This is a book I bought when it came out but I’ve been saving it for a reading drought (Am I the only one who does this?). I finally indulged last week, secure in the fact that after I read this, Andrews’ newest book, Gunmetal Magic, is available for my Ilona Andrews fix.
This is part of a series of UF/paranormal romances, each book with its own couple set in a world where a magical world overlaps our mundane one:
Book 1: On the Edge (my review: 
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Book 2: Bayou Moon (my review: )
The Premise: Audrey Callahan is an Edger trying to go straight. She’s just been hired full time at an investigation agency, she owns a little house in the Edge, and she’s far away from her disappointing con artist family. Audrey is fed up with her parents enabling her brother by using her magical knack with locks to pay the costs of his drug addiction and continually choosing his safety over hers. When he father tracks her down to do a job with big bucks and big risk, this time to pay for a fancy rehab facility, Audrey gives him an ultimatum: either stop bringing Audrey into his schemes, or she helps him steal what he wants and he never contacts her again. As always, her brother’s welfare is chosen over Audrey, but stealing the item isn’t the end of it. She’s soon dealing with the consequences of her bargain when Kaldar Mar shows up. He’s a member of the Adrianglian Mirror, and tracking down the stolen item is his latest assignment. A trickster and thief himself, Kaldar is surprised by how well he works with Audrey. He wouldn’t mind taking things further, but Audrey has had her fill of con artists and rebuffs him at every turn.
My Thoughts: Kaldar was first introduced in the second Edge series book, Bayou Moon, as the fast talking, quick acting cousin of its heroine, Cerise Mar. The family lawyer and matchmaker, Kaldar is a family leader Cerise. He struck me as the type of rakish character that was a shoo-in for his own book, and here we are. Back in Bayou Moon his smarts in the courtroom and his skill with a blade (a Mar family trait), were the traits I remember him for, but in Fate’s Edge, it’s his tricking and thieving that come to the forefront.
At the core of Fate’s Edge is getting back the stolen item, but there are a lot of elements that make it more than your typical quest story. There’s the burgeoning romance between Kaldar and Audrey, trouble in the form of teenaged stowaways George and Jack, elements of horror and action with the Mirror on their tail, and a big keeping scoop of hustling to get the stolen object back.
I am a fan of caper stories, so all the conning and elegant manipulation was fun, and there was plenty of it in Fate’s Edge. It also proved to be a way of showing Audrey and Kaldar’s compatibility – each easily adapting to the other’s lead and balancing out any weaknesses. Brothers George and Jack are included in the cons and they had just as interesting a chemistry (if not more so). If you’ve read the first book in this series (On the Edge), you’ll already know George and Jack as the younger brothers of its heroine, Rose – and a couple of my favorite characters (one is a necromancer, the other a shapeshifter). I was delighted that these two got quite a bit of page time. Their struggles and individual reactions with being seen as ‘Edge rats’ in the Weird were creatively folded into the story. Likewise, there were other cameos from previous characters that didn’t feel gratuitous. We got a chance to see previous couples past their HEA, but also to get an update on old enemies.
As you can tell, there was a lot in this book that was not about Kaldar and Audrey. On one had I loved the non-romantic additions to the plot, but on the other hand, this left less room for romance. Fate’s Edge was the book in the series where the spotlight wasn’t just on the hero and heroine, and this meant the romantic plot felt shorter than in the other Edge books. There was less space to show a slow build up in interest in each other, and it felt like this book relied more heavily on some Romance short-cuts like the hero’s appreciation for the heroine’s butt to show the growing attraction. For the most part, the courtship really happened in what dialogue the two had (a lot of banter – mostly Kaldar making overtures which Audrey smoothly rebuffed) and in their partnership. This was mostly a straightforward woman-falls-for-the-Bad-Boy-despite-herself romance, and I think if there were more space, I’d have liked Audrey’s issues with con men to be deeper delved into. This is not to say the romance wasn’t sweet, just that it was I don’t think I quite got all the emotional impact I wanted because there were other things in the plot vying for focus.
Overall: Fate’s Edge delivers an entertaining story with devious scams, kick-ass fights, and further development of characters and long running plots, but while I felt like the romance was solid, it felt like it was less of a focus of the plot as it was in the previous Edge books. This was an installment where the plot was far more than a vehicle to propel a romance forward. Thus the romance was not quite of the same caliber as the previous books (at least in my mind), but this was balanced out by the elements that took focus from the romance: the extended cameos from George and Jack (first introduced in On the Edge), the thrill of the con, and peeks into what could come next.
Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository
Other reviews:
Chachic’s Book Nook – positive
The Book Pushers – A
Lurv a la Mode – 3 scoops (out of 5)
Read. Breathe. Relax – “I was disappointed”
Fantasy and SciFi – “Fun, but contrived”
Tynga’s Reviews – “Fate’s Edge just might be my favourite book in the series so far.”
specficromantic 
I hoard books as often as possible, but sometimes I run out of the “Tried and true.” I haven’t read this one–just books one and two. I liked book one, two, not so much.
