boeklogboek: Ilona Andrews

The third book in the Edge series, published November 29, 2011.

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people 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…

Born into a family of con men, Audrey Callahan left behind her life in the Edge for an unmagical existence in the Broken. Audrey is determined to stay on the straight and narrow, but when her brother gets into hot water, she takes on one last heist and finds herself matching wits with a jack-of-all-trades.
Kaldar Mar is a gambler, a lawyer, a thief, and a spy with some unusual talents that guarantee him lucrative work. His latest assignment has him tracking down a stolen item, and Kaldar doesn’t expect much of a challenge – until Audrey turns up to give him a run for his money.
But when the missing object falls into the hands of a lethal criminal, Kaldar realizes that in order to finish the job, he's going to need Audrey's help...

Another book that I devoured, that kept me glued to the pages. I just had to know what happened next; I had to keep on reading.

This book has Kaldar as one of the main characters, and I really liked him in the previous books. We also get a lot more of Jack and George, Rose’s little brothers from the first book. They are living with Rose and Declan, and getting an education fitting for highborn bluebloods, which they are not. And their schoolmates never let them forget they are just “Edgers”. Jack gets in trouble because of his temper a lot, and he is very afraid he will be send of to Hawk’s. And so Jack and George decide to stow away at Kaldar’s Wyvern when he is leaving with their friend Gaston on a secret mission for the Mirror. This will give them some respite until William and Cerise get back from another mission, and can intervene on Jack’s behalf. Meanwhile, Declan and Rose will think them safe at some schoolcamp, and little Lark knows the truth and will tell them if necessary.
Kaldar really is not happy when he finds the stowaways during his mission. He cannot take the time to bring them back, nor can he afford to set them on a plane in the Broken and expect them to go home themselves. There is no other choice for him than to take them with him, and make use of their talents. He is after a thief who stole a very important gadget from the Egyptians, allowing altered humans to enter the Edge and the Broken, putting all of the Edge in danger. He already knows there were three thieves, and one of them he can find soon enough, but he really wants the lockpicker, as that was an amazing piece of work. He would not have been able to do it himself, and as he thinks himself the best there is, that sure means something. The worthless drugaddict he finds has no problem at all giving up his sister, and Kaldar really despises him for that. In the Edge, family is everything. But he is not the only one trying to find the thief and the stolen object. The Hand is after it as well, as they were the ones who had it stolen in the first place. But something went wrong with the drop, and now it is sold somewhere else. As that happened on Adrianglian soil, the Mirror is now involved as well. And last but not least, the Egyptians want their object back, meaning they send out the Claws of Bast.

Audrey Callahan really though she could start a new life, an honest one, working as a legitimate PI in the broken. A real job, with benefits! A house of herself. But she never should have taken that last job with her father, even though he promised this would be the last she ever would have contact with her family. The money was necessary to put her brother in rehab, again, which is totally useless as Alex likes being an addict and has no intention of stopping. And as usual, her brother is more important to her parents than she is.
When Kaldar tracks her down, the Hand is not far behind, and when an old friend gets murdered, she has no choice but to join forces with Kaldar and the kids, and find the object, steal it back and bring it back to Egypt.

A very dangerous but exciting adventure and I loved every page of it. Kaldar and Audrey are so great together, they are both grifters, conmen, and half a word is enough for the other to understand the plan, and improvise on it if necessary. Kaldar really wants to have Audrey in his bed, but she keeps turning him down. Falling in love with a conman is the last thing she wants to do in her life, she knows that will only end up in heartbreak for the rest of her life. Sure, he is handsome and attractive and one of the best thieves she has ever encountered.
Audrey had a very hard childhood, and Kaldar cannot understand at first that she wants nothing to do with her family at all, but when she tells about hit, he understands and he wants to protect her from them and everything that could harm her.
And of course the handsome Kaldar, with his big family, that got smaller when the Hand got involved in the Mire in the last book. He became an agent of the Mirror, and he actually likes doing the good deeds for his new country. The mighty Kaldar, the ladies man, the rogue, falling in love at last? Not even his grandmother ever bothered telling him to get married. He is not meant to be legshackled! He needs his freedom! It was really fun to see all his attempts at seducing Audrey end up in nothing.

George and Jack sure come in handy, and I liked their pagetime as well. Perhaps Gaston will get some more attention in the next book.

Another book filled with action, magic, scary and icky things, great characters and a story you totally cannot predict. And for you romance lovers, yes, there is a lovescene or two in the end of the book, and a HEA. But it is the story itself that makes the book so great, and all the characters together. Can you believe it, I was happy that that worthless brother got what he got from the bad guys. I despised him so much.

10 stars.