On the Edge (Edge, #1)

by Ilona Andrews

[EBookObsessed]

I enjoyed this story as much as all of the other Ilona Andrews series that I have read. The stories have enough character development, excitement and creativity to hold your interest from start to finish. This series only has a slight resemblance to Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and the references to the Weird actually reminds me a little of Thea Harrison’s Elder Races series and her otherlands. In the Weird, there is more a feudal system of life. There is no electricity, nothing mechanical or running on engines. They ride horses and use magic.

Rose is an Edger. The only magic Rose has is called flashing. She can make a whip of magic like lightning. The more powerful your flash, the lighter the color. Rose practiced and practiced and thought everyone would be excited when she proved she could flash bright white. She was surprised when her family took her, ran home and barricaded the family in the house behind the magical wards. Rose never realized her impressive power painted a target on her forehead. Once word got out about Rose, the bluebloods from the Weird flocked for a chance to use the Edger girl as a brood-mare for their family lines. A few resorted to trying to kidnap her and even slavers tried to grab her to sell to the highest bidder.

After flashing and killing a few of the more dangerous attackers, Rose was finally let alone to go about her life in the Edge. Rose has spirit and works hard at a lousy job in the Broken in order to take care of her two younger brothers. Twelve-year-old Georgie is a necromancer and ten-year-old Jack is a changeling. The family is living an average Edger life until Lord Declan Camarine comes calling.

Rose tries to shoo him off but ends up making a bargain instead. Dangerous creatures have started showing up in the woods around Rose’s home and Declan will protect her brothers, if Rose will give him three tasks to complete. If he completes the tasks, Declan wins Rose and she will go with him to the Weird.

Rose has no love for the bluebloods and has no intention of losing, but she could use the help protecting her brothers. She doesn’t want to be Declan’s possession and doesn’t trust that he will take care of her brothers and not turn them into servants and slaves. As this is a romance, the more time Rose and Declan spend and work together, the closer they grow. Declan drops the haughty blueblood facade and realizes that while Rose might not have the manners and breeding of a blueblood, her strength, her wit and her loyalty to her family more than makes up for that.

Except, just when Rose drops her guard around Declan and believes things might just work out for them, she finds out there is more to Declan’s sudden appearance at her door than going home with an Edger bride. Her trust in him is shattered but they still need to work together to protect her family and the rest of the Edge from a dark menace that wants to absorb all the magic that surrounds the Edgers.

After the initial meeting of Declan, I couldn’t imagine how he could be the hero of this story since he was a pompous jerk, but like, Rose we start to like him once he shows himself to be a brave and caring man. He knows that his omission of the truth has lost him Rose’s trust, but by the end it is no longer about winning a bride but a matter of keeping Rose with him forever.

The magic and world building is different from the Kate Daniels series, and the Innkeeper Chronicles series, but if you like either or both of those, you will definitely enjoy this one as well. The only disappointment is that Rose, Declan, Georgie and Jack were such great characters, but the other three books in the series focuses on different main characters. It would have been interesting to read more of life in the Weird. Of course, the series is called The Edge, but you know what I mean.

Narrator Renee Raudman does a great job it is is a bit distracting that they use for for all the different series. Rose is the same voice as Kate Daniels and Declan was a combination of Curran and Lord Arland (The Innkeeper Chronicles).