Customer Reviews

Bayou Moon (The Edge, Book 2)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

~* 4.5 Stars *~
William Wolf is a changling. Feared and hated by humans of the Weird - and sometimes killed at birth - his kind is cursed as demons and known for having a nearly unquenchable thirst for violence. He's not and will never be 'normal.' He was raised at Hawk's Academy, a cold place that trained him to be a killer for his country, then spit him out into the military. Until a court marshal and a death sentence took everything he knew away from him. Now, almost two years after helping his old friend/rival Declan defeat the evil Casshorn in On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1), he's living life as a solitary wolf, with a small home in the Edge and a construction job in the Broken. Until Mirror agents come knocking and offer him a job and a chance for revenge on his greatest enemy, a Louisianan Hand agent named Spider.

Cerise Mar is Mire born and bred, and with a large family to take care of and little money to be had, she's learned to scrape and scrounge out a life in the swamp of the Edge. With little legacy beyond an 80 year old family feud and magic of the old ways, she's thrust into assuming the responsibility of leading her entire family when her parents go missing and the Sheeriles, the rival Mire family the Mars are feuding with, take over a house on Mar land. Soon Cerise realizes there is a traitor in her midst, and the Sheeriles have crawled into bed with the magically twisted Hand and instead of facing a family feud, she and her family are staring at genocide the likes of which can hardly be conceived. And she's the one who will have to lead her family to it.

They meet up in the Broken, William and Cerise, these two lost and damaged souls on two separate missions that, in the end, are inexorably linked. They survive through the Mire and end up in the Rathole - working together in the hopes that at least some of them survive. But life isn't easy in the Mire and nothing in the Edge is ever guaranteed.

The husband and wife writing team that is Ilona Andrews has managed to do it again. When I first read On the Edge a year ago, I was - quite bluntly - blown away by the originality and uniqueness of the hard to classify series opener. I hadn't read anything quite like it before. I was familiar with Andrews' skill with plotting and character development from the Kate Daniels series, but I wasn't prepared for the depth and breadth of character and story they produced in that first book. I thought I was prepared for this one.

I was wrong.

Without a doubt, and despite the intricate, wonderful, and detailed plots, it is the characters that earn my highest marks in both books in the series. In Bayou Moon in particular, I was floored by the brilliant complexity of William's character. He is so delightfully and deliciously OTHER - and consistently maintained as such - that each aspect of his personality, from the echoing loneliness to the ferociousness of a warrior to the stark wolf-like needs to the endearing innocence, was brilliantly executed and exquisitely defined to build a phenomenal character that resonates with realism. He is at turns fearsome and heartbreaking, and so charming when bowled over by his struggle to seem human in the face of a complete lack of understanding of humanity. William Wolf will forever be one of my favorite protagonists.

I didn't want to stop reading about him. I didn't want to stop knowing him. In fact, when I finished the book the first time, I did something I have only done one or two times in my life. I went back to the beginning and read the entire book again.

Of course, Cerise was also extremely well drawn, and in typical Andrews fashion, secondary and ancillary characters are also just as complex, just as deep and fully realized that each feels like an old friend...or at least leery acquaintance...by the time you're done reading. I shared Cerise's heartbreak for Lark, her hopeless feeling of wasted opportunity for Lagar, William's frustrations with Kaldar, and even...though it's disturbing to admit...the cold passion of patriotism in Spider. There are no cardboard cutouts here, no two dimensional or cliched characters, no megalomaniacal, bent-on-world-domination bad guys...just complex motivations and complicated responsibilities, heavy burdens of obligation, chilling determination to succeed, fleeting glimpses of hope and yearning for something better.

It is a stunning world. With breathtaking characters. Heartbreaking and triumphant at turns. Fantastic in almost every way. And I was most appreciative that Andrews took the time to detail all the various layers of the plot during the body of the book, and loved the attention to the most minute detail and the nod to continuity in some of the smallest but most telling ways. Like the chocolate. Nice touches throughout that just made sinking into this book such a phenomenal experience overall.

I wasn't totally thrilled with absolutely everything, however. One particular turn of the plot made no sense to me given the definition of Cerise and William and dialogue they'd had through the book. I'm not going to mention specifics to prevent spoilers, but there was one thing that seemed to contradict a previous agreement and vow and it was so significant to the plot that it jarred me out of the story. That one particular turn, and just one other scene that seemed significant during, but never got fully rounded out by the end (and left me just as confused as William professed to being at the time concerning it) are the two aspects of the book that kept me sticking with a 4.5 rating instead of a five.

