CBR18 Book 31: "This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 480 pages

Audio book length: 21 hrs 34 mins

Rating: 5 stars

Buzzwords Challenge 26: This/that/these/those

Maggie wakes up one day, cold, naked and soaked to the skin in the gutter of Kair Toren, the sprawling capital city of Rellas, where her favourite fantasy novels are set. For the past decade, Maggie has read and re-read the two books in the unfinished series enough times that she knows the setting, prominent characters and the plot intimately. It's what makes it possible for her to lie in wait, trying to rob a shady minor character just so she'll have enough money to get some clothes and shelter. While she's correct about when and where the character will show up, her robbery attempt ends with her being stabbed in the gut, which leads to her next discovery. She's stuck in the world of her favourite books, and while she can be killed, she doesn't stay dead.

Maggie is well-read and knows she's in an isekai fantasy. She knows the rules of such stories, and unfortunately, she's not as lucky as most characters in those kinds of stories. Unfortunately, unlike a lot of characters in such stories, Maggie is penniless, homeless and has no connections to anyone in the story. She does, however, have an encyclopedic knowledge of the plot of the world she's been transported into, so she knows which characters may prove useful allies, and which are best avoided at all costs. She knows how major events will play out and which characters will live, or die. She also discovers that she can read, understand and speak all the various languages of Rellas. In addition, she may be immortal.

She uses her knowledge to gain some useful allies, and in a remarkably short space of time, has acquired not only a safe place to stay, but has also become responsible for two young persons whom she rescued from enslavement. She knows at what point in time she has come into the story, and as a result, knows what is going to happen to the world and several characters she cares deeply about. Maggie decides she cannot, in good conscience, let the events as they are written come to pass. She wants to try to alter the events of the books, and as a result, possibly avoid the deaths of several of her favourite characters, not to mention stop a harrowing civil war and untold bloodshed. She just needs to convince her new friends that she can be trusted, and hope that her plans don't somehow make things worse. 

I read my first Ilona Andrews novel in 2009, early enough that they'd only published three books in the Kate Daniels series. I don't actually remember at what point they became not only auto-buy for me, but pre-order as soon as possible, possibly in more than one format (I have most of their books in e-book, dead tree, Graphic Audio audio dramas and/or audiobooks, even some in fancy signed special editions). I've read everything they've ever written, usually at least two or three times, sometimes five or six. Anyone who has been reading my reviews for a while knows that I am a proud card-carrying member of the BDH (Book Devouring Horde). I only have one tattoo (so far), and one element of it is a quote from one of their books ("If the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons" from Fate's Edge, if you're curious).

So it makes me immensely happy to see them reaching a lot of new readers with this rebrand (as my friend Christian, who works at the Oslo fantasy/sci-fi/comics/nerd shop Outland, calls it). A chonky epic fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy, which was acquired by Tor in a bidding war and has been promoted widely for months before its release. While it's their biggest book to date, both in size and scope, to me, as a loyal long-time reader, it was incredibly fun to see how many of the elements from their other books were clearly found in the pages of this one. It's basically their entire writing career, fine-tuned and distilled into a new series. 

You have the clever heroine, who, in contrast to all of Andrews' other heroines, doesn't have any advanced skills or magical powers. With the exception of Audrey from Fate's Edge, I think all of their female protagonists have both extensive fighting abilities and/or powerful magic at their disposal, while Maggie mostly has her mind. In addition to her near-perfect recall of everything that happens in the books, she also proves herself to be good at planning and strategic thinking.

Family, biological or found, also plays a major part in the Andrews' books. Since Maggie has been transported from our world into a fantasy one, she starts out alone and helpless, but before long, she has a loyal band of people surrounding her, willing to risk their lives to help her when she's in trouble (and she does get into trouble). 

There is also a very slow-burn romantic subplot, but anyone expecting romantasy or high spice will be disappointed (there's literally one kiss in the whole book - but what a kiss). Maggie believes herself to be wholly unremarkable, and the authors actually deliberately avoid describing her in too much detail (although the officially commissioned fan art on their website gives the readers a pretty clear idea of what all the major players look like), but she's clearly very pretty and constantly underestimates her allure to others. By the end of the story, she has multiple men who are smitten with her, and this is just the first book of the trilogy; there may be more to come. 

As I mentioned, there are several potential love interests, but I think it's rather clear from the story who the most likely HEA for Maggie is. Some really very unpleasant villains need to be defeated, or thousands of lives, including those of many of Maggie's favourite characters, are at stake. Because this is a long book, there are multiple mini-quests along the way, and Maggie ends up in mortal peril more than once (at one point, I was saying to my husband, "She may be undying, but can she regrow body parts? She can, by the way). 

As with a lot of epic fantasy, it's clear that Maggie has more thorough knowledge of some characters than others, because she's read their POV chapters in the books. Other characters, however, are much more of a mystery to her, because she's only read ABOUT them and hence doesn't know all their thoughts, wants and motivations. This means even Maggie, with her vast knowledge of Rellas and its inhabitants, can be surprised, and we readers along with her. 

As part of their promotional campaign, Tor had two chapters a week posted on their website in advance of the publication. I resisted the urge to read them until the evening before the book was out, which was good, because the final preview chapter ends on a heck of a cliffhanger. I was lucky enough that the Tuesday the book was released was during my Easter break from school, allowing me to devote the whole day to devouring the book on my e-reader, so I would know how everything turned out. While most of Andrews' stories tend to be mostly self-contained, this has the closest to a cliffhanger ending that I think they've ever had. Then I immediately started my re-read, this time in audio, and was able to savour the story more. Kristen Sieh is an amazing narrator and really captures the voices of the various characters excellently. Re-reading the book also allowed me to see how cleverly the authors had sprinkled hints and clues throughout the story, so that while there were several excellent plot twists along the way (the biggest one, about halfway through, literally made me do whatever the reading equivalent of a double-take is), they are, in fact, honestly foreshadowed along the way. You just don't know what is foreshadowing, and what isn't. 

Because Ilona Andrews are now reaching new readers, I have also been able to fangirl out in person with more than one member of my book club about this book (and I've been able to recommend other books in their back catalogue, which is always a very happy thing for a superfan to do). The authors have assured their readers that they are hard at work writing book 2 (it's at over 180 000 words and counting), and unlike in the fictional series Maggie so adores, there WILL be a book 3. Which brings me to yet another point: this is by far their most complex book project. The authors had to, in effect, write TWO stories while they were working on this. Rellas is a fictional world in Maggie's reality, but Ilona and Gordon had to sit down and plot out all the details and world-building of Maggie's favourite books, as well as the story about Maggie that we get to read. 

From my social media algorithms, it seems like some people have such a book hangover from this book that they just keep re-reading it again and again. I should probably be thankful that I currently have so many ARCs needing my attention that I have to take a break from it. I'm confident that I will re-read it at least once more before the end of the year, though, just to tide me over until Maggie's next book comes along. 

Judging a book by its cover: I have mentioned many times that Ilona Andrews seems cursed with terrible covers. At least Tor gave them an interesting-looking one for their epic fantasy. I promise that the weird bird creature on the cover is actually relevant to the plot, although it takes a while for it to enter the story. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR 18 Book 8: "Beast Business" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 205 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Augustine Montgomery is the head of a very successful investigative agency and a deeply private man. He is an illusion Prime, who can alter his appearance at will, and there are very few people alive who know what he actually looks like. Augustine presents himself to the world as calculated, efficient, ruthless and detached. He is never swayed by emotion and has very few friends as a result. 

