Wildfire by Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy #3)
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Avon on July 25, 2017
Source: Publisher
My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a digital review copy. No compensation was provided for this review, and all opinions are my own.
Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she’s fallen in love.View Spoiler »
Epic magic, crazy plot twists, huge battles, snappy verbal sparring, and a deep abiding love for one’s family and partner are the backbone of the Hidden Legacy series, and Ilona Andrews delivers on all fronts here. WILDFIRE is almost everything I could’ve hoped for from the Hidden Legacy series finale, an urban fantasy/romance hybrid that has become one of my favourites in recent years.
Nevada Baylor has been through the ringer in the last few months, facing more danger and personal upheaval than the average person does in a lifetime. Of course, Nevada and the rest of the Baylor clan aren’t exactly “average” people. They have some pretty big secrets, ones they’ve kept hidden for years in hopes of having a normal life. But any chance of normalcy died when Nevada entered the deadly world of Prime magic users…and when she fell in love with Connor “Mad” Rogan.
It’s not often that we get to see what happens to a couple after they confess their feelings for one another, so I really appreciated seeing how well Nevada and Connor work together to meet challenges after they’ve officially gotten together. Whether it’s the drama of an ex being back in the picture, life-changing decisions about the future of the Baylor family, or questions about the future of their relationship, they face it all together. The trust and mutual respect between them is even more swoon worthy than their chemistry, in my opinion — especially since they were once enemies. It’s also been great to see Connor cool it a bit with his over the top alpha behaviour, stepping back and letting Nevada take the lead with both their relationship and their work.
Believe it or not, I love the world building in this series even more than the romance. Let that sink in for a second. The world of magical Houses ruled by ruthless, cunning Primes co-exists adjacent to the regular human world but it operates under a completely different set of rules. With the body count that follows Connor — and these days, Nevada — you’d think that the police would be dogging their every move, but not so. The human police know better than to interfere with House business, especially since no amount of weaponry can stand against the power of even a handful of Primes. It’s a high octane, high risk world — but thankfully there are plenty of lighter moments too. Breaking up the corruption, conspiracies, and fights to the death are perfectly balanced moments of humour…like a magical bear named Sergeant Teddy.
My only quibble with WILDFIRE was the lack of follow-up on the conspiracy at the heart of the series. Nevada and Connor have been trying to solve it for three books and instead of having the conspirators revealed, they’re merely hinted at…in the closing lines of the book. Given the way that it ended, I feel pretty certain that Avon must be planning to offer up a new contract to Ilona Andrews for a spin-off series, which means that we should be getting answers about the conspiracy at some point. Personally, I would kill for a spin-off following Nevada’s younger sisters or her cousins, so fingers crossed!
WHEN NICK ASKS THE TOUGH QUESTIONS
I buddy read WILDFIRE with Nick from Nick and Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist, and she came up with the awesome idea to ask each other a tough question about the series. Here’s what Nick asked me:
“You’re in the middle of a battle that you’re about to lose. You can summon only one of the characters from the series, who do you choose?”
On the surface, this is an easy question — of course I’d choose Connor! He’s known for summoning hurricanes that can destroy cities, after all. But those hurricanes also threaten his people, and civilians…and they take a while to get going. That’s why I’d summon Leon, Nevada’s cousin. He has a very specific magical ability that would make him an ace in the hole for a losing battle. Y’all who’ve read the series will know exactly what I mean!