Overall, I felt Bayou Moon had a much meatier and significant plot than the previous book in the series, with characters, William in particular, that will stick with me long after the book is done. I'm dying to know what happens from here, and desperately want some closure on Lark's tragic issues, even Jack and George (who make an appearance here, and thank you for that!).

I've read other books throughout the years that have left me wanting more. This, however, is the first book - and the first series - that has me demanding (however impotently) more of the lives of these characters - all of them: primary, secondary, and ancillary - and the world they inhabit. I want more of their personalities, want to experience the passions and the rivalries and the revelry. To feel it, to triumph and suffer with these people I've come to know. It's a visceral, painful, yearning sensation with which I was previously unfamiliar.

The Kate Daniels series is a favorite of mine. I can't deny it. The Edge series, though...I think it may be even better. Please, please, give us more.

Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

Bayou Moon is the second book in The Edge series. We met William, the wolf shapeshifter, in book one. He is living as a recluse in the Edge--the border area between the Weird (magic) and the Broken (not magic) worlds. High ranking members of the Mirror (secret service) show up at his door to tell him his nemisis the Spider is back. The Spider is a murderer runs a group known as the Hand--magic altered, very creepy and tough bad guys. William goes undercover into the Mire, swamp land in the Edge, to track him down and discover an elusive journal that Spider is hunting.

The Mar family is a land rich, cash poor family living in the Mire. They've had a long running feud with the Sheeriles, a rival clan. When Cherise Mar's parents go missing, she is shocked to discover that the powerful Hand helped the Sheerilies with the disappearance. What does the Hand want with her parents? The Sheerilies are trying to take some of the Mar's land. Cherise must find a way to take back their land and save her parents. While on a mission to the Broken to track down some key legal papers, she meets William. At first they do not trust each other, but over time they learn that the Hand is an enemy of both. They agree to work together in the fight against the Hand.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book--it is definitely better than the first book. It has a highly imaginative, fast paced, suspenseful storyline. Highly entertaining mix of action, suspense, mystery, humor and romance. The original world building was very well done.

I loved the main characters and found many of the supporting cast interesting. Cherise was a strong lead female who runs her clan in her parent's absense. I loved her kick a$$ sword abilities--some great fight scenes. I liked William when he was a side character in the first book, and liked him more as his character was developed in this book.

Only negative to me was a part towards the end, which I didn't buy--can't say more because it's a spoiler. It seemed like a contrived conflict (like what you'd find in some romance books) and didn't seem to jive with what we knew about William & Cherise's characters. But that was only one small part of the book, and ultimately this book has a happy ending. I liked the setup for the next book and hope William & Cherise's story will continue.


If you are looking for simliar books, here are others I enjoyed if you want to check them out. Top favs are marked with an asterisk.

Mercy Thompson* and Alpha & Omega* series by Patricia Briggs (Don't miss the anthology in On the Prowl,which is a prequel to Cry Wolf)
Kate Daniels* series by Ilona Andrews
Night Huntress* series by Jeaniene Frost
Sookie Sackhouse* by Charlaine Harris
Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab Dhampir* series by Karen Chance (I like Dory better than Cassie, but from a timeline perspective Cassie comes first. Dory is a great kick butt character reminiscent of Kate Daniels.)
World of Lupi series by Eileen Wilks
Guild Hunters by Nalini Singh
Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill
October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
Kara Gillian series by Diana Rowland
Black Jewels trilogy and The Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop
Jane True by Nicole Peeler
Fever series by Karen Moning
Circle series by Linda Robertson
Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep

There seem to be two camps in the urban fantasy market. The first are books which focus on blending the mundane with the sublime, using the juxtaposition of what we know as "our world" with invented elements of magic/fairies/vampires/what-have-you to tell stories about inner conflict, exploration, and identity. The second camp is something I like to call Badass Chicks Fight Evil With Hot Guys, Or Evil That IS A Hot Guy.

Not that there isn't (significant) overlap between the two, especially in the current market. But you can tell, when you read a book, which aesthetic it aligns with in its heart of hearts. "On the Edge" was in the first camp. "Bayou Moon" is squarely in the second.

