There are a lot of things that I enjoyed about Bayou Moon. The world building was incredible. Ilona Andrews (and her husband Gordon) are a very imaginative duo. When they build a world, they fully immerse the reader in that world. Bayou Moon is a world of swamps, mud, strange creatures, eccentric characters, and magic. Bayou Moon takes place two years after On the Edge. For those who have not read these books, The Edge is a place that exists as kind of a buffer zone between our world (The Broken) and the Weird (a magical parallel universe to our world). The Mire is a very swampy part of The Edge and is a place of lawlessness and feuds. It has kind of a trailer park feel to it, a poorer and wilder part of The Edge. This book focuses on William and Cerise. William was introduced in On the Edge and I did not find him a likable character at the time. Cerise is a new character, a member of the large and magical Mars family. William is on a secret mission and meets Cerise on his journey into The Mire. Right away, we experience the Ilona Andrews’ trademark banter complete with sparks flying between William and Cerise, but there did not seem to be the kind of attraction that has been done so well in their other books. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the swamp and the creatures that lived within it. The mode of transport was especially neat, boats pulled by these otter/seal creatures called rolpies. Using a giant eel as a “watchdog” was also very original. The swamp is a dangerous, oppressive place and there are many other dangerous creatures living in it. Giant sharks, huge alligators, not to mention the feuding families that live in the swamp, all are lethal. I loved Cerise’s family. Every single member of this family had some kind of endearing eccentricity that just made me want to read on. It seemed to me that Cerise was the smartest of the bunch as she did the family bookkeeping. Cerise was also a white flasher – she was able to control magic and flash white with her sword. I loved how the family constantly tried to pair up Cerise and William. One of my favorite scenes was when Cerise and her assorted female relatives were watching William and commenting on how attractive he was. I didn’t particularly like Cerise. I can’t figure out why I didn’t like her. Just didn’t. I felt the same way about William’s character as well. I did like reading his “wolfie” thoughts but there just didn’t seem to be enough “wolfie times” for William. The villain in this book was very brutal. Spider was just creepy as were his “fused” henchmen. Spider’s specialty, aside from violence, was to fuse humans with other creatures and plant life to create monsters to serve him. Think of it as a kind of "veggiepunk" (as opposed to steampunk). I found this book to be a really imaginative read. I can’t wait until Ilona Andrews publishes the next book in this series.
