If you want to read Sanctuary, the current web serial by author-duo Ilona Andrews, you’ll need to act fast! That’s because the last installment – except for an extended epilogue that will only be published with the final version – went up today. And per a recent blog comment by the site moderator, the whole thing will be coming down next Friday, April 12, so it can be edited and prepped for release as a book this summer.
So if you want to enjoy a short visit to Kate Daniels world, featuring Roman, the Black Volhv, check out the link down below – and do it now!
I’ll also note that 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 particularly loved the drawings of the nechist!)
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 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.
Oh yeah, and I will for sure post again when the pre-sale links are up – hopefully soon!
Find Sanctuary on the Ilona Andrews blog, only until April 12…