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From: Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Looking Back: RI 2024
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2024 21:53:04 -0600
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On 12/31/2024 9:05 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> Looking back over the year, and going through the reviews I've
> posted, I think the following are my best RI 2024 books.
....
> These are in more or less chronological RI order, not rank order.
> The Andrews are generally rock-solid, and if I would rather have
> more Inn Keeper or Kate books, the HL books are quite good as well:
> 
> Emerald Blaze: A Hidden Legacy Novel
> by Ilona Andrews
> https://amzn.to/3SZKfto
> 
> Unsurprisingly as it's an Andrews, this was the standout of the
> month.  Like the "Edge" books, the "Hidden Legacy" books are a bit
> more romance-y than the "Kate" books, but not a lot much more so --
> there's always plenty of plot and action and very little sex by
> current standards.
> 
> The Hidden Legacy books take place in a world very much like ours
> (realistically, too much like ours, in the same way the Marvel
> Universe is too much like ours, but that's not the focus here),
> except that a couple hundred years ago a serum, since ruthlessly
> suppressed, was discovered which gave people (those whom it did not
> kill..) something extra.  Call it "magic", or call it "super-powers",
> but the gifts largely breed true leading to a semi-overt system of
> great houses, Byzantine house politics and marriage alliances all
> co-existing, mostly, with a mundane government of nation states and
> ordinary humans.
> 
> The series follows the doings of Clan Baylor, a new house, who make
> their living as private investigators, and the books are first-person
> narrated by different sisters who are leading the house at the time.
> After eldest sister Nevada stepped down (for reasons that weren't
> quite what they seemed), the last couple books have been told by
> Catalina Baylor, whose Siren powers have kept her from relationships,
> as she can never be sure she's not influencing her suitor.  Well,
> there was that one time..
> 
> Currently she has quite a bit on her plate.  Apart from ordinary
> investigations like finding stolen therapy monkeys, someone is
> suddenly trying to kill Clan Baylor, the Warden of Texas, whose
> covert deputy she is, has dumped a potentially world ending murder
> investigation on her, the first non-human intelligence has arisen,
> and it's not friendly, her evil grandmother is trying to make
> Catalina her creature, and you know, that one time?  He'ssss Baaack!
> 
> As always with the Andrews, there's humor, action, relateable,
> grounded, characters, and high stakes.  You don't have to have read
> the previous books to enjoy this one, but why wouldn't you?
....

I am beginning to think that anything by Ilona Andrews is 6 stars out of 
5 stars.  Even the Cinderella books (The Edge).  Their books are just 
consistently good and rereadable (my definition of a 5 star book).

Lynn