Diana Harrison is the Head of House Harrison and a very powerful animal mage. Like Augustine, she is seen as cold, detached and seems to care more for animals than people. Her brothers and niece are the only exceptions. She comes to Augustine because she needs help with an urgent personal matter, and she can't hire anyone from the Baylor Agency, since then her niece Matilda might discover what House Harrison has lost. 

Diana and Augustine are both deeply private and secretive, but when working together, it will be impossible for them to keep their abilities hidden. Nevertheless, a helpless baby animal has been stolen and needs to be reunited with its mother soon, or the unique tiger cub might die, and its loss would hurt both its supernatural mother and Diana, who is bonded to the mother tiger. 

Even when busy writing the second book in their new traditionally published fantasy series, Ilona Andrews (the husband and wife writing team) are generous to their devoted fans and wrote this bonus novella, set in their Hidden Legacy paranormal fantasy universe. Augustine and Diana have both appeared as supporting characters in the previous books, with some speculating that there was a romantic connection between the two. This novella confirms that the speculation was right, but it also ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, which I know left some readers frustrated and feeling cheated that they didn't get more of Augustine and Diana as an actual couple. (Yes, Des, I'm talking about you, among others). 

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me comes out at the end of March, and for those of us not lucky enough to have been granted an ARC, it's very good to have something to distract us from the long wait. As I have said many times before, I would pay for anything Ilona Andrews publishes (frequently in more than one format) and more from the Hidden Legacy universe, especially since this also contains a bonus short story about Arabella Baylor making a new friend, which was very entertaining. 

Judging a book by its cover: Once again, proof that Ilona Andrews only gets good covers when they commission the art themselves. While I think Diana is looking a bit too much like a helpless damsel here, rather than a deadly force to be reckoned with, I really like the cover, and who doesn't love a blue baby tiger?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read 

CBR17 Book 62: "The Inheritance" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 280 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: Free (swapping out Migrant)

In a world pretty much like our own, people were just going about their ordinary lives when suddenly, everything changed. Gigantic portals to some other mystical dimension began opening all over the world. It soon became clear that if the portals were left unattended for a while, hordes of horrific monsters emerged and proceeded to wreak havoc. Once specialised teams started breaching the gates, they discovered each portal contained a lot of rare and valuable minerals and resources, as well as the scary monsters, and each gate had an anchor, which, when destroyed, would collapse the gates. Humans started developing specialised talents that allowed them to help explore the gates and fight the emerging threats.

One of the people whose world changed irrevocably with the appearance of the first gates was Adaline "Ada" Moore. She had a supportive husband and two kids, but after the chaos and terror of the first invasion of monsters, her husband decided he had other places to be, and abandoned her and her children entirely. Ada is now employed by the government, and her Talent allows her to survey the various breaches for whatever resources are there, to ascertain what needs to be extracted before the gate collapses. Her talent is rare and sought-after, so she has been in hundreds of breaches over the past decade, always carefully guarded and one of the first people to be evacuated if something goes wrong.

But not this time. Going into a breach, there is an unexpected attack of monsters that the advance team didn't find and neutralise, and the man who is supposed to guard Ada panics, lets off an explosion to hide his tracks and runs away, trapping Ada, the only human survivor, in a labyrinthine cave system with no obvious exit. Her only companion is a scared tracker dog, a German Shepherd named Bear. She is granted an unexpected gift by a dying alien warrior woman, who was fighting the ruthless monsters that attacked the team. The woman basically dies in Ada's arms, but gifts Ada a mystical gemstone which sinks into Ada's forehead before the woman dies. She is told this is her "inheritance", and as she is forced to traverse the creepy and dangerous passages in the dark, Ada discovers that the gemstone has given her increased endurance, the ability to see in the near dark, as well as a wealth of knowledge about alien worlds and civilisations Ada never dreamed existed.

Ada believes herself to be abandoned, assuming everyone outside believes she died in the attack. However, she promised her children she would be home, and refuses to leave them orphaned if she has anything to say about it. Ada has no previous experience with fighting and self-defence, and Bear is only barely an adult dog. Nevertheless, they are forced to fight for their lives and level up quickly to survive. As an unexpected side effect, it turns out that eating alien monster mystery meat as your only source of protein comes with a number of new and exciting mutations that enhance Ada and her trusty dog considerably.

Of writers still alive today, Ilona Andrews are among my absolute favourites. The husband and wife writing team have written some of my favourite paranormal fantasies over the past decade and a half, and I love that some of their most creative works have begun as free episodic fiction on their website, to give their fans something diverting to read when times get tough. The Inheritance, now part one of The Breach Wars was supposed to be a novella length story, published in installments about once a week, but as is so often the case, the authors discover that they need to write more and longer to make the story complete, and we lucky readers therefore ended up with a short novel instead, and the promise of more excitement to come.

One of their strengths when writing is the characterisation, not only of their protagonists (in this case, Ada Moore, forty-something mother-of-two, and developing badass), but also the supporting cast. When people began developing Talents, some got enhanced speed, endurance and fighting abilities and are counted as combat classes. Ada's talent is that of Assessor, very much a non-combat class, but since she is one of the people who help determine what all the various goodies can be found inside the gates, she makes the companies that she is hired out to, and the government she works for, huge amounts of money, and is therefore treasured and protected. She knows the work is dangerous, but it pays extremely well, and the benefits allow her to feed and house her kids well, send them to the best schools (and the death benefits are enough to support them until adulthood, should the worst happen). While she's seen some scary things in the past, she's never been in a situation as bad as the one she finds herself in here, abandoned by people who were supposed to protect her and left for dead.

If she were alone in the world, Ada might have given up and let herself die in the breach, but she knows that her deadbeat husband won't be there for the kids, and she can't stand the thought of them being left orphaned and scared. So she ovaries up and determines to find an alternate way out of the gate, nearly dying more than once, but emerging stronger and fiercer with each near-death experience.

In the decade since the Gates started appearing and threatening the world, large organisations or guilds have been formed with both combat and non-combat Talents, specialising in killing any hostile threats inside, extracting valuable resources and collapsing anchors to neutralise the gates. Elias McFeron works for the guild that employed the team supposed to protect Ada. He's not exactly happy when he discovers the cluster f**k of incompetence that led to most of a team being left for dead inside a Gate they were responsible for, including a very experienced Assessor. The stories of the few survivors who made it out, including the guy who was supposed to sacrifice himself to protect Ada, if it came to that, are a little bit too similar and rehearsed to be believable, and they know something untoward went down. Elias and his team are so far secondary characters, and this part of the story is more of a minor subplot (somewhat fleshed out in the extended scenes added once the book was made ready for publication), but for the reader, it's nice to know that someone trustworthy and honourable out there is working to get Ada out, even if she doesn't know it herself.

I know that the audio version of this hasn't been finalised yet and will hopefully become available at some point in November. This is primarily a digital release, but print-on-demand copies can be purchased as well. While the story was being serialised on their website, the authors commissioned accompanying art, which is all included in the e-book (in colour if you have a colour screen), as well as additional art released only in the full version. So you get some really gorgeous illustrations accompanying the story. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover art and internal illustrations in The Inheritance are all done by Candice Slater, and once again, prove that Ilona Andrews can have decent covers, as long as they are the ones commissioning it. What I especially like about this cover is that it seems to reveal new details every time I look at it. There are so many tiny details. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 52: "Sanctuary" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 152 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Nowhere Bingo: Takes place during a holiday/holiday season (this is set around Christmas/a bunch of pagan midwinter rites)

362 days of the year, Roman, Black Volhv of Atlanta, dutifully serves Chernobog, the god of Destruction, Darkness, and Death. He just wants a few days of peace, to enjoy his stew, eggnog, and cookies, but it is not to be. One of the infernal paranormal critters that loves him has cleaned out both his eggnog and cookie stash and to make matters worse, there's an injured teenager on his property, begging him for sanctuary. The youth, protectively clutching a puppy, promises his sister will come for him soon, and though he really doesn't want any trouble, Roman isn't about to let the defenseless young man and his pup be harmed. 

It doesn't take long before Roman has to deal with elite mercenaries, combat mages, and mysterious priests, all very determined to stop at nothing to get their hands on the kid. Roman rolls out his unwelcome mat and shows his visitors that while it may be the holidays, he's not some helpless recluse in the woods. The Black Volhv possesses a lot of power, and he's going to need it to keep the trespassers from his door.

Roman, dark priest of Chernobog was first introduced to fans of Ilona Andrews in Magic Slays, but only appeared briefly. He was a much more prominent character in Gunmetal Magic,  a spin-off book from the Kate Daniels series. Popular from the start, he ended up appearing in a number of the later books in the series, along with his large and opinionated family. While appearing rather gloomy at times, Roman often acted as a comic relief character and seemed to never take anything too seriously. Here, the authors (Ilona Andrews is the pen name of a husband and wife duo) show us that Roman is in fact a very serious and depressed individual, whose life is not especially easy, since Chernobog is a demanding god to serve, and despite his mother's nagging, maintaining any sort of romantic relationship when you're often taken away to the pagan underworld to serve a dark deity is unlikely to work out long-term. 

One of the things I really like about Ilona Andrews' books in the Kate Daniels universe is just how much folklore and mythology they explore and occasionally reinterpret. When it comes to Roman and his sprawling magical family, Slavic mythology is the main one that is explored. As with many religions and mythologies, light and dark isn't necessarily synonymous with good and evil. Balance is the name of the game, and you cannot have one without the other. In the Slavic pantheon, Belobog is the god of Light and Creation, and his twin brother Chernobog is the god of Destruction, Darkness, and Death. Chernobog is married to Morena, the goddess of Winter and Death. Neither of these deities is evil, as everything that lives needs to eventually die and decay, or there will be chaos. In Slavic paganism, the world is separated into three (a lot like in Norse mythology). There is Prav, where the light gods (like Belobog) reside, Yav (the world of humans) and Nav (the world of the dark gods, where Chernobog and Morena reside - and keep the Chaos which is outside Nav from invading and destroying all of creation). 

In his previous appearances, it has become clear that while he's not exactly thrilled about his vocation, Roman serves his dark god because he takes his duties seriously. In this novella, we find out more about how exactly he came to be the Dark Volvh and some of what that actually entails. Humour helps him cope with his calling. Roman is not evil, nor is his god, and he's not about to let an innocent young man be taken against his will by bloodthirsty mercenaries. However, he's been a soldier, and he is willing to take lives if that is the only way to keep his property and those he protects safe. As with a lot of other Ilona Andrews stories, there is adventure, humour, action and some impressive violence in this story.

This novella started in weekly instalments on Ilona Andrews' blog. Once they decided to publish it, they took down the story and it has gone through edits, and the finished story includes an epilogue, where it becomes clear why this is part 1 of The Roman Chronicles (note the plural). It looks like the authors, gracious as they are, are considering expanding the Kate Daniels universe with more stories about one of our favourite supporting characters. Roman's adventures clearly aren't over, and there are new characters (including a likely love interest) introduced over the course of this story. There are quite a lot of other stories that the authors have stated they need to write before we are likely to get more Roman, but since I love everything they have published so far, it's not like the wait is too onerous. 

Judging a book by its cover: Here is yet another example that Ilona Andrews only ever has good cover art when they self-publish. This cover is simple, yet really cool and very atmospheric. Absolutely perfect for the story it illustrates. Why do traditional publishers keep getting it so wrong?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 39: "Magic Claims" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 240 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: In the Wild (partly set in a big, spooky wood AND featuring shifters)

This short novel, which originally was planned as a novella (but the authors just couldn't fit all of the story into such a short format, for which their fans are grateful) is the second of the Wilmington Years stories, which could clearly also be called Kate and Curran spectacularly fail at a quiet and uneventful retirement.

In the previous story, Magic Tides, Kate has to rescue a bunch of people from a magical threat (so nothing new there), and despite her wish for anonymity becomes more noticeable in her newly adopted neighbourhood. 

In this follow-up (popularly known among fans as Magic Clams, because of frequent mis-typings of the title) Kate and Curran are approached by Edward Calloway, the great-uncle of one of the people Kate recently saved. He explains that much of their family still lives in the village of Penderton, which seems to have been more or less swallowed up by the surrounding forest. The residents there can no longer leave even if they want to, without risking death. Sinister magic users come once a year to demand a human sacrifice, and this year, they've decided to demand a rather large number of people to allow the rest of the residents to stay safe. The residents of Penderton desperately need help and are willing to pay a lot for assistance from stronger, more powerful forces than the evil in the woods (those forces being Kate and Curran). Remaining quiet and unobtrusive would mean sending a lot of people to their deaths. Our heroic couple doesn't need a lot more motivation than that. 

In addition to this new threat nearby, Kate is also faced with the arrival of two powerful individuals who used to follow Roland, her father. Now that he is locked away in a separate realm, the men want to swear fealty to Kate, his powerful daughter, and very reluctant heir. To aid them, Kate and Curran also have a group of local shapeshifters, and of course their were-lion son, Conlan. 

I never fail to be amazed at how well Ilona Andrews manages to balance action, fairly serious violence, super creepy magical threats, humour, and more quiet character moments so excellently. Having now been married for several years, it's nice to see some of Kate and Curran's domestic life and how completely comfortable they are with one another (and how proud and entirely non-threatened Curran is of his wife, an absolute powerhouse of magical talent). Kate and Curran have both been trying to do what they feel is the right thing, laying low, staying unobtrusive, and hiding their powers. When danger really threatens and they are the only ones who can help, it's quite clear that they thrive a lot more when they get to flex their unparalleled magic abilities or incredible shapeshifter fighting skills. 

Since finishing all their existing publishing contracts, the husband and wife team who make up Ilona Andrews are now free to write whatever they want and publish it at their own leisure. They don't announce what they have been working on until they're getting close to publication. It's quite clear that after some years away from the world of Kate Daniels, they now have new ideas and find it creatively interesting to play in this figurative sandbox again. In various promo interviews they did via YouTube, the couple have made it clear that for the foreseeable future, they will be working on sequels or spin-offs in the Kate Daniels universe. There's going to be at least one more story about Kate and Curran and their family in the Wilmington Years, there will finally be a new book about Hugh D'Ambray (the first book, Iron and Magic, came out in 2018) and they will be writing a follow-up to Blood Heir (or the continuing adventures of Julie and Derek, as I like to think of it). They've dropped some serious hints of what will be coming, and I am very excited to see what they come up with next. 

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is perfectly fine. Sassy-looking lady with a sword, a big ghostly lion in the background. Misty, spooky-looking woods. It fits with the themes of the previous books and is not a complete eye-sore. I'll take it. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 4: "Magic Tides" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 163 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

While this book is the start of a new chapter in the lives of Kate Daniels and her family, I suspect this book will work a lot better if you've read at least some of the previous thirteen books and various novellas. As always, I would recommend strongly skipping the first book (as do the authors themselves). Start with book 2, Magic Burns. 

