Reviewed by EBookObsessed on
William is a wolf changeling. Changelings in the Weird are considered animals and women who give birth to them are allowed to give up their babies to the State. They are then raised (and trained) at Hawk Academy which is part prison/part army barracks. William performed many jobs for the good of Adrianglia but he “retired” to the Edge which is located between the Broken and the Weird. But his old boss has shown up with one more job. They need him to go into the swamps known as the Mire and find Spider, who is the mutant leader of the Hand.
William wouldn’t be bothered to a job ever again, but Spider was responsible for the death of several children under William’s watch and he longs for payback.
The problem is that finding your way around the swamp without a guide would definitely leave you lost, and probably dead. William comes across Cerese in his travel. She won’t give him any information as to why she is traveling around the Mire by herself and that’s find with him. He just needs to find a way to his contact deep inside the swamp.
But once William realizes that Cerese Mar might just be who he needs to lead him to Spider, he will do whatever he can to get Cerese to take him with her. Except William isn’t known for his charm with the ladies. Charms wasn’t really on the list of things taught at Hawk Academy along with knives and survival, and as a wolf, William sometimes has problems grasping subtle human cues.
The one thing that William can offer is his deadly skills as the Mar family faces off against their hillbilly rivals, the Sharille family, who might be responsible for handing Cerese’s parents over to the Hand and who are trying to steal Mar land. Of course, who would want to steal this crappy swamp land is beyond William’s comprehension.
The trip through the swamp won’t be an easy one but with Cerese by his side, it certainly will be interesting.
It was four years since I had listened to Book 1 of the Edge series, so I didn’t remember William except that there was another man trying to court Rose as well as Declan.
William is very grumpy, especially remembering how Declan stole Rose from him. You feel pretty bad for William. It appears that changelings are widely considered dangerous and crazy. Although William would like a family of his own (his parents abandoned him as a baby), he has no charm and once women find out he’s a changeling, they all run away quickly. Once Cerese washes off her stinky hobo disguise and William realizes that she is pretty and smells nice and even though Cerese eventually comes to like William too, he doesn’t understand subtle courting and he doesn’t pick up on cues that Cerese gives that she is interested and he just keeps getting more frustrated the more he likes her. Poor William.
Like all Ilona Andrews stories I got sucked right in and decided it was a good day to clean and puppy-proof my office so I could keep listening. I like Renee Raudman’s narrations. Last time I was distracted since she also narrates the Kate Daniels series, but it has been awhile since I finished that series and had less problem staying with this world building.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 23 August, 2020: Finished reading
- 23 August, 2020: Reviewed