I almost forgot how to book review

Okay, I read this over a month ago and my brain has been so completely in another place since then. Obsolete reviews are fun! Let’s do this, with a generous assist from Goodreads:

“The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Walmart and magic is a fairytale–and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…

Cerise Mar and her unruly clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands between the state of Louisiana and the Weird. When her parents vanish, her clan’s long-time rivals are suspect number one.

But all is not as it seems. Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge—and Cerise’s life . William, a changeling soldier who left behind the politics of the Weird, has been forced back into service to track down a rival nation’s spymaster.

When William’s and Cerise’s missions lead them to cross paths, sparks fly—but they’ll have to work together if they want to succeed…and survive.”

Aside from the humorous, fast-paced writing and gripping storylines, the thing that I really love about Ilona Andrews and their books is what I see as a masterful balance of familiarity and originality. All of their series, and the books within them, draw from the same well: they’re generally set in the American South, but an alternative version that’s touched by magic in some way; the heroine is a clever, loyal young woman who is pretty but doesn’t know it or doesn’t care, and tends to be either highly skilled (like, best of her class) in a specialized area and/or is absolutely teeming with magic in some way but is still figuring out the extent of her power. The hero is probably a possessive type who still respects, admires, and promotes the skills and intelligence of the heroine, and there is always friction between them initially, owing to each of their strong personalities clashing over something to do with pride. In this sense, you very much know what you’re going to get with Ilona Andrews, but even within that seemingly pretty detailed framework, the husband-wife team are maestros of worldbuilding and the nuances of human nature, so thus they manage to populate every new series or book with characters who are still absolute individuals unto themselves.

For instance, if you take their (probably) best-known heroine, Kate Daniels, and compare her to Bayou Moon‘s Cerise Mar, they share a lot on the surface. They’re both good with swords; they both protect those whom they feel they are responsible for. But while Kate is rather mercenary about it — she protects them because she swore to and they’re her obligation — Cerise’s loyalty is based completely in love. They’re her family, and even if they are weak or slow her down, she’s nothing without them.

I know none of that addresses Bayou Moon specifically, but I say all of that to stress that Ilona Andrews is/are very good at what they do, so if you’re new to them but interested in urban fantasy, The Edge series is as good a place to start as any, and afterward you’ll probably want to read everything else. If you know Andrews already well, I’m preaching to the choir, obviously. And this all goes to say that there isn’t a lot about this book I can call out in particular that I haven’t already alluded to. It’s a well-paced action/mystery with a magic/fantasy bent, likeable characters, and a creatively constructed world. If I have one reason for not giving this book a full five stars, it’s because I didn’t quite connect with William, the hero. And that’s not anything wrong with his characterization, exactly; he’s just not gonna be a future beer buddy of mine, and that’s fine — no disrespect.

Somehow, between “Real Life” and an ever-growing TBR, I’ve managed to pace myself reading Andrews’ back-catalog, and that’s been fortunate for me since every time I go back into any of their stories it’s like a gift, a familiar but still new and exciting experience. Like a vacation home, or a a chocolate truffle with an as-of-yet undetermined interior.