Set seven years after Magic Triumphs (and about two years before the events of Blood Heir), Kate, her former Beast-Lord husband, and their extremely powerful shapeshifter son have moved to Wilmington to start a new life, determined to keep a low profile. This doesn't exactly last very long. When it turns out the nephew of their contractor has been abducted by human traffickers, Kate straps on her sword and goes to kick some ass. The boy's father accompanies her, very doubtful about this woman's promises, but after Kate beats several goons unconscious, beheads the gang leader, rescues a handful of children, and torches the compound to the ground, he's shell-shocked but a lot more optimistic.

Kate's rescue mission takes her first to the Order of Merciful Aid, and then she has to pay a visit to the vampire training ground of the People (her megalomanic magical overlord father's former minions), praying that no one there recognises her for who she really is (their now deposed and exiled god-king's even more powerful daughter) and either challenges her or decides to swear their undying allegiance to her. While Kate is off on her rescue mission, Curran and Conlan are left making sure their contractor's whole family is safe behind the walls of their fortified estate, waiting for the rest of the enraged human traffickers to show up and demand payment in blood. 

This was a very unexpected surprise from my favourite author team, announced in mid-December, only a few weeks before the actual release date. After a five-year break from the main Kate Daniels series and about two years since the first book in the sequel series about Julie, Kate's adopted daughter (all grown up and a magical powerhouse of her own), it was a delightful treat to discover that there would be a series of novellas about Kate and her family in their new home. I have said before, and will no doubt say it again, I will pre-order and probably buy in multiple formats anything that Ilona Andrews publishes. In my eyes, they can do no wrong.

As with all their books, this has an excellent mix of quips, action, strange mythological enemies, and a great family dynamic and it was just so nice to revisit already familiar characters. My reason for withholding half a star is just that I'm petty, and I wanted more than a 163-page novella. Like the rest of the Book-Devouring Horde, I'm insatiable. 

Judging a book by its cover: This fits into the other books about Kate in that it features a skinny, dark-haired chick with a sword and there's a ghostly lion on the cover as well. I did like the treasure chest of gold in the lower right corner, but generally, this slots into the many many bad covers these authors have had over the years. I get that it's even harder to get good covers when you self-publish, but this seems pretty generic. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR14 Book 50: "Sweep of the Heart" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 474 pages

Rating: 5 stars

This is not the place to start The Innkeeper Chronicles, as it's the sixth installment overall (four full books and a novella come before it). This story has a LOT of callbacks to previous stories, so just start with Clean Sweep if you haven't tried this yet. 

Innkeepers Dina DeMille and Sean Evans are still trying to recover from the last cosmic adventure that taxed them when they discover that Wilmos, the aging werewolf who's pretty much Sean's surrogate grandfather has been abducted. The traces of magic that they find in his abandoned shop suggests that the perpetrators are likely to be the magically corrupted beings who have tried to threaten Dina and the Gertrude Hunt inn in the past. After investigating, they discover that Wilmos is being held on an extremely dangerous and remote planet, and the only vague chance they have at gaining access to the only available portal to said planet means taking on a bigger challenge than most Innkeepers have ever had to face.

They basically have to host a massive inter-galactic dating competition to help find a spouse for a very powerful ruler (who happens to have ties to Dina's first guest, Lady Caldenia). Not only do they have to open the inn to twelve extremely different alien delegations (many of whom are sworn enemies or just incredibly dangerous) and intergalactic observers and cater to their comforts and whims, there's a rumour that one of the spouse candidates is in fact an assassin trying to kill the galactic overlord. And of course everything is going to be live-streamed directly, so the citizens in the area for space the overlord rules can vote for their favourites. Dina is told by the Innkeeper Assembly that if anyone dies during the competition, she could lose her Inn forever. It's an incredible logistical nightmare, and Dina and Sean have no choice if they want to rescue Wilmos.

As is always the case with the Innkeeper Chronicles, this started out as weekly installments to read for free on the authors' website. As the story progressed, they also offered readers the opportunity to vote on the candidate selections, and started posting really funny "previously on" updates every week. I was delighted to see that those little commentaries were included at the end of each new chapter. Even for fans who read this as it was posted, purchasing the book is worthwhile. There's a very important and rather long final section that was never made available for free - a longer finale to the spouse selection, as well as the dangerous and action-packed mission to find and rescue Wilmos.

I'm pretty sure the authors weren't expecting this to become one of the longest books they've ever published, but as a massive fan of anything and everything Ilona Andrews writes, I was super happy. They're clearly working towards the end of their story arcs, and bringing central characters who have been separated back towards each other again, so I guess I'll just have to wait impatiently to see where the story goes next (although apparently this Q and A reveals a lot of their future plans for the series)

Judging a book by its cover: I like the slightly sinister green background and the big planet looming in the background. Both Dina and Sean look ready for action and serious as a heart-attack, which fits well with the underlying quest of the story. Once again, the Innkeeper Chronicles prove to have the least objectionable of all of Andrews' covers. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR14 Book 24: "Ruby Fever" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 380 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR14 Bingo: New (could also have been used for Series - last in a series, and Mind - a lot of minds are manipulated by various powers throughout)

Spoiler warning! This book finishes off a bunch of storylines that started six books and a novella earlier in Burn for Me. It's technically the third book in a trilogy, but to fully get the emotional heft of the story, you should have read the whole series up until now. Besides, don't you like fun? Ilona Andrews writes the best paranormal fantasy on the market. If for some reason you just want to read Catalina's trilogy, the first book is Sapphire Flames. 

The book opens with the House Baylor taking a tour of the large estate that will be their new home. Thanks to the eccentricities of the former owner, there's a variety of places to stay, from impressive towers that appeal to Arabella and Leon, to small guest cottages where Bern and his girlfriend Runa, as well as Runa's younger siblings, can stay. There's ample room for their security forces, a space where grandma Frida can continue to work on her vehicles, and some lovely grounds, including a pool, not to mention a house where the head of House Baylor, Catalina, and her assassin fiancé can live away from the prying eyes of the rest of her family.

Six months later, Catalina and Alessandro find themselves with a very complicated situation on their hands. There's a very expensive spider on the loose in the Baylor compound, which needs to be found and returned to her owners. That's relatively simple compared to the fact that someone has very publically murdered the Speaker of the Texas assembly, which is likely to cause panic in the city. When trying to notify Catalina's boss, the Warden of Texas about this, Catalina and Alessandro discover that he has been gravely poisoned and may not recover. This elevates Catalina to acting Warden, a position the young woman had been hoping she wouldn't have to assume for years yet. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, a handsome, yet arrogant prince from the Russian Emperium shows up and complicates things by using his shapeshifting abilities to make the assassin warlord Arkan (the man Alessandro has sworn to kill to avenge his murdered father) think Catalina and the Baylors have access to one of his's closest allies, basically making it inevitable that the ruthless man will stop at nothing to kill Catalina, Alessandro, and the whole Baylor clan.

As I already mentioned, not only is this book the final volume in Catalina's trilogy, but it wraps up storylines that started as far back as Burn for Me, the first book about Nevada Baylor and Connor "Mad" Rogan. Since they are Catalina's sister and brother-in-law, Nevada and Connor obviously show up, but the writers have created a plausible reason for why the powerful couple can't really step in and help fight Arkan or solve the murder mystery, or which someone poisoned Linus Duncan and why. They nevertheless do get a pretty satisfying extended cameo, without taking up too much space in Catalina and Alessandro's final adventure. Several long-running mysteries that have occupied the imaginations of the Book-Devouring Horde (the self-styled name of Ilona Andrews' fans) for years and years now are finally given satisfying answers, and I didn't mind in the slightest that thanks to spending a lot of time on various fan sites on Goodreads and Facebook, none of the big reveals really came as a surprise.  

