On the Edge

author: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: A

Rose Drayton lives in the Edge -- the space that separates the Broken-- the world where people shop at Walmart and use science to compensate for their lack of magic -- and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats govern a land where magic runs their world. Edgers are the only people who can travel between the worlds but Rose's only travel is to the Broken, to her dead end job in Pine Barren, Georgia.

Rose has powerful magic. Magic she has practiced till she honed it into an art. But it wasn't the blessing Rose hoped for and has instead brought trouble into her life from the Weird.

Declan Camarine is a blue blood who finds himself at the wrong end of Rose's rifle.
She isn't taking a chance on another Weirder, no matter how good looking he may be.
But when Declan saves her brother and proves he is willing to stand with her against a horrible new danger facing the edge, Rose feels her resolve beginning to weaken.
Maybe not all those from the Weird are worthless. . . .

This is a great novel, well paced, in a well drawn world with likable well thought out characters. The writing and pacing are terrific and the book balances its dark and light moments very well.

Declan and Rose have a good relationship. I did get bugged when he kept a piece of information from her that I felt should have been shared right away but the author did a good job of convincing me that his reasons were legit.

There is a bit of the cutesy little kid factor to the book but I feel that it was well handled. Jack and Georgie, the heroines two brothers, lean dangerously toward precocious territory but there is enough "real" kid there to keep them quite from crossing the line and they are not so precious that they steal every scene they are in. A small part of me was bugged by how very functional everyone was given the serious dysfunction of the parents but that is all (or in many ways) explained by the presence of Granmere and I liked her character. I especially liked a scene at the end where talks to Rose about keeping the home fires burning. It gave us an excellent look into the heart of her that I appreciated having.

I gave the book an A so all I can say is I strongly recommend.

This gem waited on my TBR for three months to be read. So glad to get it off there! It deserved better!

Tea: What about Mystic Chai Spiced Tea Mix from the Spice Place? Really any Chai can be mystic so try one of the Celestial Seasonings ones. (I do so much advertising for those people I should be paid!)