On the Edge, by Ilona Andrews

January 17, 2025 Lark_Bookwyrm Book Reviews 1 ★★★★½

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
Series: The Edge #1
Published by Ace Books on 11/29/2009
Genres: Contemporary Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Pages: 340
Format: Kindle or ebook
Source: my personal collection
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Chirp
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four-half-stars

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either.

Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).

But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.

This book contains mature content and may not be suitable for younger readers.

Review

It took me a little while to get into On the Edge, but once I did, I was totally hooked. This paranormal romance has great worldbuilding, compelling characters, terrific pacing, external threats and internal conflicts that each inform and heighten the other, and a romantic pairing that I was initially dubious about and ended up loving. The authors’ sense of pacing is superb; the further I got into the book, the faster I was turning the pages.

The authors took the idea of the borderlands between Faerie—in this case, a magical world known as the Weird—and the mundane world (known to magic folk as the Broken), and turned that border into an entire realm of its own. The Edge has the feel of the Wild West or frontier despite its Southern forest terrain; its people are tough, proud, independent, and sometimes lawless. It’s a land of both beauty and terror.

Rose was born and bred in the Edge. The strength of her magic makes her a target to Edge folk and Weird nobility alike, both to control and to breed from. . . and with her mother dead, her father gone, and her grandfather basically out of his mind, she and her grandmother are all the protection she and her younger brothers have. So she’s not best pleased when a blueblood from the Weird shows up outside the wards of her house. But Rose is reluctantly forced to make a bargain with him, agreeing to set him three challenges. If she wins, he’ll leave her alone. If he wins, she’ll be his.

But things aren’t right in the Edge. New, previously unknown creatures are stalking and killing the residents of Rose’s community, and they’re difficult to kill—unless, like Rose and the blueblood Declan, you can “flash” white: focus your magic so tightly it becomes like controlled lightning. And as Rose and Declan forge an uneasy alliance to confront the creatures and stop their maker, they begin to uncover facets of each other that challenge their assumptions of one another.

Part of the fun was watching Rose discover that Declan isn’t exactly the arrogant, cold blueblood she first took him for, and seeing her discover his good qualities. I also enjoyed Declan’s growing admiration for Rose’s feistiness, inner strength, and devotion to her brothers. His interactions with her brothers show another side of Declan; he protects them but also helps them grow into their magic. To be honest, it was Declan’s interactions with Jack and Georgie that really convinced me he was worthy of Rose. By about two-thirds of the way through, I was definitely shipping the two of them. (In case you are worried, the ending was delightful and utterly satisfying.)

The only thing I didn’t enjoy in the book was a touch of body horror. The authors do a fantastic job with descriptive prose; I could see and hear and even smell the forest and its denizens. But I was a bit creeped out by their descriptions of the creatures and their master, among other things. It won’t keep me from reading the next book (which I’m really looking forward to!), but if you are squeamish or prone to nightmares, it’s something to be aware of.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Would I reread or recommend this book? I would probably reread it, and definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance or urban fantasy.

Challenges: COYER 2025: Out to Lunch; Ilona Andrews’ Edge & Innkeeper Series Read-Along