Because Catalina and Alessandro are a much more established couple in this book, some of the romance takes a backseat to the action and mystery plots. I didn't really mind this, as we got more than enough romance in Emerald Blaze and this book also seems to focus more on Catalina's growing powers and her learning to adapt to and control them. She's always had the ability to entice people to love her and do what she wants with her green wings, but she needs to learn to use her black wings and their accompanying sinister powers or risk losing control entirely during a very critical time. 

 

This book probably won't be a 5-star read for a lot of people. I've seen others complain about pacing problems and elements of the plot they didn't think worked so well, but to me, this book is a wonderful conclusion to a series I've been reading since 2014. As readers of my reviews will know, I'm an unashamed Ilona Andrews fangirl and would happily pay if they decided to publish and sell their shopping lists. So it's probably wise to take my rating with a grain of salt, but anyone who's read the earlier books and wondering if they stick the landing - yes, I would very much say they do. 

Judging a book by its cover: While I breathe a sigh of relief that the second trilogy in the Hidden Legacy series has had vastly better covers than the first one, I'm not exactly a big fan of this one. This is also the only book of the three where Catalina isn't at any point described as wearing the evening dress they've put the cover model in. I'm happy that they have the same two people on the cover for each of the three books. I like red, it's a great colour. Not super happy about the jazz hands or weird lightning suddenly streaming from the female model who's supposed to portray Catalina. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR13 Book 56: "Fated Blades" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 222 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

This was an ARC from Netgalley. My views and opinions are my own. 

On the alien planet of Rada, most of the powerful families have genetic abilities in some way or another, but the ones born with lethal combat abilities are the fiercest of rivals, and none more so than the Adlers and the Baenas. They are constantly vying to be the most dominant, and now both families are close to discovering the secrets behind their genetic abilities. 

Matias Baena, head of his house, is surprised when he is told that Ramona Adler, head of hers, has come to see him unannounced. He's even more shocked when she has undeniable proof that her husband has been having an affair with his wife, and the couple is currently on the run with the business secrets of both the Baenas and the Adlers. Matias and Ramona have no choice but to join forces in tracking down their cheating spouses, to prevent possibly universe-altering technology being leaked and exploited. 

It quickly becomes apparent that there are some very deadly groups wanting the business secrets, and Matias and Ramona do not have a lot of time. They need to keep their personal alliance hidden from their families and business rivals, escape the lethal forces trying to kill them, and resist the rapidly growing attraction between them. Not only are they both still married (although that's not going to be lasting long), but their families have been bitter rivals for more generations than anyone alive can remember.

Previous to releasing this novella, author-pair Ilona Andrews hadn't written or published anything in their sci-fi series Kinsmen since 2011. So I think it's fair to say that this story took a lot of their fans by surprise. At the same time, die-hard Ilona Andrews fans, affectionately nicknamed the Book-Devouring Horde on their website(of which I am certainly a member), will buy and probably love anything they publish. The good news for those readers who haven't read any previous Kinsmen stories is that this stands entirely on its own and can act as a jumping-on point to the other stories in the series or just act as a very nice taste of what the authors have to offer.

There is interesting world-building, which even in a story this short, feels perfectly established. There are intricate power struggles. The protagonists are both extremely capable at what they do, top of their field and also start out as antagonists. The chemistry between the leads and the dialogue, both between primary and supporting characters, sparkles. In this story, there is a clear goal, some very impressive action sequences, some hot personal moments, and a wholly satisfying ending. Well, if I was going to quibble, the ending came a bit too soon for my taste and I would have loved to spend more time with Matias and Ramona than a longish novella. 

This story is available now and has been since late November. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to review it, but I am hoping to do better with my reviews in the coming year. 

Judging a book by its cover: After seeing this cover, and the one for Blood Heir, from the start of the year, I am of the opinion that Louisa Pressler should design and create all of Ilona Andrews' covers. Considering so many of their books are eye-sores, these recent self-published books are a welcome change. I love Pressler's art and even if Ilona Andrews were number one on my pre-order list, I would have bought the book based on this cover. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR13 Book 2: "Blood Heir" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 359 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Info to new readers - while this is the first book in a new series, and as such, should be perfectly accessible to readers completely unaware of Ilona Andrews' previous books, it references A LOT of stuff that happened in the ten-book Kate Daniels series, as well as in Iron and Magic, a spin-off book of that series. I would highly recommend that you start there. 

Aurelia Ryder arrives back in Atlanta after an eight-year absence, trying to keep her presence mostly under the radar. The last time she was in the city, her name was Julie Olsen Lennart, adopted daughter of magical powerhouse Kate Daniels and the former Beast Lord of the Atlanta pack, Curran Lennart. Now there's a sinister prophecy requiring her return, but she can't see her family or let them know she's there, or Kate is destined to die. Aurelia/Julie needs to look into the grisly death of a clergyman and stop a malevolent magical force from gaining a foothold in Atlanta. 

Of course, going back to her old home means stirring up a lot of old memories, and she runs into a lot of familiar faces along the way. Julie Olsen was known and loved by many, Aurelia Ryder is an unknown entity and there are a lot of people who are curious as to her origins and reasons for suddenly appearing in Atlanta, fighting monsters, and trying to right wrongs. Thankfully, after her eight years away, Julie doesn't just have a new name, she has a different face and is quite the magical force to be reckoned with herself. She doesn't intend any harm to come to her family, even if they can't know she's protecting them.

This novel started as free snippets posted on Ilona Andrews' website because a Covid nurse e-mailed them and asked for something to read to take her mind off her gruelling work schedule. A few years back, in 2018, having finished the Kate Daniels series, the husband and wife team who make up Ilona Andrews considered doing a spin-off about Julie, Kate's adopted daughter, but were a bit bored with the world and its characters and needed a break for a while. This nurse's request seems to have made them revisit their already established paranormal fantasy world, moving the action eight years after the end of their last book, and switching to a different protagonist. A lot of the characters Aurelia/Julie interacts with and encounters over the course of the book first appeared in the Kate Daniels books, and while there is a lot of information given about the world, the magic system, the complex politics that keep it running, I suspect a reader would be a lot more comfortable having read at least some of the previous series before starting this one.

After a few months of posting partial chapters every week, when it became clear that this could actually be fashioned into a whole book fit for publication, the authors removed the free snippets and retooled the stuff they'd already written into an exciting, action-packed novel. The work they started on the website needed some major rewrites to work properly as a full book and I, for one, am happy with the wait as it seems we may be getting a whole new series out of it.

I know a lot of people found Julie a bit annoying as a supporting character in the Kate books. I never had a major problem with her, and teenagers are always difficult characters to write at the best of times. The protagonist of this book, Aurelia/Julie is a battle-hardened young woman who's been trained in both the magical and martial arts by true experts, and her involuntary physical changes have come about after long periods of pain and self-sacrifice. She loves her family and won't let any harm come to them, even if it pains her not to see her parents after a long absence. 

Aurelia/Julie has to solve a series of gruesome supernatural murders and prevent the demonic avatar of an ancient god from taking over Atlanta and claiming her in the bargain. She works with the Knights of the Order of Merciful Aid, and also has run-ins with old acquaintances from the Atlanta Pack of shapeshifters. Very unexpectedly, Julie also finds herself face to face with her old crush, Derek Gaunt, now also massively changed and back in Atlanta after years away. Now an actual honest to goodness princess and warrior in her own right, Julie believed herself to be over Derek, but every encounter they have proves to her that he's still someone who can make her far too flustered. She's sure he has no idea who Aurelia Ryder really is, though, and since the most expedient way to solve the murders seems to be working with him, she keeps finding herself in close contact with the wolf shifter, bantering and fighting.

There's a lot of set-up in this book, and it ends on a cliff hanger, so I certainly hope the authors are intending to continue this series for at least another book or two. I would obviously have liked more romance between Julie and Derek, but considering the authors dragged out Kate and Curran's courtship over two-three books, I guess it was overly optimistic that everything was going to be wrapped up with a neat little bow after just one book. 

If you're a fan of Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels books, you are sure to enjoy this book too. It felt very comforting to be back in a world I already knew well, seeing it through the eyes of a different character. It was obviously also nice to see how life had changed for a lot of the old fan favourites from the earlier series. I pre-ordered this, and it seems to be selling well. Fingers crossed that it's the start of a series, not a rather tantalising one-off. 

Judging a book by its cover: I feel like the only time ever that Ilona Andrews gets nice cover art is when they commission it themselves. To be fair (as well as the other picture of Julie as a Princess of Shinar that the very talented Luisa Preissler drew and which is also included in the book) may be one of my favourite cover images of any paranormal fantasy book I own. Which is funny, because White Hot is probably the most eye-gougingly bad book cover of any I own. Not many authors have such a breadth of cover art. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.  

#CBR12 Book 69: "Emerald Blaze" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 5 stars

#CBR12 Bingo: Green

Spoiler warning! This is the fifth book total in the Hidden Legacy series, and the second book about Catalina Baylor. This review may spoil details from previous books in the series. If you want to start at the very beginning, the book you want is Burn for Me. If you want to start with Catalina's books, the first book is Sapphire Flames. 

It's been about six months since the end of the last book, where Catalina Baylor made a very unfortunate, iron-clad deal with her evil grandmother to save Alessandro Sagredo's life, only to discover that he was so caught up in his quest for revenge that he packed up and left town pretty much immediately after, breaking her heart in the process. Not that Catalina has been wallowing in self-pity and comfort eating while contemplating her emotions, she's been busy strengthening the power of her house and barely surviving dangerous missions as the deputy warden of Texas. 

Now the heir to House Morton has been horribly murdered and members of four other prominent Texas houses are suspects. There are also strange mutated monsters running around Houston, controlled by an unknown force. Catalina is given the mission to find the guilty party, is deeply unhappy when she discovers that Lander Morton, the grieving patriarch of House Morton, has hired Alessandro to dispatch his son's killer, once the murderer is found. Alessandro is no longer the carefree, easy-going flirt he was six months ago, he seems hard and focused now, and is much more willing to share things, both information and his feelings with Catalina. He insists that someone is trying to kill her, and he is in Houston again to protect her. Since Linus Duncan, Catalina's boss agrees to let Alessandro act as her bodyguard, she doesn't really have a choice but to cooperate with him. 

The man that Alessandro has been hunting since he was a teenager is now openly planning to kill Catalina, and possibly Linus Duncan too. Alessandro is willing to do whatever it takes, even risk his own life, to keep Catalina safe. He is unaware of the bargain Catalina made with her grandmother to save his life, effectively giving up any chance they might have had for a future together. Can the two stop the danger that could destroy Houston, survive, and actually have an honest conversation about their feelings?

Once again, the husband and wife writing team that makes up Ilona Andrews have produced an action-packed, funny, and emotional novel. I never stop being amazed by their creativity when it comes to conjuring up new and truly bizarre supernatural threats for their protagonists to face off against. They always have the best monstrous beasties, but of course, the most monstrous threats facing any hero or heroine of theirs is thoroughly human. In this novel, we discover what Alessandro's quest for revenge actually consists of, and why he's been training to become one of the world's top assassins since he was a teenager. We discover the truth behind why Nevada suddenly resigned as head of House Baylor and more or less publicly severed ties with her siblings. Nevada, very heavily pregnant, is much more present in this book. Leon also gets a lot more to do, while Cornelius and Bern sadly take more of a backseat in this story. 

It's hard for me to review books I really love, and I feel that every time I review an Ilona Andrews book, I pretty much end up repeating the same superlatives again and again. If I haven't convinced the people who read these reviews to start reading Andrews' books by now, it will likely never happen. But you're missing out on some of the best (if not THE best) paranormal fantasy being written today.

Judging a book by its cover: I stand by what I said when commenting on the cover for Sapphire Flames, this is the first non-self-published series where Ilona Andrews actually have decent looking covers. I like the various shades of green and the female cover model's dress. I think they've kept the same woman portraying Catalina from the previous cover shoot, but it looks like the male model, portraying Alessandro, has been replaced. Also, it could just be unfortunate shading, but the male model appears to have a soul patch, which is NOT attractive. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 8: "Sweep with Me" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 140 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Spoiler warning! This is the fifth story in the Innkeeper Chronicles series, and this review may contain spoilers for previous installments. If you want to start at the beginning, Clean Sweep is the first book.

For Innkeepers, the biggest and most sacred holiday of the year is the Treaty Stay, which commemorates the ancient treaty between the first Inns, their intergalactic guests, and the agreement to keep humans safe and completely unaware of the presence of alien visits to Earth. During a Treaty Stay, Inns have to open the doors to anyone who seeks lodging, which is how Dina and Sean, who have only barely managed to recover from the last very dramatic events at Gertrude Hunt, find themselves preparing to host not only a large flock of philosophically minded and argumentative space chickens (no, really) but an extremely powerful and notoriously difficult to please space warlord, who has some sort of important meeting she needs to attend to on Earth.

Orro, Dina's neurotic perfectionist of a chef drives himself nearly mad trying to produce the food request that the warlord has asked for as her first meal. He's also gotten himself addicted to fast-paced reality cooking shows. Sean is having fun upgrading the inn's defenses, which is urgently needed, considering the ruthless businessman that their alien guest is meeting with keeps trying to send mercenaries to break into the inn. Dina still feels a bit lost and out of touch with her Inn after the near-death experience she's still recovering from. She worries that she won't have the full control and power she requires to see to the safety and well being of all of her guests during the Treaty Stay.

This was a holiday novella that Ilona and Gordon (the writing team that make up Ilona Andrews), as always first released in free installments on their website and then published for fans to buy. It made my Christmas and New Year's holidays a happier place to be, certainly.

I love how, even in a fairly short story, the authors manage to balance humour, romance, friendship and the importance of family (Caldenia and Orro's presence at the inn is clearly a given for Dina, and I suspect she considers them family just as much as Maud, Helen and now Arland), with suspense and action. As always, there were laugh out loud bits, and there were some action sequences that would make your jaw drop if you saw them play out on a movie screen.

These are bonus stories that IA generously bestow on their fans, in between writing their other ongoing series, and I've come to really enjoy the extended cast and the strange little fantasy/sci-fi blend they contain. I don't want to become complacent and take these books for granted, but I hope the authors continue to occasionally release new installments, especially now that they've teased us with the possibility of Klaus, the elusive, missing Demille brother.

