I don’t know what kind of addictive substances Ilona Andrews puts in their writing, but please don’t send me to rehab. I am sometimes surprised by which books become comfort reads. I have several, including a couple from Ilona Andrews. The Inheritance is one of the books that took me by surprise. I read it while it was being serialized and enjoyed it, but my world wasn’t rocked by it. And then I got the itch to listen to the audiobook. Still enjoyable but not amazing. And yet, I can’t count the number of times I’ve listened to it in the last 11 months. At just over 8 hours, it’s a good length – not frustratingly short, not overwhelmingly long. The plot is reasonably contained while still giving the sense that world is wide.
I just deleted a whole paragraph explaining the world, but I think Ilona Andrews does a much better job in the book than I will here. I’ll just say the setting is an alternate Earth and it is within the Andrews universe, though you don’t need any information outside the book. Ada is a single mother in her 40s, and she has a Talent that allows her to find things of value. Her talent makes her so valuable that there’s a whole employee whose job is to keep her safe. When aliens fighting each other disrupt the work site, that guy decides to leave her for dead and save himself. Ada is stuck inside a semi magical breach with one German shepherd named Bear, no weapons, and no skills to fight her way out. The dying alien gives her a gift, an inheritance – knowledge, a weapon, and skills she didn’t have before.
The focus is split between Ada and Bear’s journey within the breach, and Elias on the outside grappling with what went wrong and how to fix it. Ada and Elias are quintessential Ilona Andrews characters – competent and willing to rise to the challenge. I think I reread this book frequently for a few reasons. One, there is something very satisfying about a woman in over her head getting herself to safety using mostly her wits, but also a sword. Ada is determined and competent. She approaches new situations with a wary curiosity and kindness. Two, Bear is a very good dog who is very much like a dog. My former dog frequently tried to convince me that roadkill would make him stronger. Fortunately, he wasn’t able to get his paws on this piece of canine propaganda. Three, the characters are quietly awesome. Like Curran before him, Elias is the ringleader of his particular circus, but older, wiser, and maybe he even went to therapy. A good chunk of the humor that isn’t Bear being a dog comes from Elias and his guild members.
The Inheritance has gone on the list of Ilona Andrews series that I’m patiently waiting for the next book. It’s fine, I’m used to it and there are so many books on my tbr. The Letter to Readers, written by Gordon Andrews, explains a lot about how they write and why there are so many of us waiting patiently for the next book in whichever series we’ve just reread.