I liked two more but I know a lot more people who liked the first one better! 🙂 Are you going to give the third book a go?
This one’s on my shelves, waiting to be read! I liked the first two Edge books a lot, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one too. And I also love a good caper story, so I’m really looking forward to it now! 🙂
The caper stuff was really fun. I loved those bits. (I like all the caper shows – White Collar, Leverage, Hustle). 🙂
I hope you enjoy this one!
I did like book 1 a lot more
I loved book 1 for setting up the world, but I think I liked book 2’s romance more! Ah well, I think more people liked book 1 than book 2.
“Romance short-cuts like the hero’s appreciation for the heroine’s butt to show the growing attraction.” => UGH. I began to feel hit over the head with the greatness of Audrey’s behind.
This book was my least favorite of the series, and you’ve touched upon some of the reasons that made it just okay. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but I remember not being as captivated as I normally am by all things Ilona. I think it was just that I wanted higher stakes for Audrey and Kaldar. I liked them both but some of the tension and suspense was missing in the development of their relationship. Maybe it was, as you said, because they weren’t the focus of the plot.
Anyhow, nice review. Articulate as always. :
Yeah, I felt like the romance wasn’t horrible and better than some other’s I’ve read in this genre, but not on the same level as previous books in this series and then when I thought about it — we don’t get as much time with just Kaldar and Audrey. They’re busy, the boys get a lot of page time, they don’t even meet each other until the story is about 20% in. It just felt like the romance was pushed back because of everything else going on. And everything else was awesome, but the romance did feel like it got delegated to a lesser rung on the ladder compared to previous books because the authors were adding some over-arching series plot points.
I gave this 4 stars in goodreads so after I read this I still found I really liked it, but like you say, the romance was a bit of an issue because I had expectations from the earlier books and this didn’t meet those expectations.
I think you’re right about the tension and suspense being missing. It was a pretty straightforward romance and Audrey’s objections ended up feeling like token objections because they got resolved really suddenly. I really wanted more time there on a Relationship Talk. I just don’t know where this would have happened though. Maybe really we needed to story to go back into the Weird after the assignment and have a Kaldar and Audrey are figuring out where to go next there, instead of their decisions about each other happening during the climax.
Thanks 🙂
I liked this one better than book 2, but not as much as book 1. Jack and George were my favorite people in this book. I loved all the page time they had.
I also save books until the right time and I can’t tell you when that will be, but I know it when it comes. 🙂
Have fun with Gunmetal Magic. I liked it but had to go do some re-reading of the other books when I finished because I needed a Kate/Curran fix. 🙂
Jack and George were my faves too. And yes, that’s what I do. It makes sense to me when the “right time” is. Some kind of internal sensor. 🙂 There’s the series where I can’t wait, then the ones where I want to savor, and then there’s the ones where I want to wait till the last book is out.
Yup, thanks, I am really looking forward to GUNMETAL MAGIC.
Yep, I also save some books that I think will be awesome in case I feel slump-ish. There are way too many good books out there and not enough time. I don’t usually do that for books in a series though, I don’t have the patience to wait – I want to read the next installment as soon as it comes out. Glad you still enjoyed reading this even if you had problems with the romance. I’m looking forward to the next (and final) Edge book! Wish George and Jack would get their own books too.
Wait – next and final? I hadn’t realized this! Nooo! 😦
Yep, the next one is the final book in the series. I think it’s about Richard?
I guessed it would be about him – he was mentioned a few times and it seemed like he needed his own HEA at some point.
Oh I TOTALLY save books up! I’m actually trying not to blow through this series for just that reason, but it’s hard when I enjoyed On the Edge so much. I’m so excited to see that George and Jack will be back in this one with quite a bit of page space though! I loved them as characters.
But also let me chime in with you and the NOOOOOOOO sadness for the next book being the last. I realize I’ve only read the first, but I was loving this world and could go on for some time. It’s good to know before starting this one not to expect the same amount of oomph to the romance, otherwise I’d probably be quite disappointed. First I have to read Bayou Moon and see William get a HEA. 🙂
Yes, another person who saves books up! And now I see that the next Edge book is in the horizon I think can read GUNMETAL MAGIC sooner rather than later.
I am sad about the Edge books but I looked at Ilona Andrews’ site and it said on one of their blog posts: “The publisher wants more Edge books. And we might. The series isn’t over forever but it is for now.” — this means there’s hope.
Heh, I hope you like BAYOU’S MOON. That was my favorite.
I’m sure I will! I was ruminating on On the Edge after finishing it, and thought ‘I really hope William gets his own story’, went to check the synopsis on Goodreads and yep!
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I haven’t checked out the Edge series books yet, so I’ll definitely have to look into it. Thanks for posting about them!
If you enjoy fantasy and romance, this is a good series to try. I hope you enjoy them. 🙂