Judging a book by its cover: The covers for the Innkeeper Chronicles continue to be among the best that Ilona Andrews have for their books, probably because they pay someone to make them, so they have full creative control. While I think Sean looks uncharacteristically pouty, I like Dina's powerful stance and her sweeping (see what I did there) robe, as well as the festive (and plot appropriate) lanterns in the background.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 98-101: "Hidden Legacy" by Ilona Andrews (re-read)

Total page count: 1382 pages
Burn for Me - 4.5 stars
White Hot - 5 stars
Wildfire - 5 stars
Diamond Fire - 4.5 stars

Sapphire Flames, book 4 in the series (novellas only count as half instalments) and the continuation of the series came out in August (on my birthday - thank you, House Andrews, for your benevolence!). In the months leading up to that release, I wanted to re-read the previous books, so everything was fresh in my mind. The plan was that my husband would read them too (how am I married to a man who just simply refuses to read the same things I like and adore?) and then we would review all four under the "Two voices are better than one" square on this year's Cannonball Bingo. Unfortunately, due to his brain worms and a number of other factors, he never ended up even finishing his re-read of Burn for Me, let alone get round to reading any of the others. So instead, we had to go with plan B, a co-written review of Pumpkinheads (which was considerably faster for the husband to read than the nearly 1300 pages of these combined books).

This brings us to December, and me desperately scrambling to actually complete my double Cannonball. My work load this year is frankly depressing (if I'm not correcting and grading something, I'm probably planning the next task that needs to be corrected and graded). It also turns out that while maternity leave and taking care of a small baby leaves you with a fair amount of time to read (if your hormonal brain lets you concentrate on anything), being the mother of a very active and demanding toddler demands enough of what is left of my energy and intellectual capabilities once the work stress has done its damage, that I barely have the capacity for much of anything anymore. In the last month, I've barely even watched TV, we end up watching movie trailers and YouTube videos, because even a half hour episode of a show either takes up too much time, or demands too much of my mental faculties.

I pretty much have no choice but to write a rather rambling review of my re-read of these books, if I'm to have any chance to complete my double Cannonball (never give up, never surrender!) I can't have four books there on my "Read in 2019" shelf just standing there being un-reviewed, even if they are all re-reads. I've already linked to my original reviews at the top of this one, so anyone wanting plot summaries and such like, can just go check out what I wrote last time.

Why you should read the Hidden Legacy books by Ilona Andrews:

• Excellent plot. There's an over-arcing story going through all three of the first books, with a series of shadowy figures trying to destabilise the powers that be in Houston and our resourceful protagonists having to join forces to unmask and stop them, but there's also a self-contained story in each of the three books. While you will get more attached to the characters and invested in the bigger plot lines, Ilona Andrews also recaps the most important points in each book (without it seeming like too annoying regurgitation), so you could start with any book in the series and manage to follow along (but where's the fun in that?)
• Amazing world building. I have no idea where Ilona Andrews get their ideas from. The husband and wife writing team consistently, in each of the many books and series they have produced, manage to build and populate fascinating worlds, with interesting magical systems, supernatural abilities and creepy crawlies. The Hidden Legacy series is set in a world not all that different from our own - it's just that when magical powers were discovered, the magical elite developed and took power, with society having to change to adapt to that. The various types and variations of magic that they use in this book - so clever and inventive
• The supporting cast. One of my favourite things in all the different series that Ilona Andrews have created over the years is their ability to create wonderful and interesting supporting characters. If the protagonist is a loner, they make sure said person gets enough friends and eventually found family to support and back them. If the protagonist is part of a family, said family will probably be full of interesting, vibrant, demanding and usually supportive. If the protagonist in question comes from a dysfunctional family background, the authors will make sure that by the end of the story, that character has found a new set of people to lean on and belong to. In so many stories, children and adolescents are just annoying plot moppets. This is never the case in an Ilona Andrews story. In Hidden Legacy, Nevada is the breadwinner for her family, but she has her mother, grandmother, her two cousins and her younger sisters firmly on her side at all times. While her sisters and cousins bait and tease her and deeply exasperate her sometimes, they will also drop everything on a second's notice to come to her aid. 
• The protagonists. While Connor Rogan took a while to make me really like him, and make me believe he was worthy of Nevada, our heroine, Nevada Baylor had me won over by the end of the first chapter of the first book. She's had to work hard for a long time and has absolutely no time or patience for arrogant men who think they can order her around or swoop in and one up her. Once Connor realises just how isolated he's made himself, and what a remarkable woman he's found in Nevada, he more than does the legwork to prove himself an acceptable partner to her. 
• The action. There are always a lot of amazing action scenes in all of Ilona Andrews' books. This series is no exception. There are car chases, shoot outs, intense magical battles and more quiet power struggles - all fun.
• The humour. Ilona Andrews writes amazing banter between their romantic leads, but also has laugh out loud funny dialogue and situations involving supporting characters in each of their books. I frequently find myself laughing out loud more than once, in between biting my nails because of the tension and suspense.
• The original trilogy is already completed. While Diamond Fire is a novella introducing Nevada's younger sister Catalina as the protagonist and this story bridges the gap between the original trilogy and the new one (which begins with Sapphire Flames), the three books about Nevada and Connor and their attempts to stop the whole of Houston society being destabilised (all while falling in love and figuring out how they can have a future together) are finished and all out - so three great books to read, no waiting. 

I've re-read each of these books at least twice now, and can very much vouch for the quality and entertainment value of the stories. I really think Ilona Andrews just keep getting more talented with each new book they publish and feel lucky that I've been reading their books for so long. I have extremely few auto-buy authors anymore, but Ilona Andrews qualify not just for auto-buy, but pre-order. Then, once the books are out in paperback, I will pay again for physical copies. That's a very rare privilege.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR11 Book 69: "Sapphire Flames" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is the first book in a new trilogy, so it will work fine to anyone new to the authors or this fantasy world, but readers may want to have read at least Diamond Fire, a novella which introduces the heroine and bridges the completed trilogy and this new one.

In a world where magical abilities bring wealth, power and possibly even fame, Catalina Baylor has reluctantly become the head of House Baylor and the main investigator of her family's detective agency, after her sister stepped down, because she's married to the Prime of another powerful House. While Catalina's sister Nevada has the very rare ability not just to tell when someone is lying, and can also able to coerce the truth out of someone (convenient if you're trying to solve cases), Catalina's powers are almost unheard of and have been kept under wraps by everyone around her for a good reason. .

If she doesn't shield herself, she has the ability to make people love her unquestioningly, an emotion which quickly turns to obsession and madness. A nurse tried to steal her from the hospital when she was a baby. She was home schooled after her little class mates tried to steal parts of her clothing or even tear bits of her hair out. Catalina has spent most of her life tamping down her powers, and only after her family declared themselves a house, with all of the three Baylor daughters as Primes, has Catalina needed to learn how to properly use her abilities. It also means that while she has a supportive and affectionate family, she doesn't really have any close friends and she's even considered any romantic possibilities (because how can she trust that they're not just ensnared by her?)

A few years ago, Catalina worked closely with another Prime, Runa Etterson, in investigating who was trying to sabotage Nevada's upcoming wedding. At the start of this book, Catalina is asked to help when Runa's younger brother is threatening to jump off a building, mad with grief because their mother and sister just died in a fire. Catalina uses her powers to persuade the boy not to jump, and even though she's warned that taking the case of investigating the deaths is a terrible idea, which will probably endanger the Baylors, she can't turn away someone who could actually become a friend in their time of grief and desperation.

It quickly becomes clear that it was no accidental fire that killed half of House Etterson, and the reason is probably connected to the mysterious ways in which Runa's mother had been earning money for the past decade. Catalina is also shocked to discover that Alessandro Sagredo, handsome Italian nobleman and playboy (and her erstwhile teenage crush) is somehow connected to the case. He's one of the many who tells her to keep safe and stay away from the case, but with every new warning, Catalina just becomes more determined to uncover the truth. She just wishes she could keep a clear head around the handsome Alessandro.

