On The Edge
Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
ISBN-10: 0441017800
ISBN-13: 978-0441017805
Rating: 5/10
There are fantasy novels and there are fantasy novels. The first kind is hypnotic, almost like a drug, constantly revealing something new with each chapter. The second kind? Not so much. On the Edge is, unfortunately, the latter. Sure, it’s got all the elements readers have come to expect over the years-action, steamy romances, and enough bumps in the night to keep even the Cryptkeeper awake. But that’s all it’s got.
The plot is fairly straightforward: Rose Drayton is a single mom, living in a poor white trash neighborhood outside Savannah Georgia, known only as “the Edge”, a kind of buffer between the real world we know and love-referred here as the “Broken” and a parallel universe of magic known only as the “Weird”. Along with her two brothers Georgie and Jack, Rose presents a typical picture of a poor young woman struggling to get by. Poor, never went to college, working a minimum wage job to put food on the table (when she isn’t hustling goods from her magical friends) . The Drayton’s hold a secret: Rose has special powers, far beyond those of her gifted colleagues. Naturally, her talents make her a catch for any would-be suitors from either plane of existence looking to enhance their gene pool, which has the effect of souring her on men and relationships in general.
When a handsome nobleman from the Weird shows up on her doorstep one day, she’s not exactly pleased. Scared would be more like it (When was the last time a handsome stranger showed up on your doorstep?). When the man proposes to win her over in a bizarre feat of skill worthy of Hercules, she’s taken aback. Before she can kick him back to the dimension where he belongs, they quickly find themselves working together to stop a mysterious force terrorizing the town, all while fending off a gaggle of exes and would-be suitors.
At this point, listing all the trivialities here would be pointless. Rather than evolving, the characters remain two dimensional throughout the rest of the novel. The hero of the story, Declan, is still the handsome, swashbuckling noble, and Rose is still the damsel in distress. The sole redeeming factor is the very human and fallible William, but even he ends up being stereotyped in the end. With a predictable, maudlin ending and blasé tone, it’s not hard to understand why On the Edge would be one of the more forgettable novels of 2009.
At $8.00, you’re better off downloading a Stephanie Meyer book from iTunes.
John Winn – Staff Writer
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