Steel's Edge, di Ilona Andrews

Steel's Edge by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4,5 stelle.
Molto bello. La trama è interessante, ma sono soprattutto i personaggi che attraggono e fanno davvero tifare per loro, in particolare Charlotte. La sua evoluzione, i suoi sentimenti, i dubbi e le scelte difficili che è costretta a compiere, ma che porta avanti con grande dignità, la rendono uno dei migliori personaggi femminili di questa serie e forse dell'intero panorama dell'urban fantasy, in cui troppo spesso i personaggi femminili sono stereotipati, privi di dimensioni, sfaccettature, crescita. A confronto della caratterizzazione e dello spessore di Charlotte, anche il protagonista maschile, che sarebbe un bel tipo profondo e deciso, rimane un po' in ombra, un po' schiacciato, a mio parere. Insomma, del libro si ricorda Charlotte.
Peccato per alcuni elementi, che non mi hanno permesso di dare un voto che arrivasse al 5. La conclusione troppo spiccia (tanto che ci si chiede se NOI SAPPIAMO CHI sia veramente e definitivamente MORTO), un personaggio che appare e che...non solo non ci fa una bella figura, ma non si capisce bene che cosa aggiunga alla trama e al nostro affetto per i personaggi coinvolti nella sua agnizione.
Scrittura capace di donare batticuore, suspance, coinvolgimento, passione, tenerezza, riflessione e profondità, con quei dialoghi così veridici che rendono la lettura delle opere di Ilona Andrews un vero piacere.
Ahimé, pare che sia l'ultimo della serie...Un vero peccato. Di fronte a serie che continuano oltre l'estenuante noia e la prolissa ripetizione o gli improbabili rivolgimenti, questa per me avrebbe potuto andare avanti per altri dieci volumi! Grazie ai due autori per aver creato una così bella serie!!


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Qualche citazione!

“Congratulations," Kaldar said, his voice dry. "You finally managed to find a woman as tragically noble as yourself. I didn't think one existed."
(Richard:) "I'm not tragic."
Kaldar held up his hand. "Spare me. Some children are born wearing a silk shirt; you were born wrapped in melancholy. When they slapped you to make you cry, you just sighed heavily and a single tear rolled from your eye." He dragged his finger from the corner of his left eye to his cheek. " Your first words were probably 'woe is me.'"
"My first words were 'Kaldar, shut up!' because you talked too much. Still do.” 

-

 Richard glanced at the gunman. “At least have the decency to hold the gun properly, you fool. If you don’t know how, pass it to someone who does. I’m not going to suffer being shot at by anything less than a full- fledged lowlife.” 

-

“The idiot had shot their own dog. That’s what happened when the destructive potential of a man’s weapons exceeded his intelligence.” 

-

(Charlotte's thought) “If she died as a result of this journey, it wouldn't be because of slavers. It would be because Richard's inability to communicate would give her a heart attack.” 

-

(Charlotte to a young man that cooperates in the mission:) “Having a fling with you doesn't appeal to me. You're handsome, but you're too inexperienced to be good in bed. Having ridden many horses doesn't make you a good rider; it just proves that you can't recognize a good one or don't know how to keep her.”

-

“It seems that we had...not a better education, per se, but perhaps more incentive to use it. They learn, but they hardly think.” 

-

(Richard's thoughts) “She was beautiful and radiant. He remembered the concern in her eyes. The same concern drove her now, pushing her toward acts of violence. On the surface, he'd be a fool to turn her down. She was driven by tragedy, just like him, and she would be incorruptible, just like him. He needed a blade to kill, but she could kill dozens at once empty-handed. She was Death, and she had just asked to be his ally.” 

-

“Sophie raised her head. Light filtering through the trees dappled her face. “Hawk.”

Charlotte looked up as well. A bird of prey soared above the treetops, circling around them.

“It’s dead,” Sophie said. “George is guiding it. He is very powerful.” The realization washed over Charlotte in a cold gush of embarrassment. 

“Is George spying on Richard and me?”

“Always,” Sophie said. “All those perfect manners are a sham. He spies on everyone and everything. Declan hasn’t been able to conduct a single business meeting in the past year without George’s knowing all the details. He does let go when you make love. He is a prude.”

“‘Prude’ is a coarse word. He has a sense of tact,” Charlotte corrected before she caught herself.

“A sense of tact,” Sophie repeated, tasting the words. “Thank you. The other one is somewhere around here, too.”

“The other one?”

Sophie surveyed the woods. “I can smell you, Jack!”

“No, you can’t,” a distant voice answered” 

-

“I'd appreciate it if in the future when you come up with a plan that makes a hardened criminal pause, you could at least give me the gist of it ahead of time. In broad strokes.” 

-

“We Draytons are many things: pirates, witches, rogues...but nobody ever accused us of being ungrateful. A family has to have standards. Even in the Edge.”