picture down to show her, she clicked her tongue and said, “Fiercely loyal and utterly unreliable.” She didn’t smile for a whole day after that, and he hid the picture in the attic with the rest of his stuff.

And there is also William, who I really like in this book, because he is so protective of the boys, mostly because he is so very, very damaged.

“I think you might be not right,” Jack said. “That’s okay. I get like that sometimes. When I’m real scared and I just want to hurt something. It’s okay. The important thing is don’t panic.”

He came over and took William’s hand. Rose was better at this than he was, because he never had to do it for anybody else, but he remembered what she did. “You’re safe,” he said. “You’re in a good place. Nobody can hurt you here. You don’t have to be afraid.” He hesitated. “There is some mushy love stuff that goes here, but it probably won’t work for you.”

I adore that last line, because it is so very what a small boy would say.

This is a lovely book–despite all the boinking, which isn’t my thing, but there are lots of other exciting bits to make up for that.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Ace

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