On the Edge - Ilona Andrews

Series: The Edge, Book 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
309 pages
Published: 2009
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: 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 the beasts will devour the Edge and everyone in it . . .

Review:

You know what you'd see if Rose 'flashed' you?

Erm, no. Not what you're thinking.

For a second, all you'd see is white light - magic. See, in the world she lives in...flashing is a means of releasing your magic, and the brighter/whiter your flash, the stronger your magic. Rose has very strong magic. Too strong for someone who lives in the Edge. And that's where the problems began

Ok, now that I'm done with the intended-to-be-but-wasn’t dramatic beginning, I'll start the proper review:

On the Edge is a fantasy tale with a formula I haven't read before. Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the place in between the world of the Broken and the Weird; surviving on the job and the facilities from the Broken - where there's no magic and life is as we know it, and the Weird - where magic is might. The Edge is the in-between place and the Edgers who live there have their magic but also are a part of the non-magical world of the Broken. Unlike the inhabitants of either world, the Edgers can easily pass between these two worlds with little or no unease. However, living an in-between kind of life comes with its own issues for the Edgers. Their magic isn't as great as of those from the Weird. Theres no semblance of organisation and law, and things are resolved in their own way in the Edge.

Rose lives in the Edge with her two brothers while eking out an existence on a cheap cleaning job in the Broken. She carries a rifle around, which she seems to need to use quite a bit to defend herself from those wanting to exploit her for her magic. Her mother's dead, her father's out on some harebrained treasure hunt, her grandmother thinks she knows best, and her grandfather's now a Zombie raised by her brother. Aah, the brothers - they're as naughty and cute as any young boys you've seen, but their hearts are in the right place. Jack is a changeling, and Georgie doesn’t like it when things die - so he raises them from the dead, like her did Grandpa. Add the eccentric family background with no support and people trying to either marry her or enslave her, and there's not much Rose has to rely on but her magic and herself. That’s when Lord Declan comes along. A blueblood from the Weird, he's here to claim Rose as his - something Rose isn't all that keen on. Things heat up when people start disappearing in the Edge and strange hounds with weird magic and even scarier appearances pop up.

The beginning of this book was a bit confusing for me - for 2 or 3 pages only - but even then I instantly felt for Rose. She appears resigned to life as she knows it, but at the same time confident in her abilities and that she can handle everything thrown at her. The best part is that Rose does have the ability to handle it - be it the magic or taking care of her brothers who are more than a handful. This strength of character is what'll make you like Rose. The other characters in the book are sketched pretty well too. Declan is ...well, exactly as you'd imagine a blueblood to be - the I know best, I command you obey mentality. Atleast in the beginning, but he grows on you (lustfully, and otherwise) and you see him thaw that icy outlook for Rose. Yummy really. And all those swords and knives he carries only adds to the yumminess.

The other characters in the book have their own quirks as well. And none more so than our villain extraordinaire, although quirk is not the word I'd use. The man is insane and so damn polite and reasonable as he tells you he wants to kill you and eat you that if it weren't for the words you'd think he was discussing his favourite niece. It’s a bit hard to connect with all the secondary characters in this book, and I get that they have their own quirks cause its fantasyland, but the parts where they're acting as humans balances it out. Like when Rose's grandmother has a talk with Declan. There was a possibility for a tear and some sniffing there.

This is my first Ilona Andrews book and I quite like her style of writing. It's simple and the story flows along so well that you don’t realise you've been sucked in until you look up and realise its 3 in the morning, you've been sitting there since 9 and the dinner you made hours ago is sitting next to you cold. The world building was done so well, that you don’t even realise you're learning more about it as it forms part of the story - something many authors fail to do well, specially in a first book.

The humour and conversations make this a joy to read. You'll be giggling, and appreciating the good lines as well:

"Sometimes two people meet and there is a connection of sorts. An instant attraction. You look at somebody and wonder what it would be like. I don’t wonder that about you. You’re a nice handsome guy. And I want to like you in that way, honestly I do, but there’s just nothing there.”

“Life is so precious because it’s short,” she said. “Even the most resilient people are fragile. Life isn’t about dying or not dying. It’s about living well, George. Living so you can be proud and happy.”

You know, no matter how many times they mentioned it, I still kept getting a completely different image in my head when someone in the book talks about flashing. But that’s just me and the lack of said dinner which never got eaten. No reason to keep you from reading this one. Its not a masterpiece, but it’s a good story to get lost in.