Bayou Moon, by Ilona Andrews

Originally posted 12/07/10 in my meta/review blog

Bayou Moon is the sequel to On the Edge. William, one of the minor antagonists in the previous book (and the friend of Declan and Rose from the previous book) has settled down in the Edge between the alternate earth referred to as “the Weird” and the real world which is known as “the Broken” He is living a quiet life working in construction, and collecting action figures. Said quiet life is interrupted when his home kingdom’s version of the secret service (called The Mirror) show up to ask him to go on a mission.

William is extremely reluctant to take on the job (he hated being a soldier, and hated the way he was treated by the service because he is a changeling–someone who can turn into an animal). However, William is convinced to take the job when he’s told it involves finding an enemy operative named Spider, who was responsible for the deaths of changeling children who had been on a training mission. His goal is to find out what Spider is doing in the region of the Edge known as the Mire, which shares a border with the state of Louisiana and the Dukedom of Louisiana.

Meanwhile a young woman named Cerise, who belongs to a formidable clan of very scary Edgers discovers that a feud with another family has just heated up when her parents go missing. After some adventure and trying to figure out what is going on, she runs into William and they become allies. It turns out that the family is being backed by Spider and the The Hand (the Dukedom of Louisiana’s secret service). The Hand turns out to want something that Cerise’s family has, and there is a great deal of fighting back and forth.

Cerise and William become fairly close, but their relationship is somewhat entangled in misunderstandings. William is somewhat hampered both by being a changeling and having had a hellish childhood. Cerise in turn has difficulties because in many ways, William does not really add up as “normal” and at first she can’t figure out why (and when she does understand why, she’s still confused.) It made for an interesting romance, and there wasn’t the experience of “let’s get to the sex” that seems to happen a lot in some of the book within the “urban romance fantasy” genre.

A few things I found interesting was the parallel between the way William’s country treats changelings, and the way that the Dukedom hates changelings, yet turns members of their secret service into monsters with magic. Other things that interested me was that Cerise’s family is originally from the Dukedom of Louisiana, but are supportive of the relationship, even after discovering that William is a changeling (apparently influenced because other members of the family had been changeling.)

I liked the sequel a lot, though I think the ending and epilog was more out line than story. It was too brief, and sudden, when I would have liked something a little longer. Other than that, it is a great story with lots of adventure and a well-paced romance.