Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews

This book is technically a standalone and you really don't need to have read the other two books in the series to have read it since it doesn't really reference either at all. It sort of plops you down in the world of the Kinsmen but there are some rather large gaps in the story anyway (it's typical in the series) so you don't necessarily notice the things that are unexplained.

The book starts with two people whose families are mortal enemies and have been for generations. Matias Baena is shocked to hear Romana Adler is in his boardroom. Their companies have been developing technology sort of parallel to each other and now their respective spouses have run away with the information and it seems that they are going to be selling it to space pirates. 

Yes, it's overdramatic and yes, I mentioned the gaps but it was still really fun and I plan on rereading the last 25% before I send it back to KU.

Three stars

This book came out November 23, 2021

Follows Silver Shark

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews

Part of an elite group that works (and sometimes kills) by hopping onto a biological computer network and then romping around Hackers style, Claire Shannon knows that she is a powerful psycher. It surprises her that her side loses the war but doesn't surprise her that the man next in line above her kills her team and tries to kill her as well. Now she is part of the refugee group sent to a new planet that is vividly colorful and filled with kind people, she is understandably shaken to be sent to the company owned by Venturo Escana, the one place where her skill might be uncovered.

For his part, Venturo is delighted to have someone climb the ranks so quickly that she becomes an indispensable right-hand. Too bad she works for him. And that he is so intrigued by the woman that he's met online.

Like the first book in this series, there are great leaps in time and gaps in the story but it is still worth reading. We see a woman who knows her own worth but is just trying to survive but who grows to care about other people as well. 

Three stars

This book came out September 14, 2011

Follows Silent Blade

Followed by Fated Blades

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews

This is a very short story with a lot of gaping holes and yet the Andrews pair makes it work. I can see why other people say this is one of their weaker series but it's like the authors sort of decided to just leave out wide swathes of the story in these books. But it is Andrews and thus still worth reading.

Meli Glades is an assassin. On a planet, in a world, where there are people with enhanced powers, she is one of the very few that has innate powers. Except that Meli is doing one last job and then retiring. And that job is finished in the first chapter of the book. But her family has pulled her back in for another kill, one that would be more personal since it is the man she was once engaged to but who rejected her before they even truly met. 

Celino Carvana meets a mysterious woman who makes him fall in love over the course of a few days. But then she disappears and he discovers that she was closer than he ever knew...

Three stars

This novella came out June 2, 2009

Followed by Silver Shark

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own