Steel’s Edge

Steel’s Edge (2012) Ilona Andrews

Charlotte has fled to the Edge to escape a marriage gone terribly wrong.

The outrage swelled in her, mixing with hurt. Last night he’d kissed her before they fell asleep next to each other. This was the man she woke up to every morning? “Elvei, you realize, you’re telling me that I have no value to you except as a broodmare?”

“Don’t make me the villain in this.” Elvei leaned back. “I’ve gone with you to all the tests and treatments. I listened patiently while you got excited over this specialist and that, I sat in the waiting rooms, and I gave it as much time as I could. There are no more treatments left. I just want to have a child, like any normal healthy adult.”

Every time she thought she had reached the limit of hurt, he twisted the knife a little more, digging deeper and deeper inside her, cutting at a raw wound. “So I’m abnormal?”

He spread his arms. “Can you conceive? No. You are defective, Charlotte.”

Defective. He actually called her defective. The pain inside her began to smolder with rage. “I’m curious, what’s the next word you’ll reach for? How cruel will you be, Elvei?”

“You cost me two and a half years.”

Richard Mar has devoted his time to destroying the slave trade, but unfortunately a fight gone bad sends him back to the Edge, destroying Charlotte’s carefully built life there.

This is definitely my least favorite book in this series. Richard was not nearly as interesting character as his brother, and although he has a worthy goal for a worthy reason, it’s just not enough.

Charlotte is fascinating, and I love not just the magical restriction put upon healers, but her own issues of being barren. That’s not something you frequently come across in fiction. So I don’t quite get her fascination with Richard. I mean, he’s perfectly fine, but the romance feels convenient rather than natural–they’re thrown together so they fall in love. I just feel like Charlotte deserved better than that.

And although I wanted to learn more about Sophie (and the promise of her healing), and I like George and Jack, the latter two felt tacked onto this story, especially they way they join up with Richard and Charlotte. Their involvement with Kaldar made sense. Here? It felt like the story had to stretch a great deal to get them involved to the degree they were.

Mind you, I really like just how much George manages to do with his magic, but the meeting up and the circumstances just felt unrealistic.

“And how would you know that?” If someone had opened their mouth, he would be really put out.

Jack gave a one-shouldered shrug. “We overhead you and Declan talking.”

“Declan’s study is soundproof.”

“Not to reanimated mice,” Jack said. “George wants to be a spy. He listens in on everything, then he tells me.”

Fantastic. Declan and he had taken extra measures, like activating soundproof sigils and meeting during late hours, and two teenage boys could still undermine all of their careful security precautions. How comforting.

One plus was this scene between Sophie and Charlotte, as Sophie is slowly learning to trust Charlotte.

Charlotte nodded.

“I don’t like to be touched. One of them tried, and I told him I didn’t like it. He acted as if there was something wrong with me.”

Charlotte paused. There was so much she wanted to explain, but the little bond of trust they had between them was so fragile. She had to find the right words. “There is nothing wrong with you. Your body belongs to you alone. Touching it is a privilege, and it’s up to you to grant it. Some boys— and men— don’t handle rejection well, and they will try to shame you or pressure you into letting them do what they want because they feel entitled. They’re not worth your time. Also, there is nothing wrong with not enjoying sexual touching or kissing.”

I love that this was put in here, although this book isn’t aimed at teenagers, I still think it was a natural and lovely conversation. Although the latter part of the conversation didn’t feel true, I forgave it for that bit.

I guess this book just felt disappointing. I love the world building, and the characters from previous books, but the stretch to involve the characters from the previous books was just too much to be completely believable.
Rating: 6/10

Published by Ace

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