A lot of "Bayou Moon" reads like someone sat down with "On the Edge" and sketched out a rough outline of what made that book so enjoyable. Independent heroine? Check. Focus on family dynamics? Check. Clash of cultures in the romance? Check check. Add a Wild-West-ish atmosphere to the setting of treacherous landscape, we're ready for takeoff.

And if what gets you going is a romp where two heterosexual lovers pair up against the odds, with downtime to simmer and smirk at each other, "Bayou Moon" is just the ticket. Watch out for some elements of darkness -- necromancy, murder, and hints of cannibalism -- but this is Ilona Andrews. If you've read the Kate Daniels books, you know Andrews doesn't stint on gore.

But for the rest of us, "Bayou Moon" is just going through the motions. I kept comparing it to "On the Edge" in my head, and it kept falling far short of that standard. Some of you may protest that's unfair, as it's a different book, but since there are so many parallels to the story structure (see above) I'm not sure how I could have avoided it. I didn't want "Bayou Moon" to be the SAME as "On the Edge," but I would have liked it to be able to hold its own. But while you admired Rose for successfully navigating the conflicting worlds of the Edge and the Broken, we never see Cerise outside her comfort zone. Rose was an outcast, Cerise is the favored daughter of a powerful family. Rose has intimate and often fraught relationships with her two brothers, Cerise has a huge family that she appears to get along with fine.

I'm not saying "Bayou Moon" suffers because the choices made in creating Rose were more my taste -- that would be a personal call. But there's a vital flaw in Cerise's situation: lack of conflict. All the choices made for her were boring, because they never force her to make hard decisions or sacrifices. This isn't just a problem with the protagonist, this is a pattern reflected throughout the whole book. We have no idea why the Big Bad is after something that belongs to Cerise's family, just that he is. (And he's a Big Bad.) Her family is also caught up in a vicious feud with another -- why? Whatever, it's a feud! Instant plot! Andrews even throws in a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque element in there, which feels insulting in its half-heartedness.

A lot of "Bayou Moon" felt tacked-on, honestly. Remember that gore I mentioned? Sure, a lot of vicious things happen, but none of it to characters we get to know as people. (Lark is not a character. She is a big-eyed, vulnerable plot device.) We only care because Cerise cares. But if we don't care all that much about Cerise... well, I addressed that problem, didn't I.

Don't even get me started on the romance. Listen, I don't hate on the debt the Badass Chicks camp owes to paranormal romance, but if you ARE going that route, pay your frickin' dues. Deliver up sensuality and a complex, even angst-filled relationship between your leads. Not... whatever's going on between Cerise and William. One wince-inducing sex scene, an easy triumph over reservations (The phrase "He won't hurt me because he loves me," is used, and: really, Andrews? REALLY?) and a last-minute "misunderstanding" which is insultingly juvenile.

I was so excited when I heard "On The Edge" was only the beginning of a planned series. But you know what? It might be better to avoid it altogether, rather than risk seeing characters I once adored in books so depressingly mediocre. I mean, if that's the experience I wanted, I could go back to LK Hamilton.

I read this book on my Kindle. It is the second book in The Edge series by husband and wife book writing team, Ilona Andrews. There are four books contracted for this series. You don't really have to read the first book, On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1), to enjoy this one; although some characters from the first book do make an appearance in this one.

Cerise Mar and her family own tons of land in the Mire, the Edge Swamplands, but they are poor. When Cerise's parents are captured by a feuding family; she is now the family's leader and will stop at nothing to get her parents back even if it does mean rekindling an ages old feud with the competing Mire family. But things are more complicated than Cerise could imagine. William, the changeling from the first book in the series, has been hired by the Mirror to track down an agent of the Hand (both factions represent nations of the Weird) named the Spider. William and Cerise find that their paths will cross and that Cerise's family feud may be connected to a silent war being waged between the Mirror and the Hand.

I actually liked this book quite a bit more than On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1), and I liked that book a lot. The plot for this book is a lot more complex, there is more battle and more intrigue. This book also ties in more of the politics that are happening in the Weird and it was great to see more of the infrastructure that makes up the Weird; we never got to see much of the Weird in the first book.

William and Cerise are wonderful characters. Cerise is tough and shoulders her responsibilities to her huge family well; she has some weak moments but that only makes her easier to love as a character. William is a wonderful match for Cerise, he is just as tough as Cerise and comes with a lot of baggage which makes him a realistic and lovable character as well. The chemistry between these two characters is amazing; you are really rooting for them the whole book. Even the side characters are unique and well developed. There are a number of side characters in the group of the Hand and in Cerise's family that could hold a story all their own; they are wonderfully complex and interesting.

