Emerald Blaze
Hidden Legacy, Book #5
By Ilona Andrews
ISBN #9780062878366
Author’s Website: www.ilona-andrews.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
SPOILERS!!!!
Summary
Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling author, continues her spellbinding series set in the Hidden Legacy world where magic controls everything…except the hearts of those who wield it.
As Prime magic users, Catalina Baylor and her sisters have extraordinary powers—powers their ruthless grandmother would love to control. Catalina can earn her family some protection working as deputy to the Warden of Texas, overseeing breaches of magic law in the state, but that has risks as well. When House Baylor is under attack and monsters haunt her every step, Catalina is forced to rely on handsome, dangerous Alessandro Sagredo, the Prime who crushed her heart.
The nightmare that Alessandro has fought since childhood has come roaring back to life, but now Catalina is under threat. Not even his lifelong quest for revenge will stop him from keeping her safe, even if every battle could be his last. Because Catalina won’t rest until she stops the use of the illicit, power-granting serum that’s tearing their world apart.
Review
Catalina Baylor, Head of House Baylor and secret Deputy Warden of Texas, is back with her family and a new case to solve. It all starts with an attack on Catalina and her team during the retrieval of a special aide monkey for a client of theirs. The group is attacked by corrupted reptilians, it takes a team effort to kill them and Catalina learns that at the same time that Linus, the Warden of Texas, was attacked at his home. He orders her to take over the new case at Montgomery International Investigations, regarding the death of a member in a construction project partnership, the Morton case.
The Morton case looks into the murder of Lander Morton who with the partnership of four other houses tried to clean and re-construct the Pit. The Pit was a small village part of Houston that was constructed over a swamp area but was flooded and became a swamp type place where people go to disappear. All five members sign a contract that states that in the case of one of them dying they won’t get the insurance until the investigation is concluded.
“The drone turned, getting a better view of the corpse. A man in his late thirties, white, dark haired, wearing pants from a business suit, a torn blue dress shirt, and black dress shoes. The drone’s camera dipped down, closed in, then panned up, capturing the body from bottom to the top. No, he wasn’t wearing shoes. His feet had been burned to charred blackness.”
When digging deeper into the living members of the partnership, and the strange events that have occurred during the construction, Catalina learns that there is a strange creature living within the Pit and creating its own corruptions.
At the same time, Alessandro Sagredo returns after taking a contract to find and kill the person that orders the death of Felix Morton.
Now, it is up to Catalina, the Deputy Warden of Texas, to find the strange creature that lives in the Pit, who created or is controlling it, and destroy it before it takes over all Houston.
Catalina Baylor has become a favorite character of mine. Her magic and strategic mind are different from her sisters which makes it fun to follow along with the story and try to think of her next moves. She is truly becoming the granddaughter of Victoria Tremaine and I cannot wait to see the outcome of their relationship.
I really like how all the younger members of the Baylor family have grown so much since the first installment of this series. They have become their own person in the investigation agency and their actions are starting to have positive and negative consequences that affect the family. But I’m still happy that they are still able to shine in this story.
“I pried the plastic open, snagged a fajita, and closed the fridge. Nevada stood three feet away. I jumped and dropped the fajita. Shadow darted across the floor, scooped up the fajita, and bolted down the hallway.
I swore. ‘Make some noise next time, please.’ Nevada crossed her arms over her chest. Uh-oh. I knew that look. That was the you-are-doomed look. ‘Albert called,’ my sister said.”
The main story plot of this part of the series is the missing samples of the Osirus serum and it has been great reading how it is being used and the future implication for the magical society of this world. In Emerald Blaze we learn of a new use for this serum and dangers it creates in the hands of mad scientists, for example, this new creature that could destroy the world if left unchecked.
With every new story, we meet new characters and the majority of them are powerful primes. In this case, Felix’s other venture partners are suspects of this murder and we get to know about them and their Houses. Other characters that I liked were those related to the Baylor House, Patricia and her wife Regina who seem to have a mysterious background and Albert Ravencroft who is trying to date Catalina and might turn into a villain in the future if things do go that well for him.
The magic!!!! With every story in this series, the magic continues to get better. Catalina’s magic is growing and her training with both Victoria and Rogan’s family has helped her create her own House spell. Alessandro’s and the others Prime’s magic were excellent scenes to read too. And the new House Rogan baby would be a great asset for the future, I loved Nevada’s scenes with the baby’s powers. Even the magic that is not a grand display was fascinating and helps to create a wonderful world for this series.
“The half-finished designs in my head coalesced. My incomplete House Key arcane circle merged with the Aldrin projection design, augmented by the Tremaine targeting band. Yes, that would do it. It would give me the null space and the power I required and it would unchain my mind. The circle glowed in my mind. I just had to replicate it.”
If you are a fan of the author-couple Ilona Andrews and the Baylor’s family story, then I recommend you Emerald Blaze. In this new story, there is something in the swamp and it wants to conquer everything.
