I’ve decided to try something new and feature some of my favorite books or series every Friday, not necessarily new reads but something I’m still excited about to this day.
So this Friday, I’ve chosen a series by one of my favorite author duos, Ilona Andrews. This husband and wife author team pumps out amazing urban fantasy series on the regular, as well as regular fan interactions and blog posts. Most people know them from their Kate Daniels series, which I love as well, but I wanted to give some love to the On The Edge series since it’s my favorite and her recent Innkeeper stories have added characters from the Edge world.
The first book in the series, called fittingly On the Edge, follows Rose Drayton and her little brothers as they try and eke out a living on the edge between two worlds, the world of the Broken (our mundane, non-magical world) and the Weird, where only magic users live and the strength of your magic determines your position in society. Rose and her brothers are non-aristocratic but strongly gifted, a combination that makes them a target for all sorts of trouble. They live in what we would call the boonies of the South, and Rose tries to keep her head down and her brothers in line to not much success.
Declan, a blueblood from the Weird who finds himself in Rose’s crosshairs, is everything a girl can ask for, of course. Will Rose and Declan come together, or will the circumstances of their birth keep them apart? Throw in magic-eating creatures for some danger and two brothers who are too smart for their own good, and you have a much better version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, urban fantasy style.
The next three books in the series follow a similar pattern of killer world building, character development, and quirky romance. The reader gets to see more of the Weird and the Edge than the Broken, but who wants to see their own world anyway? The story makes you want to believe in these other places, where two worlds coincide and magic is real. While it is reminiscent of the various faerie lands that most writers use to complement our own, Andrews makes a wholly new world. It’s really refreshing to read something different.
The Andrews duo write a mean romance when they put their mind to it, and this series takes the cake. We have strong women who are spunky, snarky, and sarcastic paired off with men who to varying degrees hold their own as they chase our leading ladies. And the *ahem* chemistry is steamy also, which is never unwelcome!
Go forth and read On The Edge as you lay on the beach, looking out on the water and wondering if you were somehow left in the Broken by accident. Five waves, always!
For reference, the other Ilona Andrews series:
Books for the Beach 