This book is more of an urban fantasy than a paranormal romance. There are a couple steamy scenes between Cerise and William. William is one of those "Mate-for-life" alpha males which makes the story lean a little to the romance side at some points. That being said there is a ton of action and some truly awesome fight scenes in the book, and it is these type of scenes that make up the majority of the story. Nothing ever gets overly serious in this book; the characters have a great sense of humor and the dialogue and banter does an excellent job reflecting this.

As with ever other book I have read by the Andrews; the plot is tight, the fight scenes well done, the romance scenes well done, the book very engaging, great world-building, and lovable characters. Just a great book overall.

Overall this was a wonderful addition to this series. This book broadens the world we were introduced to in the first book, On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1), and has a more complex story than the first book did. Cerise and William are tough characters who really kick-butt but are at the same time lovable. I can't wait to read the next book in this series to see what it adds to the story. Ilona Andrews has quickly become an author who can do no wrong as far as I am concerned...everything I have read by this husband and wife team has been wonderful. Definitely check out their Kate Daniels series; I love that series just as much as, if not more than, this series. If you enjoy this series and the Kate Daniel's series I highly recommend the following Jaz Parks by Jennifer Rardin, Elemental Assassin by Jennifer Estep, Dorina Basarab by Karen Chance, and Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. All feature tough female characters and highly developed, creative worlds that lean more towards urban fantasy than paranormal romance.

I found Ilona Andrews through a promo from Patricia Briggs. I read Andrews's Kate series and loved it!!! I wasn't as excited after reading the Edge book last year. I think because it was more of a romance than an urban fantasy book like the Kate books. So I was surprised how much I liked Bayou Moon--much more so than the Edge. Bayou was much more plot driven than the first and had many more interesting characters. For example there was Kaldar--Cerise's uncle, or was it cousin, who can't shut up and can only do magical tricks--like walking through a mine field--if there is betting involved. My favorite scene with him was when no one had anything to bet and one of the dogs dropped a dead rat at his feet: "fresh kill, close enough!"

Spoiler alert--
Some of the characters are not explained very well, but I figured that may happen in later books. I did find it somewhat confusing that the whole purpose of the plot--killing Spider--wasn't accomplished by the end of the book. I guess the authors want to bring him back in the next book. I don't think that was necessarily a good idea. When you read an entire book on killing Spider, then you want him dead at the end, not crawling off in the muck.

Speaking of muck, I did have a hard time figuring out the proximity of the Weird, Broken, Edge, and Mire to each other, but as you see from my rating, it didn't bother me much.

I listened to this as an unabridged audio book and was very much looking forward to this story having loved William's wolfy self in On the Edge but this one forced me to rewind so many times that I feared I was losing my mind once and for all. There were so many characters introduced, and I couldn't remember any of them from one page to the next, that I found it difficult to focus on the plot. The romance between William and Cerise (my apologies if this is wrong, it's been two weeks and names easily escape my brain) seemed to get lost in the fray of Cerise's freakishly large family and there's a bit near the end where both Cerise and William are so ridiculously stubborn that it felt contrived. Very disappointing. This was more of a straight up fantasy or paranormal or urban fantasy or whatever they call them today, than it was a romance.

"Bayou Moon" is the second book in the "edge" series. The first book was called :on the Edge." It picks up some time after the events in the previous book and some of the characters are plot lines carry over. Bayou Moon is essentially the continued story of William the Changing from the first book. It also introduces the Mar family from the Mire portion of the Edge. The Mar family is a poor family even though they own a lot of the Mire. Most of the Mire seems to live up to it's name and is low quality land. As the story starts, William is in the Broken and Cerise Mar and the Mar clan are looking for both her parents and copies of some important documents.

The first part of the book is interesting. There is a little voyage, a few monstrous beings, some interesting back story, action... I'm in my happy reading place and then, out of the blue, Ms. Andrews pulls out this classic romance novel tripe of the type that makes me not want to read romance novels if I can help it. It pulled the wind right out of my sails just before the book was to end. :( The tripe was totally unnecessary and completely turned my stomach. It's so sad when a decent fantasy book gets ruined by romance book cliché. A male friend of mine was also reading it at the same time and had a similar reaction to it. It you like that type of thing; you'll still like the book. However, if you are not a HUGE romance fan you might be disappointed by the ending. You can put some romance in a book without killing the book, but this was completely out of character and unneeded.

