OUR STORE: SHOP HERE

ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

You are here: Home / Blog / The Inheritance Cover Reveal

The Inheritance Cover Reveal

Blog, The Inheritance POST A COMMENT by

::waves:: Happy Monday!

Behold the gorgeous cover for the Inheritance by Candice Slater. Please click to enlarge. It is very fun enlarged because you can see all the different elements Candice put into it. The actual painting is much larger, so we all zoomed in on it and scoured it for the little details. Candice is ridiculously talented. We will see about including it somewhere into something, because it is so pretty.

While we are on the subject: if you like this style and would like to hire Candice Slater, absolutely do it. Not only she is skilled and talented, but everything was on time on a ridiculously tight schedule. Incredible artist and a fantastic creative partner. Clicking on her name above will lead to her website.

Oh, and the back cover for the printed edition.

What Is It?

THE INHERITANCE get the caps treatment, because it has officially crossed into novel territory. It is almost 75,000 words long, which puts it into the same category as CLEAN SWEEP and MAGIC CLAIMS.

THE INHERITANCE will have a sequel. It was meant to be a stand alone, but we ended up with the origin story instead. Not the plan. Not the plan at all, but it is what it is.

THE INHERITANCE is connected to one of our other series, and at least one of the characters from THE INHERITANCE will be featured in the final duology.

THE INHERITANCE will feature at least 8 illustrations from Candice Slater. They will be rendered black and white on Kindle or other devices that do not have color capabilities and in color on the devices that do like Kindle Colorsmart, phones, andtablets that are not dedicated ereaders. The print edition art will likely be black and white. There are no plans for an illustrated special edition at this time. We will likely do that when we have a sequel finished and bundle them.

When Is It?

THE INHERITANCE was sent to our copyeditor and she expects to have it back to us this Friday. We will need to implement changes and respond to her queries which will take us 2-3 days.

There will be no preorder. We are hoping for the publication date of Friday, August 8th. This is a soft date, ebook only. Print will take a couple of days to pop up for sale because it is processed differently. Audio will take a few weeks. It’s a much longer process.

Ebook – hopefully Friday August 8th. There might be unforeseen delays for some reason, so it could be pushed to the beginning of next week, but the goal is Friday.

Print – shortly following the ebook. It will be POD with horrible pricing. We are sorry, but we must make at least $1 per print book.

Audio – we are delighted to announce that THE INHERITANCE will feature a dual POV. Ada’s parts will be voiced by Hillary Huber, who voices older Kate in Magic Tides and Magic Claims. Elias’s parts will be voice by James Konicek, who performs as Mahon in Graphic Audio Kate Daniels series.

Both Hillary and James have very full calendars, and we are incredibly fortunate to work with them. Because we blew past our original audio date – deadlines do not make a whistling sound as they fly by – we are now waiting for the slot to open up in their calendar. That means that the audio will arrive in a few weeks to a few months time period. The contracts are signed; there will be an audio; we just cannot give you a firm date.

Where Is It?

THE INHERITANCE will be available across all of the usual retailers and, if things go well, directly from our website. More to come later. Please watch the blog for announcements.

Questions collected by Mod R

How much of the book have we seen as serial already?

It’s hard to say, because we added scenes, but about 90-95% was posted on the blog.

Backseat Driver edit from Mod R: Ilona’s being very conservative here. We’ve seen about 60k words and the developmental edit brought the manuscript to 73k. So we haven’t seen about 18% of the story … and copy edits are still to come! We’re getting a Horde feast on the 8th! Squeee, more to devour devour devour!

Will it definitely have a sequel? Also timing of sequel?

Yes on at least one more. Because THE INHERITANCE was never meant to be a novel, we do not have any idea when we can get to the sequel. Hopefully soonish.

Did you always plan on them not meeting?

Why do you think they are not meeting? Wait for the book.

Did you plan on Elias not having such a big part of the narrative?

Do you remember Magic Bites? People kept asking, “Why, oh why do you have the Beast Lord in this book?”

Can we pay for an unfinished, unedited, unillustrated version?

No! Absolutely not. It comes out in two weeks. Our prose is not golden, and it requires multiple edits.