The first Hidden Legacy trilogy introduced the readers to the Baylor family and focused on eldest sister Nevada and her developing relationship with super-Prime Connor Rogan. In Catalina's first book, the authors have wisely decided to keep Nevada and Connor off page, in Europe, allowing the readers to properly get to know Catalina and her point of view. It helps that while this book introduces a few new characters, the majority of the supporting cast are the same. While Catalina is the new head of the family, her mother, grandmother, younger sister and cousins all help out with the agency. I am always impressed with how well Ilona Andrews manages to write well-rounded, supportive and loving families. It's one of my favourite things about their books.

The most important new character introduced is obviously Catalina's love interest, Alessandro Sagredo, Italian count and international playboy. He and Catalina met briefly during the Baylor sisters' trial to prove that they had Prime status. Alessandro's Prime power is that he can nullify the magic of others, but even he was briefly overwhelmed by Catalina's Siren lure. If his social media accounts are to be believed, Alessandro's life involves racing fast cars, dating beautiful women and posing handsomely in any number of glamorous international locations. Catalina comes to realise that this is a carefully calculated smoke screen, and that Count Sagredo is in fact very dangerous, utterly lethal, and despite them barely having spoken, strangely protective of her. It took the writers about a book and a half to make me really like Rogan, I think they won me over with Alessandro by the second scene he showed up. I can't wait to see what secrets he's hiding, and how he and Catalina will eventually find their HEA over the course of the series.

Sadly, the next book is unlikely to be out until August next year, at the earliest. I suppose I'll have to content myself with re-reading this one and the earlier Hidden Legacy books while I wait.

Judging a book by its cover: Do I like the pose of the cover model Avon's design department has chosen to portray Catalina? Not really. She looks super awkward, yet also as if she's thrusting her chest out in an exaggerated manner. It brings to mind bad comic book art. Do I like her dress, and that it looks about the way a dress Catalina actually wears at an important scene in the book? Yes, I do. The cover model who's supposed to be Alessandro looks like a budget secret agent. The blue glowing stuff and the runes swirling all around the couple. Kinda cheesy. But in the grand scheme of Ilona Andrews covers, which are far too often just really bad, this is fine. This does the job.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 53: "Sweep of the Blade" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 320 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This book, which was originally intended as a novella, is book 4 in the Innkeeper Chronicles. While it's not necessary to have read the entire series to fully appreciate this book, it might be helpful to at least have read book three, One Fell Sweep, where Maud and Arland meet for the first time.

Official book description:
Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers—a special group who provide ‘lodging’ to other-planetary visitors—so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. But even Maud could never have anticipated what Fate would throw at her.

Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud—completely abandoned by his family—has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Except... In helping Dina save the world, she met Arland, the Marshal of House Krahr, one of the most powerful vampire houses. One thing led to another and he asked for her hand in marriage. She declined. Arland is not used to hearing the word ‘no;’ and try as she might, Maud can't just walk away from Arland. It doesn't help that being human is a lot harder for Maud than being a vampire.

To sort it all out, she accepts his invitation to visit his home planet. House Krahr is extremely influential and Maud knows that a woman—a human, with a very questionable past—who's turned down a proposal from its most beloved son won't get a warm reception. Maybe she’s not sure about marrying Arland, but House Krahr isn’t going to decide for her. Maud Demille has never run from a fight, and House Krahr will soon discover that there's a lot more to Maud than they’re expecting. 

As with all the other Innkeeper Chronicles books, this started as a free online serial on Ilona Andrews' website. The authors had intended it to be a bonus novella, but it clearly took on a life of its own and by the time they had finished it, it had become a short novel. With the published book, they have added a prologue showing the readers some of Maud's time on Karhari, and also how she reacted to the potentially world-ending threat that Arland risked his life to twart in the conclusion to One Fell Sweep. To some, it may feel like an unneccessary retread, as it repeats scenes from the previous book - but all of those were told from Dina, Maud's sister's POV, and as someone who doesn't exactly have photographic recall of all the books I read, it was nice to have my memory refreshed (with some pretty kick-ass action sequences, as well).

I feel like with every new Ilona Andrews review I write, I gush and go on about what amazing writers they are and how I am literally willing to hand them my money for absolutely everything they write (sometimes in multiple formats). Yet it's so incredibly comforting to know that with each new release, I'm going to get something that makes me laugh, makes my heart race, makes me excited and sometimes genuinely touched. I love their dialogue and the family dynamics they always manage to create, even though the families they portray in their various books and series often are wildly different. The children in their stories feel real, never like annoying plot moppets. Helen, Maud's precocious half-vampire daughter, is a delight.

Maud has had a very difficult time of it, and to say that she's been burned in her previous relationship is an understatement. Her husband royally f*cked up, and Maud and her daughter paid the price for that. The space vampire clans in these books value strength and martial prowess, and while Maud may be human, she became extremely adept at killing and defending herself and her child while exiled on Karhari. She swore off all things vampire, yet can't help but fall for Arland, who is everything her first husband could only dream of becoming. Maud and Helen were abandoned entirely by her first husband's family, and left to die in an uncivilised back water of the universe. The things Maud had to do to keep them alive haunts her. She cannot risk that happening again. So she knows it would be better if she outright rejected Arland, but he also makes her feel good and safe for the first time in years, and is clearly a much better man than the weasel she used to be married to.

With the exception of Arland's uncle, who has met Maud and seen how perfect she is for him, most of Arland's family are extremely hostile to the idea that he's bringing a human girlfriend home for a big wedding celebration, a woman who had the temerity to say no to his proposal. They're convinced she's some sort of scheming gold digger, and also, because she's human, that she must be weak and/or very stupid. Arland is convinced that if his family just gets to meet Maud and Helen, they'll be as crazy about them as he is. He loves and wants Maud, he understands her reluctance and the reasons for her misgivings, but he wants to be with her any way he can, and will therefore patiently wait until she is ready to accept him. While he is the military leader for his entire vampire clan and the beloved son and heir to an ancient and prestigious family, he's also found the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and any ultimatums issued by his mother or other member of his family will not go in their favour.

House Krahr is having to host a wedding between two formerly feuding families. There's clearly something fishy going on, but it's difficult to find out exactly what without offering mortal offence to one or both parties. Arland knows that pretty much all the vampires will be underestimating Maud, yet eager to prove themselves better than her and constantly trying to provoke her. So she is his best weapon to finding out what is going on in a timely manner.

I love that Arland is a big, strong alpha hero who can take on a horde of armed combatants single-handedly, and who is also entirely devoted to Maud, loving her perseverance, intelligence, strength and love for her family, on top of the physical attraction he clearly feels for her. He respects and defers to her wishes, but is also willing to completely sever ties with his own family if they don't welcome Maud and Helen properly. He understands that Maud will have to prove herself, both in a fight and by showing just how intelligent she is, but he never doubts for a second that she will succeed in this.

It sounds like Ilona Andrews will be busy with other writing commitments in the next year, so I'm not sure when the next instalment of The Innkeeper Chronicles will see the light of day. Since they tantalisingly hinted that Dina and Maud's previously missing brother Klaus has just turned up, I really hope they get round to writing more eventually, but as these bonus stories are already a generous gift, I will be happy if these four books end up being what we get, as well.

Judging a book by its cover: See, as Ilona Andrews covers go, this isn't a complete eyesore, probably because they self-publish these books and therefore commission the cover art themselves. Maud looks pretty bad-ass, but I don't think the armour looks tough or durable enough (especially compared to the way it's described in the book) enough, she just looks like she's wearing a weirdly patterned body suit. Also not sure why there appears to be flaming meteorites raining down around her, that is not something that happens at any point in Maud's story.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.