And this one was fun. I enjoyed it much more than the second one in this action-packed urban fantasy series. (Maybe I should have listened to that one, instead of reading it? Though, another thing about this one, I didn’t care for Cerise’s voice.)

On first look, our hero Kaldar Mar, and our heroine Audrey Callahan, appear to be two birds of a feather: both cons. However, they have different reasons for their professions: he sees it as a lucrative way of supporting his family; she’s trying to get away from hers. He’s in it for the long haul; she in for one last heist so she can live a normal life in the Broken closing cases for investigator Dominic Milano. Yet these two grifters are very alike, making them a slick team when they join forces.

We also are treated with Jack and George – Rose’s younger brothers from book one – and Gaston, Kaldar’s nephew who works with him as an agent for the Mirror (a policing agency for Adrianglia that’s on the q.t.). My heart goes out to both the younger kids, but especially Jack; the little lynx shapeshifter has made one too many social faux pas and is worried Declan will send him away to a private school. (As if!) It is a delight to get to see things from his POV.

There is a neat mystery here with lots of political intrigue and betrayals involving stolen Egyptian bracelets, set in the Andrews’ unique worlds of the Weird, the Broken, and the Edge in between. There is a ton of magic and a plethora of interesting characters: sword-wielding warriors, a wyvern, a raccoon, flash sharpshooters, a slayer shadow, a tent-revival preacher, enhanced hunters, and heaps more – not to mention the Hand agents that are after the protagonists. The pace is fast, the romance hot, the humor plentiful – but not at the expense of the emotional depth.

Needless to say, this series should definitely should be read in order!