#cbr8

Sigh. I have been on a hunt for lady sci-fi writers. There’s Lois McMaster Bujold, of course, but I’ve already read (and reread, and rerereread) all of hers. Mostly, the women are in the fantasy section, and I wanted space! So I had high hopes for this one, and they were dashed – dashed, I tell you!

For the first 100 pages or so, this book was a literary Krispy Kreme doughnut: utterly devoid of nutritional value, but glazed in pure happiness. And then, like the best junk food, my joy immediately turned into regret, and my proverbial teeth felt like they were rotting out of my skull.

Hannahwhere was one of my book club picks and I’m quite certain that I would never choose to read this book if I wasn’t challenged to do so.  I am in the minority, as the book has 4.5 stars on Amazon and 4.2 stars on Goodreads but I was underwhelmed. Sometimes I get nervous when that happens. Like I think to myself, “Did I miss something?” or “Am I being too picky?” but in this case I think I feel confident that I really didn’t like the book and if I read one more positive review I’m going to scream” THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES!”…but I won’t because that would be pretty douchey of me.  However, I just published it on the Internet so one could make a case that I’m still kind of a jerk. I posted my lack of excitement for the book on my Goodreads page and John McIlveen kindly asked me try one of his other books (which was really nice because my review was negative without really justifying my negativity). Because of that, I probably will try another one of his books!

Since reading Me Before You, I’ve become very distrusting of authors who write characters with disabilities without having that experience themselves.  This is not the case with Mark Haddon and his character Christopher who is on the autism spectrum in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Mr. Haddon has had some experience working with young people on the autism spectrum which informed his formation of Christopher, but Christopher’s disability is never the center of the novel.

Steel's Edge is the final entry in the Edge series. Once again, two unlikely people are thrust together by violence and fate.

Charlotte de Ney is a healer who devoted her life to others in the Weird. Her adoptive mother, Lady Augustine, is a powerful noble and mentor, which makes Charlotte an honorary noble and able to marry well. Sadly, Charlotte is unlucky in love and learns her husband is a complete asshole who married her only to produce an heir to receive his inheritance. Once he learns she is barren, he wants a very fast divorce. Charlotte is shocked and destroyed by his matter of fact delivery. She was already fragile from the many, many attempts to get pregnant. She becomes so angry with him that she reverses her healing skills to threaten his life. This is an absolute taboo for her profession. Healers who begin to inflict disease can become drunk on the power and transform into a walking plague. A literal Typhoon Mary that only death will end. Ashamed and fearful of what she could become, she runs away to the Edge.

Richard Mar is on a mission of vengeance, very similar to Kaldar Mar's from the previous book, to end the slave trade. Slavers kidnapped his niece, Sophie/Lark and buried her alive with other dead bodies. It took days for them to rescue her...she's never been the same. To prevent Lark from going off on her own mission of vengeance, Richard vowed to end the slave trade on his own. Becoming The Hunter, an invisible assassin that systematically takes out leaders of the trade. Unfortunately, he chops off a head of the snake and another reappears.

On one of Richard's near suicide missions, he is gravely wounded by one of the disgusting slavers (think Deliverance level evil) in the Edge. He is taken to Charlotte by chance and miraculously healed, but not before the slavers follow him to her town. Charlotte had befriended Mrs. Drayton, grandmother to Jack and George from previous books. Mrs. Drayton sacrifices herself against the slavers who kidnap Richard again. The chain of events triggers Charlotte's angel of death magic back into action. She vows to kill every last slaver in revenge. She tracks the slavers back down and infects them with a disgusting disease that kills them within a few minutes. She had never killed before, but Richard has and warns her that ending the slave trade will be worse than what she is feeling now. He can see she is a stranger to violence and death, Charlotte steels herself with determination and demands to partner with him. She will do whatever it takes. Once Jack and George learn of their grandmother's death, they demand to join the mission despite the adults objections. They all embark on a most dangerous plan to infiltrate the slave trade and unmask the nobleman sociopath who runs the whole show.

The last book was a satisfying end to the series even though it was quite dark. Not much humor and quips to be had when hunting down slave traders! Charlotte newly embraced death powers were scary and exciting. She feared no one could love one with such darkness, but Richard is instantly enamored with her determination. He truly sees her as an avenging angel and vows to protect her at all costs. Neither of them were looking for love, but it found them anyway.

If you've already read the first three books, you should go ahead and finish the series. I promise you won't be disappointed.