There was a comment that said you wrote Ada because she showed up in Hugh’s story and “wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Look, I know other authors sometimes make it sound as if they have no power over their characters or the characters made them do something. That is usually a shorthand for describing inspiration. It’s very hard to convey how inspiration works.

The characters don’t make us do anything. They are figments of our imagination. We could have forced Ada’s story to be a novella. We didn’t because quality controls kicked in.

Imagine you are cleaning the house because company is coming over. You picked up most of the clutter, the house looks decent, but you didn’t vacuum. It looks kind of okay without vacuuming, but you know you haven’t done it. You know it’s dirty.

Writing is a little bit like that. You know when a scene is missing or a character isn’t developed properly because you wrote too small. Eventually you give up and vacuum the floor, because you are a professional and you don’t want to put out half-baked stuff.

Ada never showed up in the Hugh story. I think the confusion here came from the fact that at some point I mentioned that we discussed Hugh, realized that it is completely unsuited for serialization, and we had an idea for a novella – stop laughing – that would make a much better serial. Serials do best with a very specific structure: action-packed scenes, limited character cast, a relatively straight-forward plot. Otherwise people get confused and forget who was who and why they were in the narrative.

When will the Inheritance posts be archived?

They will stay up until you can purchase the book.

The release Zoom chat?

Ehhh. Do you want one? Let us know.

Thank you once again for reading the serial with us! We have to go and work on some proofreader queries for This Kingdom, but fear not, we will try to keep you entertained with something once or twice a week.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I’m SOOOOOOOOO excited to order this. Did I mention….I’m SOOOOOOOO excited!! Counting down the days!

  2. I’m so excited! Covers are beautiful. Now I need to get back to my own painting, LOL.

  3. I’d vastly prefer to buy directly from you, but what format would I get the book in?

  4. Whew! I was really afraid it would be months. Two weeks is going to go by glacially but I think I can make it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  6. For Roman’s book, the recommendation was to start at the beginning again. Is there a recommendation for this book?

    • The Inheritance is a standalone book, and not part of an established universe. You do not need to read any other Ilona Andrews books to understand this one.

      There are some references to another Ilona Andrews work, but these fall under “fun nuggets that fans love” and you don’t need to read the other work to enjoy The Inheritance.

    • I’m sorry Laura, I don’t understand the question 🙂. What reading recommendation are you referring to?

      • Laura might be referring to reading Roman’s story from the beginning of his book or reading Kate’s books again and then reading Sanctuary.

        • Patricia’s exactly right. When we talked about the Roman serial, I was saying, I was going straight to the end to find out what happened, but was told that I might not understand it if I just read the ending.

      • I replied to Patricia (thanks for clarifying). When this book comes out, I’d like to skip to the end first, and read it before starting from the beginning again. However, for the serialized Roman book, I was told not to jump to the end, that I’d be confused if I did that.

        • There have been scenes added along the way, so you’ll miss new interactions, but you can skip to read the ending 🙂

      • I think she is referring to start at chapter 1 when the book comes out instead of going directly to the end and reading the last 18% (aren’t you glad you gave us such a precise point 🤣). This way we read all the beautifying edits before the ending!

        • The extra content isn’t all at the end 🙂 , so it’s not the last 18%. Scenes have been inserted along the way.

  7. Candice Slater is so very talented. Very very impressed, I love her unique style. So happy that she is (hopefully) getting some visibility and a marketing boost. Thank you, AuthorLords, for being so generous with your praise and your creative network! Candice- as the mother of an artistically talented 17 year old: I am so very happy that however you pay for groceries/rent, you are still pursuing a creative itch that gives thousands of people tremendous pleasure.

  8. Incredible achievement once again. A fun, well paced story that captures me totally.
    Can’t quite believe I’ll be able to order the ebook and have it so soon!! Amazing
    Thank you

  15. Thank you for this serial and the series. Yes on a zoom chat, please. The shroud stuff sounds like a bit close to the corrupted Ad-hal and this crazy group making breaches and hundred year wars begs for Arbitration.

    Bear is awesome. Adaline is awesome. Leo and Elias are awesome. More please.

  17. Your housecleaning analogy perfectly explained to me why your writing projects take on a life of their own and become larger than originally envisioned. When I am cleaning in preparation for guests, I plan to be done by early the evening before. However I keep finding one more thing to do and am still cleaning at 2 a.m. (or even later). I eventually just ignore myself and go to bed.

    • Ah. A kindred spirit! Been there at 2 a.m.

      That analogy absolutely hit home. Thank goodness HA‘s commitment to quality has them dusting off characters and sweeping up plot to full novel length!

  21. I really love your serials. they are such a fun way, at least on this end, to read a story and end up with a fantastic book.

  24. “Clan Nuan blah.” – Jovo HAH! I will wait here chalantly with my actual Ripper Cushion.

  25. Thank you!!! I cannot wait for August 8th!

    Cover Art is so beautiful – would love to buy it as a print to hang on the wall to stare at.

  26. “if things go well, directly from our website. More to come later. Please watch the blog for announcements.”

    i hope this pushes through. It would be nice to have an option to directly buy from authors/creatives and not go through the big $$$ companies who are probably investing in AI and stealing artists’ work.

  27. Note to self: don’t try to comment the day after a post has been published, as the Horde is numerous and vocal 🙂

    Anyway great news and I’ll be on vacation for the release of the book, so this is great great news.

    • Sometimes it takes me a while to mull over everything and a comment pops out later. So I just throw out my thoughts or dumb speculations a day or even longer after. It makes me happy to connect with all of the BDH, who love all the ALs’ writings of every kind (and push, push, push for more —but in a fluffy way, we hope).

  28. Wow!!!! That cover is absolutely gorgeous. Although it would probably be better for the trees I am buying a pod copy just so I can stare at it on my shelf. Loved this story so far. You guys are literally the only authors on my extensive shelves for which I have never found a book that didn’t work for me. This one hits all the marks again.

  30. The cover is lushly beautiful with all the details Candice has included
    (Are there spider sacks in the top left hand corner 🕸️ )
    It’s hard waiting for release day
    The Inheritance has gripped me from the very beginning it’s been a wild ride 🩶

  31. Just a few weeks!!! So looking forward it and everything else that you all do. Thank you thank you.

  35. I love having the male characters points of view. I was so pleased when Curran had a voice in the Wilmington books and dare I say would have been happy for more of it.

  37. Really looking forward to the new book, and those illustrations are beautiful. If there’s an option to do a print version with them in colour, I’d gladly pay more. Just saying, I know it isn’t always possible.

  38. release zoom chat???!!!!???? ooohhhh would be good, esp if anyone wants to throw in spoilers for other things 😻

  39. Anyone else laugh when they read it had crossed into novel territory? As if it was ever going to be anything but a novel 🤣

  40. Thank you so much for concluding the serial in this way!! Your approach is the best of both — a fun appointment each week (twice a week!) to snack on — THEN being able to read the whole thing from the beginning and read the conclusion in context. Sometimes I gallop ahead in reading so don’t savor or appreciate key descriptions until I re-read. Looking forward to August 8th!!
    – PS – Also really coming to appreciate the Lees and how we’ve learned about them over time, bit by bit, for the dangerous and wily operators they are. Glad they’re generally willing to engage with humans. But it does lead me to ponder… what if a Lees were antagonistic to Earth? How would Innkeepers and Arbitrators deal with this danger…. Would the Great Nuan Cee ally to help? How about Cookie?? Or maybe they’d have to turn to others to help them fend off said foe… Just throwing out a bit of raw meat to the hungry hoard…

  41. I am so stoked! I am amazed you’re bringing The Inheritance to us so quickly. I was afraid it was going to take months not weeks.

    Thank you! Thank you!

  42. Yay cover! I will order as soon as available. I just can’t wait to finish the book 🙂

  43. I am so looking forward to this story, but I hope you go back to some of your other books to continue their sequels. I am waiting patiently for another Innkeeper and Maggie.

  44. Thank you! So excited for 8/8 (or thereabouts)! Question though – Hugh “unsuited for serialization”, does this mean there will be no Hugh 2? There were a few episodes of Hugh and Elara, then it dropped. I cherish everything that HA writes, have read multiple times, but I have to say that I love a redemption arc, and Hugh is my favorite, Hugh and Elara’s budding relationship is captivating, and I really hope that book will happen (however long it takes).

    • Ah, always so magical to witness a BDH rumour come into the world 🥲

      No hehehe. “Unsuitable for serialization” means exactly what it says, that Hugh does not fit the weekly serial instalment release on the blog. Because the narrative doesn’t flow in these precise scenes with cliffhanger endings, it’s more complex and full of reveals. It has nothing to do with the existence of Hugh 2 in general 🙂

      We were told this from the very beginning of sharing the few Hugh 2 chapters: that it will *not* be a traditional serial and we will just get the story up to a point in the intro. Ada came into the world because House Andrews wanted to give us something to have every week even when they needed privacy to write Hugh 🙂

      • Oh, thank you Mod R for clearing this up! I missed the part about just an intro, not a serial. I didn’t mean to start a rumor – no rumor here!!!

  45. A day to late… again…
    You Guys are the reason I learn English, you know? Or else I’d have to be p*tient and w*it until the books are translated…
    However I loooooove it!! First I didn’t see the bees and I was like, wait, where are the bees, we vote for bees!? But then I saw them and everything’s okay…
    The inheritance is connected to another series… yeah, we know, but… at least one of the characters will be in the final duology… That can mean a lot of things… The final corrected duology that will be published… But that doesn’t make sense. The final Duology of something else? I haven’t read all books (yet) but the only duology I can think of is Roman’s Chronicles… That doesn’t make sense either… (And it doesn’t need to be a duology, you know? It can be a trilogy. Or a tetralogy.) I’m confused. Guess I’ll just w*it and see…
    Well… I’m a new BDH member and this is my first serial so I have some questions: If we have a chat, how will this work? And how can I buy it directly from here? Will there be a link? Is it as an ebook or in paper? If it’s in paper, how, for Nav’s sake, can you send it?? To me you surely can’t… I live some continents away from you, lol”
    Ok… now I wrote a novel by myself…
    Thank youuuu! ❤️

    • Hi Sophia,

      Welcome to the Book Devouring Horde! 🙂

      The Inheritance has a crossover species with The Innkeeper Chronicles https://ilona-andrews.com/innkeeper-chronicles-books/. It’s the last 2 books in that series that Ilona is referencing when she says “final duology” 🙂. You have a great adventure ahead of you decide to check it out!

      The Zoom chat works by registration link, where you can log in and attend live. Or watch it the next day when we upload the recording on YouTube and share it here on the blog.

      The direct purchase will be explained for everyone when it’s made available 🙂. There will not be international delivery for paper copies from the website, but you will be able to buy the POD format internationally from the usual retailers.

  46. Ilona “It’s just going to be a novella” Andrews strikes again. I’m so thankful there’s more to devour. I hope you have time for another vacation this year, you deserve it!

  47. Possibilities, my mind is running rampant with possibilities…

    Thank you once again team Andrews for giving me something to look forward to each week.
    I love the ride!

  48. Yes, I’d love a Zoom chat. You said in the very beginning that this was going to be a short novella and I read each chapter in fear that this complex setup was going to have a disappointingly abrupt ending. (The two main characters didn’t even MEET!) I was determined to NOT buy the book until today when you said admitted your ‘novella’ had become a novel with a second book in the works.

    I feel so vindicated. Count me in!

  49. This is going to be the best birthday present ever! And I think that, when the POD version is available, I may spring for it, because that back cover illustration is just so beautiful. Thank you for this and for continuing to all of the wonderful words you spin for us!

  50. Yay! 🎉 I can’t wait! The cover and back cover are fantastic! Did I say I can’t wait?! Sqeee!!

  51. One of my daughters recommended your Kate Daniels series to me, and the rest is history! I love Kate’s world and the Innkeeper series, in particular. In turn, I tuned her into the Inheritance, and she loves it! So, we can attest that your books to appeal to people across generations – a 74 year-old grandmother (me), my 49 year-old daughter, and her 19 year-old Vanderbilt daughter! Thank you from all of us!

  52. Personally I’m not into Live chat’s but, if I were doing one, I think YouTube is easier than zoom, and they dont want you to give them free license to use you to train their evil GAI, as Zoom does. Just a wild suggestion of course. Seriously looking forward to release, and print! I am a book horder, or maybe a librarian? You just can’t check out the books, bwahahahaha! ZenHugs

  53. Suggestion:
    okay HAVE to make a suggestion for Merch because wow, The art with Ada and Bear, posters, rather than write on the art itself, have a Tiffany blue mat frame look instead of white like many posters. On the bottom of the poster in the mat area type with the same purple & red used in the painting, the book title, author, artist and if you’re really feeling fancy sign a few. that art needs to be cast far and wide, its absolutely beautiful. okay butting out now. Maybe Christmas Merch or for a ComicCon or something, not suggesting right this minute, but that art is pure gold. now for real done with my barsa barsa barsa

  54. Is it up yet! Is it up yet!! Is it up yet!!!
    It’s officially Wednesday in Australia, which means it should be Tuesday up in
    Texas.The suspense is painful…😿😿😿

  55. There are times when I wish I was just discovering Ilona Andrews so that I could start at the beginning and read ALL OF THE THINGS for the very first time! It’s sooooo hard to wait for new material. Sigh. Grateful for your talent, work ethic humor, genius and generosity. Y’all are AMAZING.

  56. The covers are GORGEOUS. So excited for the release, congrats on another great book HA!

  57. Stunning cover as usual. You may plan for a serial that can be limited but your writing is so good that each story can become a series. I always want more and will be sorry to see each serial go. Each installment was like a love letter that I have hoarded for myself so I can re-read them. I never re-read anything. This I will. I don’t know, it has been a gift of some kind and I have cherished it. Can’t wait to see it in e-print. Thanks for a lovely trip.

  58. I am confused: I thought the Inheritance is linked to the Innkeeper world since the last chapter mentions baha-char.
    Is it only me?

  60. Smiles, thank you for all your work, kudos on finding and supporting a talented artist, and, can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this, but, really, really, thank you for writing a strong, powerful middle-aged woman’s story! Thank you! You write excellent female characters of all ages, which is a rare thing to find, so, thank you, thank you.

    • From the article above 🙂 :

      “The print edition art will likely be black and white. There are no plans for an illustrated special edition at this time.”

  62. Beautiful! The illustrations are wonderful , full of color and the detail is amazing.
    It’s exciting to know I’ll be able to read it again soon🤗.
    Thank you for the opportunity to purchase a hard copy!

  64. Just, thank you for all the joy of reading you have given over we r the years. I got the edge series from a friend many years ago and have never missed a book since.
    it would be great if you had the book on your website for sale and download.
    I am one of those people who stopped buying Kindle books because I cannot download them anymore. And I must have 600+ Kindle books, so their loss.
    All the best to you.

  65. LOVE the cover.

    P*tien e, p*atience for the expansion of the Andrewsphere.

    While being chalant, I went onto the site and re-read the Klaus snippet. So now I’m wondering whether Ada and Bear will form up with the Klaus/Gaston/ the Edge Guys and Gal Guardians (of course I forgot what those guys are called again) and swoop in to help at Maud and Arland’s wedding.

    Whoop, whoop! I am a proud amulet-wearing member of Team-Facts-Be-Damned!

    • ARBITRATORS!

      Yes, that is yelling. I didn’t remember by myself but read a comment above that helped with the usual Brain Fart.

  67. Thanks for publishing serialized books. Don’t know about the rest of the BDH, but I’ll read the serialized and then buy the book as soon as it becomes available and buy the audio version. That might be because I’m in the half of the world that reread books, and re-reads, and re-re-reads … Hurry up August 8th!!

  68. WOOT!! !! Hopefully out in two weeks (G*d willing and the crick don’t rise). I can’t believe how invested I became in Ada’s storyline and world. So glad we get a sequel too.

  70. The cover is beautiful & Ada’s got cake.

    August 8 feels so surreally soon, still can’t wait though!!

    Also, do we want a zoom chat? Of course we do.

  72. Wow! The 8th is just around the corner! That’s much sooner than I expected. Looking forward to the full book!

  73. Zoom chat to launch The Inheritance? Yes please, especially if Mod R wears her tinfoil hat as she chairs the discussion and sorts through all the BDH theories about links between characters and storylines . I am curious how you initially saw the arc of the story when you started on what was to be a novella and how and when it morphed into a novel and sequel.

    Plus we haven’t had our annual “Gordon spills the beans” moment in 2025. That is always a fun highlight of HA booklaunch interviews!I would appreciate an update on tentative/ possible timelines on Maggie2, Innkeeper duology (please!) , Hugh 2, Inheritance 2, ……. How do you keep so many balls in the air?

    I really appreciate that you upload the zoom chat to U tube so that those who were able to join the zoom chat can revisit and those who weren’t able to join can catch up later.

  74. So happy! I hope you get a chance to celebrate properly in some way, because you wrote an awesome book together!

  75. Thank you! As always, so grateful for your work and to have found you. A zoom release sounds fine but not pressing to me so if there is a better use of your time, no need to feel pressured to have one 🙂
    Really delighted by The Inheritance. I’ve sent it to numerous friends / relatives who I don’t think most of your other series are the right fit for. But this one floats more into their normal reading lanes 😉

    Excited as always for everything you have coming up.

    Grateful to you both <3

  78. Excellent cover and back. Will order print, because that is how a book should be cherished. PC/Phones/E-Readers die, especially if your storage goes with the death. Printer books survive unless, fire or flood, but alas, never say never. Now someplace on here (website) there is a sorta listing of what/when/which character books are to be released or some timeline, cannot remember which. But if time permits, please update the future, i.e., Kate, Diana, Aurila (Julie-Derick) story, George et-al, and yes, I know we all have lives. However, to be fair, you got us hooked, and I do not want to die before I read all their stories, and way closer than many at 73.5.

  80. looking forward to the novel! thank you for the new shiny!! and thank you for the amazing art Intro to Candice.
    good luck!

  82. Yes to a Zoom chat, assuming HA has the time and energy to stuff it into their busy schedule!

  83. I have a lot going on, and unless things are baldly clear and not buried in other text, I’m missing those details.

    To verify, the end of this serial isn’t going to be posted on the blog, but only available in official purchased copies (in various formats), correct?

    • Yes, as with previous serials, the end chapter is in the published release 🙂 As well as substantial content edits and added scenes.

      What we get in the serial is the first, unedited draft of the manuscript 🙂

  84. so, I noticed that on Amazon and Bookshop.org there is no paperback option. I would consider the hardback, but I know Amazon only does the laminate cover hardback and I am a dust jacket fan. The price on Bookshop.org also suggests no dust jacket, based on the price.

    Are there any plans for a paperback release or a dust-jacketed hardback release?

  85. The cover is gorgeous! It makes me want to yell out, “Watch out behind you! Behind you! Turn around with that sword!” Candice is very talented; I’ve never had that reaction to a cover before.

    I also will w*it p*tiently until the 8th. W’hoo! Lots of lovely edited novel to read!!! 😊😊😊🥰🥰🥰. Thank you to House Andrews for another lovely precious. (Insert Gollum voice here.)

  87. I have been frothing for a pre-order! I am glad the release will be soon enough to not warrant it. Thank you to the wonderful authors!! <3

  88. I don’t comment often, but I just want you to know how much I love your books. I have them all ebook, print and graphic novels. I am very excited for The Inheritance and kingdom books to come out. I will always read your books. The two of you are a great team and your books are fantastic each and every one of them. I have already pre-ordered The Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. Please continue writing and I will continue reading.
    From my heart thank you .

  89. Thank you so much for the wonderful book and this beautiful, beautiful art!!! It really felt like Christmas getting a book and a sequel AND a crossover… over the moon!
    I want to second my fellow BDHees in that of course we love to watch, and re-watch your Zoom-Calls. However: you bring lightness into so. many. lives. You deserve to have some time for yourselves in between! If not for yourselves, then for us BDH, so you have creative spark and energy left for writing many more tiny-tiny “short” stories with sequels upon sequels 😉

  92. I discoverd your books a year ago and you have yet to disappoint. Thank you all the great books, audios graphics, and blogs..I love them all….I can’t wait for the new release..

  94. I’m so glad to hear that there will be a sequel! Here’s hoping Ada finds Gertrude Hunt and can meet up with Jovo again.

  95. “Do you remember Magic Bites? People kept asking, “Why, oh why do you have the Beast Lord in this book?””

    WHAT!?! Who said that? I love dual POV and love meeting and knowing the male protagonist. More Elias and other characters in THE INHERITANCE sequel please!