Emerald Blaze is the fifth book in the Hidden Legacy urban fantasy series by the phenomenal husband and wife writing team who publish under the pseudonym Ilona Andrews.
The first three books focus on Nevada Baylor, a private investigator in a world where magical abilities are the norm and a person’s status in society is determined by their powers and their family bloodline’s track record of producing superior magical offspring. All kinds of abilities are displayed from the usual telepathy, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis to more bizarre and unusual abilities like summoning demons, animating inanimate objects, and purifying or weaponizing toxins. After Nevada’s story concluded, a new trilogy began with Sapphire Flames, which focuses on her sister Catalina and her struggles as she takes over leading the family business and functioning as the Head of House Baylor now that they’ve joined the ranks of the magical elite.
In order to review Emerald Blaze, I need to bring up a couple points regarding Sapphire Flames.
Catalina’s first book felt weaker to me than Nevada’s books, not because she was young and inexperienced (which is an interesting counterpoint to Nevada’s gung-ho, take-charge attitude), but because the love interest was so frustrating. The normal dynamic between the heroine and prospective romantic partner in other Ilona Andrews books has always been one of equals. There is certainly a lot of tension and bickering with ever-shifting power struggles to assert dominance over each other, but both male and female lead are on a level playing field and respect each other’s strength. Alessandro Sagredo was first introduced as a teenage Catalina’s crush and it felt like she never stopped being in awe of him, meaning that he continually walked all over her in Sapphire Flames without being challenged and the disrespect towards her was extremely grating.
Another criticism relates to the extremely out-of-character manner in which Nevada abandoned her position as Head of House, relegating it to Catalina in a fit of pique. It felt like a clunky plot contrivance to justify Catalina being repositioned as the lead of the series and a rare misstep from the writing duo who have released many cohesive and tightly plotted books.
I now stand corrected. If you’re one of the readers who felt as vexed as I did about the above points, PLEASE pick up Catalina’s second book because this was all for good reason! Instead of being poor characterisation or a plot hole, both these elements were INTENTIONALLY written into Sapphire Flames in order for us to see the character growth and plot progression in Emerald Blaze. Alessandro returns and attempts to redeem himself for his earlier arrogant behaviour, but Catalina is justifiably wary of him and certainly makes him work to prove that he’s a changed man! Such a relief that she didn’t simply swoon into his arms despite her hormones singing his praises, there was great tension between Catalina trying to remain professional and unmoved in the face of Alessandro’s sincere effort to reconcile and make amends.
And I won’t spoil the reason for Nevada’s exit from House Baylor, but once the reader find outs midway through this book, it’s absolutely diabolical and makes perfect sense in hindsight, plus it adds a whole new ominous nuance to certain interactions.
That’s it for justifying why reluctant readers should continue with this trilogy if you weren’t totally on board with Sapphire Flames, now let’s look at how Emerald Blaze stands on its own.
Catalina has grown up a lot, gaining more confidence, political savvy, and a more cynical worldview, both from her tutelage under her cold, devious grandmother intent on shaping her into the ideal Head of House and also due to her training under Linus Duncan as a warden. That’s a lot of responsibility to juggle and Catalina isn’t Wonder Woman, as we see in rare moments of vulnerability when she has a panic attack, but it’s a nice contrast to Nevada who always seemed effortlessly capable.
The Baylor family interactions are just as heart-warming and hilarious as ever! They are honestly fictional family goals, the bunch are so loving, kind and fiercely protective of each other, it’s easy to be invested in each member of the family. When danger threatens, it feels like high stakes because I couldn’t bear for any of them to be hurt or possibly killed.
And the romance is perfect here, such a compelling dynamic between a prickly Catalina who has her walls firmly up and a penitent Alessandro who I can finally root for in this book. The love interest who feels like he can EARN the love of the heroine is a toxic trope, but thankfully not present here at all as Alessandro is more focused on aiding Catalina in whatever way he can, regardless of whether or not she forgives him (although obviously he and the reader is hoping she will).
The world-building also just gets better and better, it’s impossible to predict the cool new ways that Ilona Andrews will expand this universe and I always wonder what new challenges could possibly form an obstacle to our super-powered characters, but Emerald Blaze blew me away all over again. The creatures and overarching threat introduced in this book were terrifying and grotesque, presenting a unique menace we haven’t seen before five books into the series while also unexpectedly picking up plot threads from earlier books and developing them further in fresh exciting ways.
Emerald Blaze is a fantastic continuation of this series and I already can’t wait to reread it! For an action-packed plot filled with thrilling magical battles and twisty political intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and sweet familial relationships, you can’t pass this one up. If you haven’t already discovered this series, start with Burn For Me, or if you’d like to skip to Catalina’s story, you can pick it up from the novella Diamond Fire, but I highly recommend you begin from the start!
Emerald Blaze is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 25th 2020.
Will you be picking up Emerald Blaze? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
Wow, you nailed the two things that bothered me about Catalina’s first book! Glad to hear they’ll be cleared up in Emerald Blaze and looking forward to seeing how it’s done. Great review!
Yes, this is a wonderful review. I have already preordered Emerald Blaze as I do with all the books from Ilona and Gordon. They are truly creative writers and I have enjoyed all their series of books.
Great review! You expressed some of the same issues I had with the series beginning with Catalina’s taking the lead. I’m so relieved to know that things I saw as out of character, or disappointing, were part of the authors’ greater plan. Now I can’t wait to read the coming book!