🎧 Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews @ilona_andrews @reneeraudman ‏@TantorAudio #LoveAudiobooks

Posted May 22, 2021 by Sophia in Book Review / 10 Comments

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


🎧 Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews @ilona_andrews @reneeraudman ‏@TantorAudio #LoveAudiobooksFate's Edge by Ilona Andrews
Narrator: Renée Raudman
Series: The Edge #3
Published by Tantor Audio on March 9, 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 14 hours, 18 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon,  Audible,  Libro.fm,  Barnes & Noble,  Apple
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star

Audrey Callahan left behind her life in the Edge, and she's determined to stay on the straight and narrow. But when her brother gets into hot water, the former thief takes on one last heist and finds herself matching wits with a jack of all trades...

Kaldar Mar-a gambler, lawyer, thief, and spy-expects his latest assignment tracking down a stolen item to be a piece of cake, until Audrey shows up. But when the item falls into the hands of a lethal criminal, Kaldar realizes that in order to finish the job, he's going to need Audrey's help...

The world of the Edge is captivating, magical, and full of gritty adventure and romance.  I was excited to come back to it after several years away when I spotted the audio edition.

Fate’s Edge is the third in the Edge series and could be treated as a standalone Paranormal Romance, but it was much more satisfying getting it in order since there is a clear connection of characters and overall series story that come with the hero’s side of things.

With a few years since reading book two, Kaldar’s cousin Cerise’s story, I was a bit hazy on some bits in the beginning.  There was enough explained to jog my memory about the world and the previous stories.  I love these stories of the Edge a rough, living place between the non-magical human world and the fully magical Weird.  There is danger and intrigue as well as some memorable characters.  I was particularly taken with first the Draytons in the first book, On the Edge, and the intro to another Edger family, the insane, quirky Mars clan in book two, Bayou Moon.

Audrey Callaghan is the newest character introduction and she comes from another shady Edger family.  She’s gone legit after giving up on her family to ever change, but she has a bit of larceny in her.  I loved her complicated personality.  She associates the larceny in herself with the pain her family has brought her and sees Kaldar as just another manipulative user like her dad and brother so she resists the pull of what she’s good at and thrills to even while needing to set right a wrong.

Kaldar is exactly what she thinks he is, but also more.  He’s a natural, but his dark painful past also shaped him as much as Audrey’s did her.  Kaldar’s a swashbuckling charmer and sees Audrey’s resistance as a challenge at first and doesn’t even get that there is more to the pull of attraction between them until his glam smile and smarmy words convince Audrey there is nothing behind all the dazzle and he had his work cut out for him for most of the book.  While I liked this pair as mission partners and individuals, and, I could even see them happily together eventually, I did feel their actual romance needed a bit more time to get there and it felt rushed at the end.

Alongside the mission and romance of Kaldar and Audrey, there are the grisly villains of The Hand led by a beautiful aristocratic woman who likes to skin her victims and has her sights on revenge against any Mar she comes across.  The formidable villains ups the ante on the action and I was excited to see what happened when the inevitable clash came after a laborious series of tasks the heroic band had to complete before they could get where they needed to be.

What grabbed me most was George and Jack.  Originally, I spotted them as crossovers- years later- in another series, The Innkeeper Chronicles, by the authors and I was so curious I wanted to come back and find them in this series.  On the Edge introduced them in their sister’s story, but they held the secondary storyline in this one and I could see how they came to be the men they were later and had the career they did as well.  They are a pair of rascals, but their magical lethal talents saved the day more than once.

All in all, it was an exciting, enthralling venture back into the world of The Edge and I won’t wait long to snatch up the last book featuring more of the Mar family and another gritty, paranormal romantic adventure.  Solid Paranormal Romance that I can easily recommend.

Narration:

As to Renee Raudman’s narration work, it was superb as always.  Her distinct voicing of characters, rhythm and tone kept me deeply engaged.  This was a larger cast and I had no trouble distinguishing individuals, where they were from, and what was going on.

Listen to a clip:  HERE

 

About Renée Raudman

RenĂ©e Raudman is a multi-award-winning audiobook narrator. A multiple Audie Award nominee, she has earned a number of AudioFile Earphones Awards, including for The Last Secret by Mary McGarry Morris and Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien, as well as a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award for Joe Schreiber’s Chasing the Dead. She has also performed on film, TV, radio, and stage, including the recurring roles of Jordon on ABC’s One Life To Live, Phyllis on NBC’s Passions, and guest-starring roles on prime-time TV. She has been heard in cartoons (The Simpsons, Billy & Mandy), videogames, and on the E! channel. Her narration of Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper was selected by Library Journal as one of the best audiobooks of 2009, and her reading of Marthe Jocelyn’s Would You was selected by the ALA as one of the best young adult audiobooks of 2009.

About Ilona Andrews

“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.

They have co-authored several bestselling series, including the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy of the Edge, paranormal romance of Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles, which they post as a free weekly serial.

Rating Breakdown
Writing
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Characters
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Narration (Audio)
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Overall: One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Sophia
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • C21-Spring

Posted May 22, 2021 by Sophia in Book Review / 10 Comments


10 responses to “🎧 Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews

  1. Excellent review! I wholly agree I could have used a bit more time on the romance but it is often the facts of high emotion in romantic suspense situation that couples get real more quickly. They are also used to make immediate choices in this cutthroat world.

    • Thanks! And, yes, that is true about the adversity and danger creating a special environment for the romance to boil over sooner.

  2. Great review. I first read this series after I started KD and before I ever picked up the Innkeeper Chronicles. I’m not listening to the series for the first time. It’s an interesting and exciting series. I do enjoy George and Jack in this series and it was a fun fan giddy to have them cross-over into the IC series.

    • You did it in the right order then. Way to go, Angela! Now, that I’ve seen George and Jack as kids and teens, I need to relisten to Innkeeper Chronicles so I get the full impact of them as adults. 🙂

      • Angela

        I discover IA through KD and loved their work that I had to try out the other stuff and at the time they had The Edge series and their Sci-Fi Romance (The World of Kinsmen series). I picked The Edge ^_^. The re-listen of any of their stuff is so much fun. I always get giddy, get so much enjoyment, and pick up on new stuff I missed. Enjoy your re-listen of the IC series.

        • I started with their KD series, too. I still need to read the second Kinmen, a few of the novellas, the last two Innkeepers, and the newest KD spinoff book. I get a surge of excitement for their new releases, too.

  3. Good review! My only foray into Ilona Andrews so far is the first Innkeeper Chronicles book, which I enjoyed. I meant to go on to the next book, but you know how it goes… another book distracted me LOL. I’ve seen a couple of reviews of the Edge books recently, including this one. Book 4 was on sale recently for Kindle, so I’ll probably give them a try.

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  4. I should re-listen to the series as it’s been several years. I loved George and Jack and was excited to have them pop up in The Innkeeper series. I wish we’d get a spinoff with them and Lark. There’s a tortured/unrequited romance between George and Lark (her name was Sophie, right?) and I’d love to see that happen. They’re so busy so who knows if it ever will.

    • Yeah, I’d read that spinoff for George or Jack or, even better, both! Yes, Sophie is Lark. I’m reading Steel’s Edge right now and loving it. Then I need to get on with finishing up the Innkeeper Chronicles series.

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