Andrews, Ilona: Bayou Moon
Bayou Moon (2010)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 463 (ARC)
Series: Book Two (The Edge)
Why I Read It: Yet again, I need to stress: this ARC was not sent to me by the publisher, the author, or anyone affiliated with profiting from this book. Rather, it came from Dreams & Speculation, who had closed her blog and was getting rid of books she knew she wouldn't be reading (let alone reviewing). I'd gotten the first book, On the Edge, from her, so I went ahead and grabbed this one too, because Ilona Andrews tends to be an enjoyable read. And since I'm trying to get rid of all of the ARCs in my TBR pile, now was as good a time as any to read it.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: 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.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Nay, though I raise a question that could be construed as a spoiler if you thought about it hard enough, so if you're paranoid, just skip to "My Rating." Everyone else, onward!
So it was strange, reading this after Elizabeth Bear, M.M. Buckner, and Jane Rogers. There's a marked difference in the style of writing, even in characterization and storytelling. I'm not saying it's bad, per se. Andrews does a fantastic job with world-building, and I can always see the world around me, get a solid feel for the atmosphere. Andrews is one of the better writers out there in the UF/PNF field, though I'm not as well-read in that field as I used to be. But still, it was kind of like eating fast food after dining at a super nice restaurant for three days straight. You know what you're eating is technically food, but you're not sure you like it.
Which is why it took me a while to get into this particular book. I remember getting into and liking On the Edge a lot, and Bayou Moon takes William from that story and gives him his own arc. There's references to Rose, Delcan, and the brothers (more than references as the story progresses, but I promise, that's not a spoiler), and we learn more about William's past. We meet a new family, the Mars, who are involved in a Hatfield/McCoy-esque family feud in the Mire, and Cerise is thrust into the role of keeping her family together when her parents are kidnapped. Naturally, William's and Cerise's paths cross, and of course, they can't stand each other from the start, but inevitably they have to work together, all the while astounded by just how gorgeous the other person is. There are complications, of course, as to why they can't act on their feelings, and unlike some paranormal romances I've read, this book has a rather meaty story, but like all paranormal romances, you can guess the curve of the story and how it'll all end up. That's not a spoiler, that's just a pattern.
Which is why I've discovered when you take an author and have them write urban fantasy and THEN paranormal romance, the differences between the two genres is so stark. Even if the world-building is meaty and there's more to the story than just two people hooking up, paranormal romances are so obvious about it. I think it's because one expects the couple to hook up in the course of a single book, which makes the relationship rather predictable, whereas in an urban fantasy, if there's romantic interest, it's drawn out over the course of several books, allowing the story to take the front seat for the series. I'm not saying this is wholly bad either. It's just that when it comes to something that's more paranormal romance than urban fantasy, I know what I'm getting before I even sit down to read, which begs the question, why am I still reading?
I never had a DNF moment. I thought I might at first, but slowly I got absorbed into the story and Cerise's goals. William was very much an alpha male, especially by the end. I don't remember this from On the Edge, but apparently being a changeling means you live by far more primitive urges, and when the urge to mate hits, well, let's just say that William is very alpha indeed. That doesn't do much for me, but I liked how Cerise and William fit together. I liked that she had her own talents and her own arc, that she wasn't a damsel in distress and got to save herself and others multiple times during the book. I just never connected to her as a character. I'll give her credit, though, she does have a cool magical ability.
One thing that turned me off in this book (and I don't remember it being a problem in On the Edge, but that could just be my own memory failing) is how many stinking POVs we get. Good guys, bad guys, so many POVs we just got ONE TIME and poof, no more! Totally grating and unnecessary for me, and I daresay sloppy: if you can't figure out how to tell your story without dipping into EVERY SINGLE PERSON'S HEAD, you need to work harder. However, considering Andrews does such a great job of the single person POV in the Kate Daniels series, I'll cut some slack. That doesn't mean I wasn't annoyed though.
There were little innocuous details that bugged me too. For example, when William is first going into the Mire, he's with a "homeless woman" who then turns into a "hobo girl" the next time we're in his head. To me, there's a huge difference between the words "woman" and "girl," the latter meaning someone particularly young and not someone you'd be sexually attracted to unless you're the same age (not that William was attracted to her). I wish someone had caught the different usage, so that they could've found something and stuck with it uniformly during that whole charade.
Later, Cerise has to change and finds "an oversized T-shirt that hugged her breasts" (page 82, ARC). Am I missing something, and she's got that shirt tied appropriately? Because no oversize t-shirt I've ever worn as hugged my breasts. That's kind of the point of an oversized t-shirt. They're baggy.
It wasn't until closer to the end that I really started enjoying myself. I liked seeing William interact with Cerise's family. I liked seeing how Cerise handles the knowledge that he's a changeling. I liked seeing them all work together. I did figure out who the spy was pretty easily, though that may have been intentional on the author's part, and I did wonder: what really happened to Spider? That's all I'm going to say about that.
My Rating: It's a Gamble
It look me a long time to really enjoy the story, and the length of the book was rather palpable. I remember having far more fun with the first book in the series, On the Edge, than this one, but I'll give credit where credit is due: the world-building was quite solid, and Cerise makes for a great heroine (I just didn't relate to her). Whether or not I'll continue this series really depends on my mood and the size of my TBR pile. The Edge series tends to be more paranormal romance than urban fantasy, and I've discovered that I really need to be in the mood for PNR when I read it. So we'll see. Still enjoying Andrews' urban fantasy work, though, so no trouble there. :)
Cover Commentary: Of all the covers in this series, I think I like this one the best. The head isn't floating so much as the picture has been merged nicely with the picture of Cerise holding her sword. I'm still not a fan of the concept of these covers, but they do get the message across nicely: guy + girl + supernatural elements = paranormal romance!
Next up: Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher