[Review] Bayou Moon

English Cover

German Cover

‘Bayou Moon’ by Ilona Andrews

The Edge # 2
..

Synopsis:
Cerise Mar and her unruly clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands between the state of Louisiana and the Weird. When her parents vanish, her clan’s long-time rivals are suspect number one.
But all is not as it seems. Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge—and Cerise’s life . William, a changeling soldier who left behind the politics of the Weird, has been forced back into service to track down a rival nation’s spymaster.
When William’s and Cerise’s missions lead them to cross paths, sparks fly—but they’ll have to work together if they want to succeed…and survive. (Source: Goodreads.com)

My thoughts about the book:
Maybe some of you can remember how much I liked and how much enthusiastic I was about the first book of Andrews’ series ‘The Edge’ and therefore I hardly couldn’t wait to read the second part, particularly because I also was already a fan of William in the first book, and secondly because I read it together with a blogger-friend in a reading-circle, which meant more fun for me or both of us. :)
But here in spite of all that, this book has disappointed me a little, although it’s not recognizable at the first sight, because of the average rating.

All in all it’s also not bad, and also better than other books I’ve already read so far, but if I compare it to part one, here it lacked at some places.
First of all I’ve only got very haltingly in the story and it was at first also a little bit too long-breathed to me. The surrounding area was described too detailed, many new characters were introduced and to be honest, I’ve only waited for the time, when the two central characters William and Cerise meet each other. And when they finally did it, then I even haven’t really recognized it immediately, but I don’t want to say much about it, otherwise I would spoil a lot. ;)

And although also here these two characters have fitted greatly together, I just couldn‘t feel with them, as I did with Declan and Rose in the first book. This is probably due to the fact, that both characters are very determined, stubborn and like to look out for others and rather do something to defeat the ‘bad guys’, instead of take care for their own feelings, or just identify them. Unfortunately, hence it’s also clear, that here aren’t many romantic scenes and even in the second book there is even less fun and humor in it, than in the predecessor. What I found both a great pity, particularly the abstinence of the big feelings and the pleasant prickle in the belly, when the characters fall in love with each other. Okay, yes, it was also quite nice every now and then, but the big feelings were missing.

The second point, which has led to less joy of reading, was that Andrews were very often changed between the narrative perspective, which wouldn’t have disturbed me so much, if it had been only between William and Cerise, but unfortunately many other characters also got a chance to speak. Here not only from the good figures, but also every now and then from the enemies of the story, which was for me extremely unnecessary, because these chapters revealed no important revelations, but only made the book thicker. Here it would have been better to shorten the book by some chapter and to write it exclusively from the point of the main characters – I really would have liked that more. Furthermore also the certain spark has been absent anyhow all the time and as already said, some pages in it were unnecessary and described too detailed.
Also the plot couldn’t grab me like in the first part and often the pages got filled with too many details. Added to that comes that also the description of this surrounding area in the middle of the marsh brought an unwell feeling to me and the portrayal and the world in the first part of the ‘Edge-series’ were for me much better and more pleasant.

And now we are already at the end, which has allowed me to finish this book happy and peacefully. If you haven’t read the book yet, then please stop reading now, because – SPOILER ALERT –

I namely found absolutely great, that at the end it has worked with these two, although they are both stubborn as hell, and hence it was also really sweet, as her father has helped them a little. Moreover it was very nice that I could read how the life goes on now for them in the Weird, now that they’ve settled down there. And it was even better to hear that they live close to Rose and Declan and that also the children Jack, George, Gaston and Lake spend time together. Everything sounds very peaceful and like a nice, lovely family-life with friends and exactly that, the figures have earned, after all the strains. Hence this end was perfect for me and I found it absolutely cute! :)

German Cover:
Also here the cover is again a feast for the eyes and I like the picture very much, although it has little relation to the plot.

All in all:
Unfortunately part two is a little weaker than the great first book, but I’m sure, that this series still has to offer a lot and that the next book will fulfill my full expectation again. Andrews simply knows how to write exciting, amorous books and therefore I remain loyal to her. :)

Rating:
3 of 5 points – (I liked it)

A huge Thanks for the reviewer’s copy to: