If you are an Ilona Andrews fan (and if you aren’t, why not??) I have good news for you. Emerald Blaze gives us everything we expect from an Andrews book: a competent heroine facing an unusual supernatural threat, an alpha-esque love interest with whom she has scorching chemistry, a great secondary cast, exciting action, strong world-building and sense of place, and jokes on jokes on jokes. I truly enjoyed every moment of the reading experience, which is more than I can say for many, many books.

In the second installment of Catalina’s trilogy, six months have passed since Alessandro broke her heart by peacing out just as she was going to confess her love to him. Now, in her capacity as Deputy Warden of Texas, she gets called in to investigate a murder with four Prime suspects (pun intended) who were working on a land development project together in The Pit, the magical swamp that featured heavily in the first trilogy. Of course, Alessandro ends up also being involved in the investigation and so Catalina has to manage her feelings as well as the various threats to her and the Baylor family’s well-being that come with her dangerous job.

This book is fun and incredibly fast-paced. The mystery element is not especially mysterious. The focus is more on action and various characters resolving interpersonal relationship dynamics a series of rapid-fire revelations and counter-revelations and disclosures and counter-disclosures.

Catalina has slightly more edge in this book than the first one, which I loved. Her heart is a little harder both from Alessandro breaking it, and from the difficulties of her job and the pressures of leading her House. She’s a little more ruthless, but she’s also terrified of becoming like her paternal grandmother, who is very scary and evil. This creates a fascinating push-pull in her character that I enjoyed. She thinks about protecting her heart from Alessandro:

I couldn’t afford to be that hurt. I had to be sharp and capable. My family counted on me. Linus counted on me. I had to guard the people I loved from Victoria. I could never allow a repeat of what happened 18 months ago.

In a lot of ways, the first Hidden Legacy trilogy with Nevada was more explicitly about the literal survival of the Baylors as a family as they eked out a living. The second trilogy is more about Catalina shaping what kind of magical and political House the Baylors will be–what their legacy will be (I’m full of puns today, ha!). It’s fascinating to see the scope of the series open up a little bit even though most of the book is focused fairly tightly on the action.

I think Catalina is a phenomenal heroine, but I have to confess to feeling a little lukewarm about Alessandro. On one hand, he has all the makings of a great romantic hero: his veneer of suavity hides a core of ferocity which hides a tender heart that fully opens only to the heroine (and maybe, like, his mom). And yet, part of me did not completely buy into some of the trajectory changes in his character that enable him and Catalina to resolve their relationship issues. Without giving any specific spoilers, he undergoes some majorly transformative experiences off-the-page that lead to some changes in his character. As a reader, I found this somewhat unsatisfying. It’s hard to buy into the fact that he’s now “different” (which is something emphasized by multiple characters) when we haven’t seen what has actually caused the change. Because I didn’t actually experience that character change as it happens, I really needed a considerably larger amount of groveling from Alessandro to feel fully won over by the romance. As it was, I certainly found that they had chemistry but as a couple, they are a long way from unseating Nevada and Rogan in my heart.

As per usual, the characters in the ensemble are a delight. The Baylor family and their associates are all characters I want to spend more time with. There’s a lot of Leon content, which is sometimes on the heavy side as he grapples with the implications of his gun magic. But Leon is also fundamentally endearing and hilarious, so it was great to get more of him. The new Primes who are introduced as part of the investigation are a colorful bunch of figures, and I sincerely hope they return in future books. Even the villain of this installment is delightfully creepy and twisted if fairly obvious in terms of identity.

I also love how bizarre many of the supernatural elements of this world are: part-corpse part-swamp creatures, two-legged running crocodiles, people getting dragged into swamps by tentacle monsters. The return of the Pit with even more amped-up weirdness and strange arcane creatures was fun, if bloody. I think a major strength of this series is the way it simply leans in to the campier elements of the world and does not apologize for or justify them.

And, of course, this book is hilarious. I think what I appreciate the most about the humor is that it is often combined with emotional beats, like in this scene when Alessandro tends Catalina’s wounds:

“I’m not falling asleep. I’m just closing my eyes.” So I won’t have to look at you.

“Keep them open.”

“Yes, Prime Sagredo. As you wish, Prime Sagredo. I obey, Prime Sagredo.”

“Finally, proper treatment.” He pressed gauze into my side.

I wince.

“Don’t hold your breath,” he said quietly. “It will hurt more. Breathe through it.”

“You breathe through it.” Wow. What a stunning display of wit.

“I’m trying,” he said. “Believe me, I’m doing my best.”

So, it’s clear that I had a great time reading.

However, once I finished Emerald Blaze and let it settle a bit, I was left feeling a bit…peckish? Emerald Blaze is actually longer than Sapphire Flames by page count, but it felt weirdly shorter. In a certain sense, the pace might be just a hair too fast; there were lots of revelations and confrontations between characters that felt like they merited slightly more breathing room than they got. For example, I needed to spend a little more time with Catalina’s hurt and pain over Alessandro’s return before we moved into the relationship repair stage. I also could not escape the sense that lots of what was happening in this book apart from the investigation A-plot was setup for the third book. I’m sure it will pay off, but I can’t help but find it very slightly to the detriment of the current book.

None of this changes that this is a great book in a great series. Current fans are sure to enjoy it, and if you are remotely interested in urban fantasy and/or paranormal romance and somehow have not picked up this series yet I highly recommend that you do so! Even if those aren’t your usual genres, I think that the winning characters and blend of humor and action will hold appeal for a lot of readers. While this wasn’t quite an A read for me, I remain very excited for Catalina’s third book (and Arabella’s books and any other books Andrews writes in this series)!