This is How You Use a Novella to Transition a Series!

I only read the first sentence of the synopsis for this one – all I knew was that it was an Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy novella so it was an automatic preorder.  I saw that it was about Connor AKA Mad Rogan and Nevada’s wedding but it’s not like I needed any more detail to read this one.

As a result, I was pleasantly surprised to see that after the prologue with Nevada’s introduction to Connor’s mother, the novel shifted perspectives to the next Baylor sister, Catalina.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved another story from Nevada’s view but this is the perfect way to transition the series!  As much as I love Maas, I was a bit disappointed with her novella that is serving as the bridge between the first three books and the ongoing series; it was good as far as helping the reader understand how the world had shifted and what was going on and setting up some political issues going forward, but could have used a bit more of a plot than, “let’s celebrate winter festival and get gifts for each other.”

In comparison, this novel had a driving plot even if I guessed the solution very quickly. It does a good job of introducing Catalina’s perspective and view of herself, her fear of her power, and how it has isolated her, but also serves as an excuse to avoid making connections with people beyond her family.  The novella shows the first steps of Catalina learning to use her power rather than simply suppressing it, and also shows how others might view her and her family, especially with her and her younger sister keeping their actual powers secret, only being registered as primes to the world.

Additionally, while the main mystery is easily solved, there are a few other pieces floating around that allow Catalina to show her approach (very different from her more physically oriented sister), and make her own mark.  It also wraps up some loose ends related to Rogan and Nevada’s story, meaning the focus going forward in the series can be on Catalina, and hopefully Alessandro Sagredo from the final novel will make another appearance now that Catalina has made the first steps towards not keeping herself quite as isolated and guarded.