I enjoyed this book and was glued to it but was impatient for the two main characters to meet. I wouldn't have had it any other way, though. Authors and publishers seem to think readers have attention spans of kids on their DS and I believe many have higher capabilities. The delay provided time for the authors to paint a decent picture of Cerise and William's personalities, current circumstances and introduce some secondary characters.

I agree with other reviewers about the depth of the plot and variety of characters. Great! I particularly enjoyed how detailed they painted the main and secondary characters and their inner turmoil. I appreciated the deliciously ghastly villains. There was no attempt to make them anything other than evil, but sometimes a known evil, that of war. Basically, saying it's for the good of my country can explain away a multitude of actions. They were endowed with certain, insurmountable powers and I would have enjoyed being more horrified by watching them actually employ those powers. Later, they seemed to become more and more mundane,making their relatively easy vanquishing anti-climactic in the fight scenes. For instance, at one point after meeting the villains:

SPOILER HERE:
Cerise becomes so terribly ill just viewing the one genetically altered member of the Hand from a distance, until William took her into the Broken. He mentioned being ill in the past himself many times for the same reason. However, this did not seem to hamper anyone else who met the HAND during fight scenes. Shouldn't their reactions have hampered their fighting skills even more since our heros are the the strongest of the good guys? Did I miss something?
SPOILER OVER...

Anyhow, there were a few issues in the book that I overlooked and suspended my disbelief about anyway, as a reader sometimes must to appreciate fiction. One of those I could not overlook was a lame misunderstanding between these two at the end. Even if the authors could make us believe these two would suddenly lurch out their simpatico with each other, their reactions to the misunderstanding were also opposite of how they had been acting up until then, especially Cerise's. It seemed like a lazy "old-fashioned Harlequin romance" plot device toss-in by the authors. If they had to throw in a last minute bit of turmoil, it should've been better thought out.

Still, I eagerly await the next installment, especially if the evil characters are scary and alien to us. However, I would prefer more of an explanation of why/how they became villains. This should make the books more multi-dimensional. A few more reviews/drafts of the book to iron out inconsistent actions committed by the characters would also benefit the next installment. I still highly recommend this book for action and interesting characters!

I waited for this book and it was a great read . Ilona Andrews goes from strength to strength , I love the way she writes . The story is fast , action packed with great fights and great dialogues between the characters . The setting is the Edge , the world between ours , the Broken and that of the Weird , were magic rules . The hero is William , the changeling soldier who has to track down a ruthless spy master he has issues with . So he accepts to work once more for the secret service of his country and go undercover as an aristocrat into the Mire , a swamp on the Edge . Spider , the spy master , is looking for a secret weapon there . His nation kills changelings at birth , but alters their spies with magic until they look worse than changelings and are barely human any more . The people who are the spy master's target don't know he's after them or even that they have this weapon . They are the Mar family , a family of exiles from Spider's nation Louisiana . Cerise Mar suddenly has to deal with the kidnapping of her parents , a feud with neighbours , confiscation of her land and a strange aristocrat named William who keeps getting in the way . She doesn't know if she should brain him or trust him . He offers his help and things get exiting until the bloody climax and after . There is action , love , adventure and a very clever enemy . The side characters are also well rounded and likeable .

I really liked Bayou Moon.
The main characters were likeable and tough and they stayed true to their personalities. I was woried that in order to become a viable love interest, William would have to undergo a huge character overhaul but Ilona Andrews maintained the integrity of his bestial, conflicted personality. I really liked that.

The sheer imaginative breadth of the novel was staggering. So many wierd critters and beasts and a cool, swampy location. I kind of wished Cerise and her family had stayed in the Mire and William had joined them. I was somewhat surprised and disappointed that they left their natural edge habitat and moved into the Weird.

I really loved the graphic fight scenes and the fact that the authors pulled no punches when it came to describing gory detail. This was a fast moving, action packed book that was really easy to become absorbed in.

The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is because I felt it was a little too hectic at times. There were too many characters to keep track of and tooooo much happening. I completely lost track of the names of people and what was wierd about them. There were just too many, and I think that the relationship between Cerise and William took a backseat to the more mysterious plot elements that werent as interesting.
Sometimes I thought there was too much going on and it bacame too hectic and a hard to follow. I also think it was a little bit long... needed a bit of an edit.

With a bit of patience, Bayou Moon is an excellent read.