Book Review -- Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

[alfreda89]

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Welcome to The Edge, a weird strip of land circling our globe and protecting us, if you will, from The Weird, where magic rules. Think Louisiana swamps with magic, and you’d be right at home. Our world is known as The Broken, because magic doesn’t work here, and people with magic literally feel it run out of their body like blood when they cross the border between Edge and Broken.

Not everyone can cross, which is where the Edgers often make their living. They can move between the Edge and the Broken, working, living the lives of illegal immigrants, with just as many problems and injustices.

The team of Ilona Andrews has done a great job creating a gritty new pocket of magic that feels very real. We recognize these private, uneducated, fearful people, getting by as best they can. The tough young woman who stars in this story quickly takes shape in our minds. Her family is unique, and crucial to the story on more than one level, making this modern fantasy with a sheen of romance, not a paranormal romance.

Cerise Mar and her family are a type of aristocrat, cash poor but land rich. When her parents suddenly disappear, her clan’s ancient rivals are the number one suspects. But Cerise’s problems are but a small part of a “cold war” being waged by two great nations of the Weird. Into her life and crisis comes William, a changling soldier who chose to leave behind the politics of the Weird, but was followed by political need into the Broken, and back into the Edge.

William is tracing his rival nation’s spymaster, a premiere “baddie” who like all good villains thinks that he is a hero of his own people. But why is the spymaster here, and what is he seeking? Why are his minions threatening Cerise’s family? Does this have anything to do with her parents’ disappearance?

The missions of Cerise and William do intersect, forcing them to work together against a horrifying possibility, born of magical curiosity run wild. In the cracks, they become friends and finally lovers. Cerise’s unusual gifts with magic, talents thought lost by the Weird, makes her a match for William, a shapeshifter learning how to interact with the real world. Their interest in each other is believable, exciting and occasionally touching.

I don’t think I’ve seen a more convincing depiction of a male shifter trying to pass as human and interact with people he’s never lived among (“regular” humans.) It’s really well done.

Note – the Edge books are a lot longer than the Kate Daniels’ stories, but for me they never drag!

Recommended.

View all my reviews