Lymond like protagonist, actually described as Della Robbia Angel. Includes a reference to Men of Iron which is kind of cool.

[The Edge of Ruin] is Melinda Snodgrass’ follow-up to the unique and evocative series debut [The Edge of Reason]. The overarching story is an inter-dimensional battle between faith and reason. At the beginning of time, creatures from a parallel universe breached the divide into our world. Feeding on the life force of humans, these ‘old ones’ created religious identities to better manipulate their victims with magic into hateful behavior, the better to feed on. The monsters became the foundations of all the world’s religions. On the opposing side are men, like former Albuquerque Police Detective Richard Oort, immune to magic, who try to establish reason and science as the unifying force in the world.

This book soldiers the story along, finding Oort as the new CEO of Lumina Enterprises, the multi-national conglomerate formed to fight magic. Tagging along with a former police detective trying to manage a billion dollar corporation and fight monsters at the same time makes for a fun ride. And, like [The Empire Strikes Back], the dark forces gain some ground here, establishing an even better set-up for another showdown. Snodgrass populates the story with a never-ending cast of interesting and conflicted characters, so it’s hard to know who to trust.

The only down-side here is that Snodgrass chose to use a first-person narrative for Oort throughout the book. Oort was already a very compelling character, thrown into a spiraling conspiracy and asked to doubt so much about his values and faith. But this new view of the character, from inside his own head, detracted. The voice was annoying and detracted from the strength she’d built into Oort from the previous book. It’s a bold move, to slip into a character’s personal voice with a new book, and I applaud her for the choice. It just didn’t work. And it also detracted from Snodgrass’ otherwise well-crafted prose.

Snodgrass, and this series, is still a favorite for me. She walks a razor-fine edge with her perspective on religion and faith, never tossing them out with the dirty bathwater. The interplay makes for a thought-provoking read. And she’s a well-respected and talented local author. But I was looking forward to the next installment, hoping for a return to first book’s make-up.

Bottom Line: A solid, if a little disappointing, installment in ferociously unique story-line.

4 bones!!!!! ( )