BOOK REVIEW - MAGIC BITES by ILONA ANDREWS - KATE DANIELS # 1 - ACE - ADULT URBAN FANTASY

By: Ilona Andrews
Published By: Ace Books
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback, 260 Pages

RATING: 3.5 CURRAN RAWRRR STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league—but she wouldn't have it any other way…

Fan made vid that gives a good idea of Kate and Magic Bites

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I am a massive Urban Fantasy , Paranormal Romance fan. I enjoy the worlds the authors put me in. It is a wonderful , often kickass, escapism for me.

I have had the first 4 books in the Kate Daniels series sitting on my bookshelf for three years. 

Time to crack open Magic Bites. 

I know this is an awesome series by the New York Bestselling husband and wife team, Ilona Andrews.

I love Patricia Briggs, Jeaniene Frost, J.R. Ward, Karen Marie Moning, Devon Monk, Stacia Kane, Darynda Jones and Richelle Mead. I devour their books like room temperature chocolate. 

Magic Bites for me was ... a little hard to get into for the first half. I am being honest here. I am coming late to the Kate Daniels party and all the other reviews on Goodreads show how awesome this series is. My review won’t mean anything in the big picture of this HUGELY popular series. I am just going to tell you how I felt about book one. My 2c.

I had trouble with the world building and joining the dots. I have notes upon notes. I had trouble with connecting with Curran and Kate, but in saying that, I know book # 2, Magic Burns is going to bring it for me. I have got passed that world building that I was floundering in.

I was giving myself a pep talk when reading the first half of this book as I could not for the life of me figure out why I was not totally immersed in this world. I was simply having trouble. No doubt my fault. I had First Book Stage Fright. What was happening to me? I am a reader who totally digs new worlds that authors present to me. I totally dig Urban Fantasy. 

Kate Daniel’s guardian Greg Feldman has gone and gotten himself murdered. 

It ain’t pretty, people.

What could do this to a Knight-Diviner?

Well that was the question on everyone’s mind.

Kate has inherited Greg’s office and she is pulling a Nancy Drew to find his killer. Girls are also going missing and shape changers are winding up dead.

Kate likes to name her transport. Karmelion would be her truck and Betsi her old Subaru. Slayer, would be her Saber sword.

When Magic is up, technology doesn’t work, so it is on the horse you go or a car with whatever tinkering you have done to your vehicle to make it work when magic is up.

I did some math, and this story is set anywhere onwards from 2017. 

We arrived at Rufus and turned north, heading toward the White Street. It was named for the snowfall of ’14, when three inches of fine powder covered the street’s ugly asphalt. Three inches of snow was not terribly unusual for Atlanta except that it had come in May and refused to melt in the following months despite the hundred-degree heat. Three and a half years later it finally gave in and thawed during an Indian summer.

Kate has a lot of lads in her life who may or may not be human, who may or may not be even a friend. Saiman, Dr Crest, Jim, Ted, Nataraja and Derek, to name some. 

Saiman was driven by the desire to create his own Uber-man, a super-male that would be irresistible to women. The sexual aspect of his quest interested him much less than the scientific motivation to craft an image of a perfect human being.

Derek pledged to protect me with his life if need be. He pledged to be at my side in danger and in peace, for as long as the Pack required it. He pledged to uphold the honor of the Pack as a whole and of his Wolf Clan in particular. I was not getting a bodyguard. I was getting a second shadow and if someone frowned at me, he was honor-bound to rip them to pieces.

The Beast Lord, Pack King, Lord of Shapechanger’s,that would be Curran. Curran and Kate have a sparring relationship. Kate doesn’t like to listen when ordered about and Curran isn’t used to his orders not being obeyed. This could make him look bad in front of his pack.

A couple of inches taller than me, the Beast Lord gave an impression of coiled power. Easy, balanced stance. Blond hair, cut too short to grab. At first glance he looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, but his build betrayed him. His shoulders strained his T-shirt. His back was broad and corded with muscle, showing the power and strength a man developed in his early thirties.

“What kind of woman greets the Beast Lord with ‘here, kitty, kitty’,? “ he asked.

“One of a kind.” I murmured the obvious reply.

Ghastek is the Master of the Dead, he can control vampires. We aren’t talking the Twilight sparkly, stunning type here. We are talking grotesque, fanged creatures.

Maxine is the telepath receptionist and Anna the clairvoyant, is Greg’s ex wife. They seem to be the only females connected to Kate.

She lives in a man’s world of violence and pain.

I like Dr Crest, but we all know who Kate will end up with. Well, I am assuming a lot already, one book down. Curran has my vote anyway.

Once I got over the half way mark, I got some fight scenes which were awesome and Curran came into the book more, I was getting intrigued with who Greg’s murderer was and the why of what was going on. Some twists were getting thrown at me, which I liked. I was starting to get that oh so comfy feeling of sinking into a world that I was beginning to now get... for the most part. I still have questions and felt like I needed a prequel for what happened to the world with Magic and technology failing, but I will live. Obviously some worlds come easy to me and as I have just found out some don’t. 

The Ilona Andrews team certainly know how to bring the bone crunching action with body splitting energy when it is time to get down and dirty and fight for your life.

Talk about, ouch!

There is no romance in this instalment it is all about surviving the killer and other villains of the story. 

Kate has a witty mind and is on the ball with her gut feelings and she knows how to do an impressive round house kick.

“So you’re coming?”

“Did you expect me to hide here?”

“He referred to you as his little snack.”

“He’s a sweetie.”

“He’s also all about screwing you.”

I raised my head enough to look at him. “Look, Curran, what do you want from me?”

“Why does he want to mate with you?”

“I’m a good lay. Go away, please.”

Curran brushed my quip aside. “I want to know why he’s got a hard-on for getting you knocked up.”

There was a pun in that sentence somewhere but he didn’t look like he was in the mood to notice. 

Curran is interested, but I think he is still trying to work out Kate. 

Seeds are dropped for future installments , I may be being presumptuous this early in , but I can't help thinking something about Kate's blood. Kate has a secret that she is keeping close to her.

Will I be right??

I am looking forward to watching Kate's character grow and seeing what she has to show me. I know she is going to be one kickass leading lady and I can't help thinking that Curran will be quite her cup of tea.

Although the first book in this series didn’t grab me like other UF’s I have read, I am still going to devour this series as I know that the tens of thousands of happy Kate Daniel’s fans on Goodreads are...well, happy J

That's not to mention the gazillions of books sold in this series.

Onwards to Magic Burns. I am rather intrigued.

Michelle

P.s. If you pop over to Smashwords you can get for free

 Curran Vol 1

I accessed it through the link on Goodreads

It has a Curran POV scene for each of the books. I have only read Magic Bites and Magic Burns .

I read both those POV's and really enjoyed them.

2 Great scenes were chosen.