When Lisa fell in love with a group of alpha warriors : The Edge series by Megan Crane

Happy Monday, everybody!

            It’s a public holiday today where I’m at, so I’ve been spending the day lazing around—not that I could afford to laze around; I have a million things I should do instead of reading, but…books…. We’re fast approaching mid-December, can you believe it? Soon I’m going to start compiling a list of my favourite 2017 reads, and I can’t wait to share them with you here. As for today, I just finished Megan Crane’s Edge of Power, which is the fourth book in the dystopian/erotic romance series called the Edge. I’m still a little bit hungover from finishing it; the hero Wulf is quite a character and I love him a lot. I’ve been bingeing this series since last week, I think, and I thought I’d post something about it.

The Edge is four-book series (+ a collection of 3 novellas that I can’t wait to get into) set in a post-apocalyptic world about a hundred years after the world as we know it now is destroyed by a series of powerful storms. The whole series is pitched as “Vikings meet outlaw bikers” which didn’t make much sense to me until after I started reading. I’m a big fan of stories with alpha males in motorcycle clubs, and this series definitely echoes that in the way that the raiders are living, the whole concept of ‘brotherhood’ in the raider clan, and of course tough male (and female!) warriors.

To be honest, I never really concern myself much with the world-building aspect of the books I read. If the books have interesting characters then it’s enough to entertain me, and this series definitely aced in that part.

Now, onwards!

EDGE OF OBSESSION (THE EDGE #1) [★★★ ½]

[Possible triggers: kidnapping, dubious consent]

Now that I finished all four books, I can say that the first book is the weakest in the series, but it’s still entertaining and a good start. 

Tyr is the war chief of the raider clan, fiercely loyal to his king, Wulf, and his people. The raiders have a reputation to be fearsome men who live by their own law and code, which is vastly different from the rest of the surviving human race, or the mainlanders. He met Helena, a mainland woman, in one of the raids he led, and was immediately drawn to her feistiness and spirit. However, Helena has her own secret, one she would die to protect, and a mission trusted upon her by her late parents, and she would do everything in her power to carry it out.

What I love about Edge of Obsession is how the difference between the mainlander’s way of living and the raiders’ is highlighted through Helena and Tyr. They both have different upbringings and worldviews as well a set prejudice against each other’s people. The more time they spend with each other, the more they learned about each other, and found things to respect about each other. I do feel like this book is sex-heavy (boy did the raiders love their sex orgies), and while I didn’t mind it one bit (heh), it will probably bug people who prefer more dystopia with their stories. Helena’s mysterious mission kind of got sidelined by her and Tyr’s explosive attraction to each other and all the sexy times they had until probably some 70-80% of the story, so yea it might be a deal-breaker to some.

EDGE OF TEMPTATION (THE EDGE #2) [★★★★]

[Possible triggers: sexual abuse mentions, kidnapping]

This book made me sit up and go, “Now wait a diddly darn second—” because it was darker than the first book and a whole lot more interesting.

Gunnar, the tech genius of the clan and also half-brother to Wulf, the raider king, has broken away from his clan after the loss of his mate, Audra. He is driven to the point of obsession about bringing back his mate from the dead using ancient magic, and the only thing left to make the supposed spell work is a virgin. He meets Maud, who escapes from the church she’s been sold to when she was a young girl, by chance and thinks he has everything he needs…except that he doesn’t count the growing attraction he feels for her. 

Gosh, I don't even know what to say about this book other than I love it a lot, mainly because it is so intense and angsty. Gunnar was so deep in his anger and plans for revenge he saw nothing else, and most of the time I wanted to throttle him for being an ass. I found Maud to be both fragile yet strong at the same time. Being enslaved to the church of power-hungry, pervert priests for years did not weaken her, and she got under Gunnar’s skin so easily it was so much fun to watch. Edge of Temptation is a bit on the kinkier side because Gunnar is a dominant (and a sadist son of witch, I love him) and Maud is a submissive. We also got to see Helena’s agenda more elaborately in this one.  

EDGE OF CONTROL (THE EDGE #3) [★★★★]

Ok I'm going to sound like a broken record but I really love this book too. I started this book instead of going to sleep and finished it at 4 am because I refused to put it down; it was just that good. 

Riordan and Eiryn are both ‘brothers’, elite warriors of the clan. Riordan’s a master tracker while Eiryn’s the raider king’s bodyguard (who is also her half-brother). They had history, and you know how much I love my second chance romance, the more angsty the better. They hooked up ten years ago—I still don't know how old these characters are; I reckon Eiryn is in her late 20s and since Riordan's best friends with Wulf and Wulf is 8 years older than Eiryn that makes him mid-to-late 30s—and their breakup wasn't amicable. Even though they work together, they never directly interact with each other unless truly necessary (which is almost never), but all that changes when they are assigned to an undercover mission together. 

Riordan is depicted as a laidback guy with the easy grin, even as he takes down his enemies. Seeing the serious side of him is a nice change, but I was mostly enthralled with Eiryn in this book. She’s one of only three female warriors in the clan, and she’s had to work extra hard all her life to prove herself capable of defending their king and people. Then suddenly for the mission, she had to pretend to be meek, helpless mainlander woman who is entirely dependent on her male partner. It was a 180-degree change from everything she's ever known, and watching her slowly learn how to be herself outside her warrior persona and be a woman was very entertaining. I also love seeing her and Riordan bicker like an old married couple. They have a lot of chemistry and I love seeing them coming to terms with their feelings for each other. 

Riordan's awesome as expected, but really Eiryn is the star of the show for me. I also love that we finally get to see Eiryn and Wulf make up in this; they have a underlying tension between them due to something that happened in the past, and we get to see them being little sister and big brother instead of the fearsome bodyguard and her equally fearsome King.

EDGE OF POWER (THE EDGE #4) [★★★★★]

[Possible triggers: domestic abuse, sexual abuse mentions]

I knew Wulf's book was going to be great but I didn't expect it to be this great. I couldn't stop reading once I started, and now I'm going to be in a book hangover all day and half-ass all my assignments—

It’s hard not to be intrigued by Wulf. He’s unmistakably king—he’s unbeatable in fights, ruthless, sharp as tack, and he carries himself in a way that makes people want to follow him. This has been obvious from the first book—he has always been a sort of enigma to me and I’m glad that we got the chance to be in his head in this book. I spent most of my time fearing for his life in Edge of Power—there was a lot of mind games and behind-the-scenes strategy playing in this, and it put me at the edge of my seat. The plot is definitely the best in this book. 

I never imagined who or how Wulf’s future heroine would be like, but Kathlyn was a great match for him. Like Maud, she’s soft but she also has a quiet strength to her, and I love that Wulf especially is so hell-bent on preserving and protecting her softness. Their relationship developed on a basis of trust and I found that fascinating, considering Kathlyn’s father has been trying to kill Wulf and eliminate the raiders for years. I love how soft Wulf is with Kathlyn, and I love how Kathlyn tried earnestly to spare and protect Wulf from her father as if Wulf needed protecting. Out of all the couples in the series, I was most invested in Wulf and Kathlyn, mainly because Kathlyn suffers enough at her father’s hands and deserves a HEA with Wulf.  

Series links: Amazon | Kobo

This is only the third dystopian romance series that I read after Elle Kennedy's Outlaw series and Kit Rocha's Beyond series (I've only read the first book). I thought I've outgrown dystopia as a genre (flashbacks to my Divergent / Hunger Games era) but apparently I'd devour anything with enough romance in them, LOL.

Are you a fan of dystopian romance? 

Let me know in the comments!