Steel's Edge by Ilona Andrews

Steel’s Edge is, uh, interesting. Endlessly entertaining, yes. Completely cohesive… eh. Not sure on that one. I feel like that’s an issue stemming from introducing new characters and having to get to know them before ultimately finishing up the series completely. It’s not bad, but it does feel like two books in one.

I quite like Charlotte. She’s an interesting dichotomy of a character. She’s sheltered and innocent, but also very much not. She comes across as rather waifish, but she’s very much not. Behind that poised exterior is a spine of steel. Her trauma hits her at least once, which was nice, but the rest of it is mostly glossed over.

Richard ultimately feels like a better spy than Kaldar was. I mean, they both have their strengths, but Richard seems more believable to me.

I liked the Richard/Charlotte romance. They’re both damaged in different ways but just seem to fit well together. Probably my second favorite of The Edge couples. I’m really indifferent to the romance parts, but there we go.

I enjoyed the initial hunting down slavers part of the plot. Having George and Jack involved was kind of meh… I’m not entirely sure I needed closure as far as their father went, but we got it. I’m also pretty sure someone would have figured out the fireplace thingy without Jack, but it’s whatever.

The second half of the plot was more upper-crust maneuvering than anything else. Gotta building up that Weird world-building, I guess. It wasn’t super interesting, to be honest.

But yeah, I really feel like Steel’s Edge is two-for-the-price-of-one kind of book. Pretty good, but really not a super satisfying ending to a series.

Favorite Lines

"Congratulations, he told himself. You've finally managed to get yourself killed and by an amateur, no less. Your family would be so proud if they knew." - Richard Mar

"You feel that way in the heat of the moment because you look at your father and see the legacy of his crimes. It brings you deep shame. You want to wipe it clean and right the wrongs, but killing him wouldn't undo them." - Richard Mar

"That's a wild exaggeration. I was a quarter-dead, at most." - Richard Mar

Just a Cool Bit of World-Building

"In the Broken, Jesus Christ was viewed as the son of God, and his followers are Christians. In the Weird, it was John the Nazarite, whose followers are called the Nazaratians. In the Weird, a Christina would be names Johanna." - Charlotte de Nay