If you want to read Sanctuary, the recent web serial by author-duo Ilona Andrews, sadly, you’ve missed it for now. It came down off the website yesterday to be edited and prepped for release this summer. But luckily you won’t have to wait long. As the serial came down, the pre-order links went up, and the full book – including the extended epilogue, which didn’t appear with the rest of the serial – will be available on July 30. So if you want to enjoy a short visit to Kate Daniels world, featuring Roman, the Black Volhv, you can check out the links down below. And July 30 isn’t THAT far away.
As I noted in an earlier post, although this is a story set in a universe that has already been pretty well developed via other books, it’s quite a different take on the back-story of that world – much more Slavic/Norse/Pagan than Mesopotamian/Babylonian. So I think you could enjoy Sanctuary even if it has been a long time since you picked up a Kate Daniels book. Or even if you’ve never picked up a Kate Daniels book 
. And of course, as always, the authors do a great job of filling in necessary background without being in the least boring – sometimes even with pictures. (Personally, I’m hoping the authors might be able to include the drawings of the nechist in the final book.)
. And of course, as always, the authors do a great job of filling in necessary background without being in the least boring – sometimes even with pictures. (Personally, I’m hoping the authors might be able to include the drawings of the nechist in the final book.)Finally, I have been amused to find that at some points during Sanctuary, I very much appreciated Timothy Snyder’s Yale web course on Ukrainian history that I watched a year or so ago with my husband. For example, when, towards the end of the book, the authors describe the sword of the Vasylisa as looking like “something that came out of Kievan Russ burial grounds, an artifact from 1,200 years ago, when the Varangian army of Viking mercenaries clashed with Khazars over the control of the fertile Eurasian plains”, I was able to nod my head sagely, and say, “Of course I knew that the Vikings came down the Dnieper river to capture Kiev and establish Kievan Russ. And that they fought more than a battle or two in the process. That was in the sixth lecture…” Which simply highlights the huge amount of effort Ilona Andrews put into realistic backgrounds for their stories – something I, for one, really, really appreciate.
Pre-order at: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada