It always amazes me how much Ilona and Gordon can pack into a fairly short story but they did a great job of creating this world and getting me to feel invested in the characters. When she is offered the opportunity to get revenge on her ex-fiance she jumps at it but once again things don't turn out quite the way she intended them to. Nothing has gone quite to plan for her ever since then and she ended up distancing herself from the family so she could help them in other ways, like becoming a ruthless assassin who destroyed their enemies by any means possible. Meli's family planned to use her to form an alliance with a more powerful family and when she was 10 years old she found herself engaged to Celino but he had no intention of giving up his freedom and went out of his way to break things off.

The families with powers are like mafias and each control a certain part of the city, the rivalry between them is huge but they also make alliances, often via arranged marriages. Anyway, Silent Blade is a fairly short and fast read that takes us into the distant future and a world where some families are genetically enhanced and have all sorts of interesting abilities. Anyway, I was really excited when it was rereleased recently and immediately bought ebook copies of both novellas (and quite possibly preordered the limited edition hardback from Subterranean Press too, I mean I can't help being an IA addict!). I've wanted to read Ilona Andrews' Kinsmen series for a looooooong time now but the second story, Silver Shark, has been unavailable for what seems like forever. Visit Ilona Andrews' website for more information Kinsmen Universe (Signed, Limited Edition, Illustrated Hardback containing all 3 stories)

Now she’s ready to quit but she has one more assignment.Ī Mere Formality (Short Story in the Kinsmen Universe) So she ‘leaves’ her family and trains to become one of the best and most lethal of assassins, all the while covertly guarding her family’s interests. As a melder of energy, she’s capable of severing anything in her path. When he abruptly breaks their engagement, he ruins her family and guarantees that Meli will never marry, as no suitor will oppose the rich and influential Carvannas.īut Meli has a rare, secret, lethal-and valuable-talent.

On the planet Rada, Meli Galdes’ family is of minor rank, and were relying on her marriage to Celino, the razor-smart, ruthless leader of the powerful Carvanna empire. The struggle for power is a bloody, full-contact sport: in business, on the battlefield.and sometimes in the bedroom. They are their own country, their own rulers, and their only limits are other Kinsmen. In a distant, future world Kinsmen-small powerful groups of genetically and technologically advanced families-control vast financial empires.

Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews