IAAA - Ilona Andrews Addicts Anonymous: Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years & Other spinoffs (December 2024)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I finished my monthly reads and the Year of Ilona Andrews...

I think Sanctuary has an extended epilogue that wasn't in the web serial... Ilona usually saves that for the ebook/audiobook, to give a reason to buy and something to look forward to (more content)... I think it really helped setup the continuation of the Roman Chronicles, with some character moments...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "LOL For all the violence, I'd say her books fit my personal definition of cozy...

Read Blood Heir and really enjoyed it. One of the things I liked the most was just how much worldbuilding was pack..."

There's definitely a reason I've re-read the series so many times... altho another is probably that I found the series so early in my exploration of the UF genre, and Renee Raudman's narration of the first couple dozen books...

[RachelG.]

Sanctuary Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ I love Evdokia. She is so funny telling Roman to start having children. This part was great. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Their interactions were always a delight in Kate Daniels 5-8... Sanctuary only makes it better, learning how he's basically "Evil" Dr. Doolittle...

[RachelG.]

Sanctuary I felt like this one just ended a bit too soon. I really wanted to know more and thought it could easily be a longer story. I enjoyed it much more than Blood Heir. It will be nice to read the next Roman book at some point.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's definitely short... more of a novella... wasn't a planned book, I don't think... they just started writing it last Winter, to line up with Christmas holiday, as a gift to themselves and their rapid fans... chapter a week or so, or half chapter, whatever they finished writing, from December/January to March/April...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Re: Blood Heir: (view spoiler)[the first time I read it, with the narrator change and other factors, I don't think I realized that Saiman was alive, and he just faked his death in Magic Triumphs... curious about the details of that, but it makes sense, both for the reasons he explains and because he's like 1/4 Norse god... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

re: Blood Heir--that totally sideswiped me too, though (view spoiler)[honestly, I'd forgotten that Saiman had actually done an unselfish self-sacrifice thing at the end of the series and was "dead"--so that was the surprise... finding out he was actually still alive was more of a "d'oh" moment, lol. (hide spoiler)]

Really looking forward to picking up Sanctuary--agreeing with y'all that Roman's interactions were some of my favorites earlier on...

[Nirkatze]

So, I just realized I only read the first half of Wilmington Years... I wasn't expecting the audio file to have the "this has been..." end-title listing in the middle! So I have the rest of it to look forward to. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Oof… book 2 is like 2x as big as book 1, too… and juicier…

[Nirkatze]

That's what I like to hear!

[Nirkatze]

Well, I went back and read Wilmington #2 and boy, was that a fun ride! I really enjoyed how different it was, both with the (view spoiler)[mix of prehistoric world and Fae, and the family dynamic, trying to build something better than what they'd had before, but also discovering that a quiet life just wasn't for them.

I was caught by surprise that the creatures were Fae--though I also really like how much sense it makes! I guess I've been influenced by all these recent fae interpretations (coughRomantasycough) with fancy fashion and strict etiquette courts. The idea of them as primal forces hasn't really been explored much in modern fiction, I feel... And making them completely unable (or unwilling) to communicate made them all the more alien. Really fun world development choices.

It was also really fun seeing Kate & Curran be badass, of course... but in a way that was completely at home in their power. Their fights were all "aw, man. This is going to hurt, but I know we'll get shit done." Even the end, with Kate pulling that Claiming trick, there wasn't the level of danger there was in the earlier books.

I caught the bit with Eira saying that Kate was a good mother--(after training Julie, right?)--but I was also surprised that Kate was actually informed of Julie's transformation. Julie's book makes it seem like if Kate even FOUND OUT then they would all be in danger. I'm really curious what this big upcoming danger IS though. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "It's definitely short... more of a novella... wasn't a planned book, I don't think... they just started writing it last Winter, to line up with Christmas holiday, as a gift to themselves and their ..."

Just started Sanctuary and wasn't expecting it to be so Christmas themed... feel like I'm almost reading it on time...

[Nirkatze]

Finished Sanctuary and agree with Rachel that I wanted more... it was like a little taste. (view spoiler)[Roman's past with his family was so much more than I'd've guessed from his interactions with the rest of the series... Or what I remember of them, anyway...

I really like how everything seemed to come full circle--and everything wasn't as it seemed. Like... it wasn't as straightforward as Chernobog breaking his promise. More like... he was fed up with his favorite being emotionally stagnant and killed six birds with one stone, pushing Roman to face his ghosts and move on... like giving him a gift. (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

So I have failed at posting here as well, I read Julie's book and the Wilmington Years books, I totally forgot about Sanctuary. I'll read that tomorrow :)