With Nevada’s Hidden Legacy trilogy done, Diamond Fire has to get readers accustomed to a new main character while still making sure that fans will enjoy.
Nevada Baylor has gotten her happy ending out of the Hidden Legacy series after Wildfire‘s conclusion. Well, more accurately, she almost has her happy ending. That’s the setting of Diamond Fire: her wedding to Connor Rogan is imminent, and her younger sister, Catalina, is not only tasked with doing much of the planning, but she also catches a case.
Tellingly, Ilona Andrews actually starts the novella with a prologue from Nevada’s point of view, before skipping forward two months (and two weeks), then plonking readers down inside Catalina’s mind. Although Catalina features pretty prominently in the trilogy, particularly as a Siren, this is the first time Andrews has gotten a chance to explain how this character actually experiences her own gifts. As she says late in the novella, though it’ll be no surprise to readers of the first three books, she’s a Siren. If she wants, she can make you love her … though love is a weak word. It’s more like she’s capable of making people obsessed with her.
How does a character with something like ethics handle this ability? For Catalina, it’s all about suppressing her powers, until this book, anyway. It’s not exactly like Nevada’s experience, although the sisters do share a need to learn what they’re truly capable of. However, Catalina wrestles with a lifetime of effective conditioning to keep herself — and others — safe. She has to spread her wings. (That metaphor is not chosen by accident, but you’ll have to read the novella to find out why. It’s perhaps a little on the nose, but it could have been worse.)
However, even though Catalina’s abilities do help her solve the multiple mysteries, they’re not the only thing she relies on. Instead, she uses some of the same good old-fashioned detective work that her elder sister does. This isn’t to say that she’s a clone of Nevada, though — she’s resistant to any kind of romance for what feels like obvious reasons, and she also gets to develop an outside-family connection that Nevada can’t, not in the same way: with Mrs. Rogan, Connor’s mother.
Although a possible romantic connection is hinted at, Catalina’s relationship with Arrosa Rogan is perhaps the most important in the entire novella, and that’s worth commending. Not only is Arrosa Catalina’s client for the cases at hand, but she also seems to be taking on a mentor role to Catalina — and it’s clear Catalina has great respect for her, too. It does also expand the world well, since Arrosa has a lot of family members.
Is this the best story in the series? No, but that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily bad. It’s short, and it has a few goals: get fans ready for Catalina, set up some of the key growth points for her, and then close out Nevada’s primary story. It accomplishes all three of those goals pretty effectively in a short amount of time — and I’ll say that this might be my favorite conclusion to a mystery in the series so far.