Friday, May 3, 2013

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews - 5 stars


Let’s talk about the author first. It’s actually two authors who write the series. Ilona and Gordon work together and create the magical world of Kate Daniels. I love these authors because they are so down to earth. You can email them a question and they will answer it. I religiously follow their blog. They even have a free serial story, Clean Sweep

In the Kate Daniels world, everything is a mess with magic and technology battling each other for control. This is what Ilona Andrews has on their site:

“The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic has returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.

It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrapers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back.”




Magic Bites (#1) by Ilona Andrews
5 stars 

Let’s start out with Kate. Kate is a mercenary, or merc for short, and she works for the Mercenary Guild. She deals with magical hazmat and fights the nasty things that most people would run away from. For example, a giant worm is making noise in the sewer tunnels and she has to go chop it up with her sword, Slayer. Kate is a sword master and it honestly makes me want to learn how to fight with a sword. 

In this book we don’t know much about Kate. This is the first book so we are getting introduced to the world and the characters in the first place. I think this is why first books are a little more difficult to write and sell. It doesn’t matter. It still got five stars and I love it. I think the world Ilona and Gordon have created is brilliant. I love it. I love that there is this constant war between magic and technology and everyone just had to survive it. There are no cell phones and landlines don’t always work when magic is up. Regular cars stall and magically water-fueled cars are loud and slow. I wouldn’t want to live in this world though I would like to be a shapeshifter; some kind of cat I think.

Kate’s father is dead and she suddenly finds out that her guardian was murdered. Her guardian, Greg, was a Knight of the Order. The Order of Knights of Merciful Aid is one of three organizations that handle magical issues. Greg was a Knight Diviner so he had some pretty powerful magic. He also knew Kate’s super-secret. Apparently they hadn’t been on good terms on their last meet and Kate is feeling a lot of guilt. She leaves her safe home in Savannah and heads to Atlanta. 

Ted, the Knight Protector, allows Kate to work on Greg’s case. There is someone who is obviously doing to investigation as well and we soon learn the Kate is just the distraction. The crusader, one crazy SOB, was on the case and he needs to stay hidden. There have been several deaths surrounding this case. Seven shapeshifters and six vampires had all been murdered along with Greg. Also, there were missing women Greg was trying to find. Somehow all these things were connected. First, Kate calls Jim to get him to help her meet with the Beast Lord of Atlanta. The Beast Lord is the shapeshifter in charge of all shapeshifters in Atlanta. We find out his name, Curran, and what he shifts in to, a lion. I love Curran. He just makes me smile and Kate is totally scared of him. This makes me like her character even more. She's a total bad ass but put she knows she can't beat Curran in a fight.

Kate goes to the Keep, home of the shapeshifters. Curran tries to mess with her by letting wolves get in her way. She forces one particular wolf to obey her every command. The wolf is Derek and he is ridiculously beautiful. Kate calls him Boy Wonder. They head the casino, home of the People. The People are necromancers and their trainees, aka journeymen, who pilot the undead. When humans get infected with a pathogen, they become undead killing machines. The vampire is another creature. They have no thoughts and their blood lust is never sated. Because their minds are blank, necromancers can pilot them. It’s very hard to kill a shapeshifter and it’s very hard to kill a vampire. Something that can kill both is pretty scary. 

We have lots of action, lots of fighting, a horrible date, and a huge finale. The writing is great and flows really well. I don’t know how Kate functions because she barely sleeps. It’s a great first book and it’s followed by another great book. Kate Daniels is amazing and I tell everyone who likes fantasy to read it. I can always escape into Kate’s world and I’ll continue to do so.

There is a Curran POV in Curran: Volume 1. In it we have Curran's thoughts as he watches Kate from before they meet in Unicorn Lane. It's fantastic. You can read it free here.
There is also a Curran POV in the new Magic Bites Special Edition. It's Curran's POV in Fernando's. You can read here.

Some awesome quotes:

“Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...” 

“What happened to the alpha-wolf?" 
"LEGOs." 
"Legos?" It sounded Greek but I couldn't recall anything mythological with that name. Wasn't it an island? 
"He was carrying a load of laundry into the basement and tripped on the old set of LEGOs his kids left on the stairs. Broke two ribs and an ankle.”


“The knocking persisted. It wasn't Derek. His knock would be careful, almost apologetic. This bastard knocked like he was doing me a favor.”

“He referred to you as his little snack."
"He's a sweetie.” 




Review on Goodreads

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