Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews
Kinsmen #3
Fantasy Romance
November 23, 2021, by Montlake
ARC

Review by Angela

Before I get into this review I just have to say bravo to the cover artist for this beautiful cover and how well matched it is to a certain pivotal scene.

Fated Blades is part of the Kinsmen universe, one of this author duo’s lesser-known series. Which is a shame because it, like all of their work, is beyond awesome. Who doesn’t love warring space families with special powers and all the sci-fi tech their heart desires? If you haven’t dived into the first two books in this series yet, Silent Blade and Silver Shark, I urge you to do so as soon as possible. Fated Blades can be read as a stand-alone, but the overall worldbuilding is better understood when read as a set in my opinion.

Set in the family corporate world of the Kinsmen, this book introduces Matias Baena and Ramona Adler, mortal enemies, heads of their families, and secare, able to form seco blades and shields with their bodies. When Ramona discovers that their spouses are having an affair and have stolen each of their family’s research into seco technology before running away together she knows only she and Matias can track them down and get it back. Which means these two lifelong enemies are going to have to figure out real quick how to work together.

Y’all, I don’t want to gush all over this review, but I just not be able to help myself. The angst! The action scenes! The “we hate each other, but we really don’t, oh no!”! This whole book is nothing but competence porn at its finest. I couldn’t stop reading. Whenever I recommend this author duo to someone looking for recs I always say they write the best action scenes in a fantasy setting and that is absolutely true again with Fated Blades. The scenes of these two fighting side by side, back to back, taking on dozens of enemies all while using their blades, shields, and smarts was absolutely glorious. As you can tell from the title, there is a touch of fated soulmates to this pairing, as they get to know and like each other, they also form what in the secare world is called synchronization, able to fight in harmony which makes them even more formidable. And oh my goodness are they formidable.

I don’t want to get too much more into the plot, lots of corporate and political conspiracies and betrayal, but suffice it to say this book hit all my book-loving buttons. I can’t wait to read it again (which I do all the time with this author duo’s backlist). Highly recommend.

Final grade- A

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