Magic Binds (Kate Daniels, #9)

by Ilona Andrews

Mercenary Kate Daniels knows all too well that magic in post-Shift Atlanta is a dangerous business. But nothing she's faced could have prepared her for this. Kate and the former Beast Lord Curran Lennart are finally making their relationship official. But there are some steep obstacles standing in the way of their walk to the altar. Kate's father, Roland, has kidnapped the demigod Saiman and is slowly bleeding him dry in his never-ending bid for power. A Witch Oracle has predicted that if Kate marries the man she loves, Atlanta will burn and she will lose him forever. And the only person Kate can ask for help is long dead. The odds are impossible. The future is grim. But Kate Daniels has never been one to play by the rules ... --

• ISBN10: 0425270696
• ISBN13: 9780425270691
• Publish Date: 20 September 2016
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 29 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Ace Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[booksandcats]

Amazing book, one of the best in the series, which is impressive when it's the 9th book and not a final one. You will see many side story lines to a satisfying and quite surprising point, that ties in greatly with the main plot (looking at you, Christopher).

I really like how we can see Kate's development over the whole series(and the other Characters as well, but mostly her because her development is the biggest I think), how she has grown in Power, how she has to deal with it, with the implications, with her new social rank (so to speak) and with her new Relationships. It is amazing how she has changed so much and the authors have still managed to keep her Charakter, to let her stay "herself". If you read book 1 again, she is so different in how she leads, how she interacts with other People, and how she uses her Powers, but at the same time, you can still clearly see her, her Character and everything that makes her Kate. That is an impressive thing to master as an author.

Aside from that, I absolutely adore Kate anyway, just her sarcasm and wit and how she can see the biggest catastrophe and the first thing that goes through her mind is a sarcastic, snarky comment. This book could be very heavy and dark, with her having to fight against a future where her husband and/or her baby get killed, all whilst feeling overwhelmed and alone due to her new rising Powers. But with her comments and thoughts it is assured that it never gets to heavy, which I admire.

As said above, I like how they handled the side Characters and subplots, I greatly adore both Christopher and Roman and like where things are going with them. The only thing I did not like is how Jim was acting, but since it was in Character with how he was acting throughout the whole book I'm mostly alright with it. He has always put Pack and his interests first and to be honest, he was always a pretty crappy friend. Kate said it in this book, and it was said in Jims novella as well, he cares only about Dali, he isn't able to trust anyone else. I did like how Mahon finally came around, he was so annoying and judgmental in the last book (again, fine with it cause it was in character), but I guess the whole drama finally made him think and correct his ways. I also like that there seem the be more room for Ghastek in the future, he is an interesting Character, with so many different sides that can be explored still.

I enjoyed how the situation with Roland was handled, how Kate was able to deepen her relationship with her father and how it was made clear that he really did care about her in his own way, but that he just couldn't change (or didn't want to). I loved Erra, how she was also able to put so many things that he did into perspective a bit, and mostly not for the better. Everyone is always picking on Kate, her father included, saying how she should know this, or do that and her responsibilities, but she has never been taught anything. Roland should have done that. What he is doing, letting her claim such a huge territory, claim the land next to her, challenge her is basically torture to Kate, driving her mad. And it is Erra who shows her that shows her how to overcome it. I really really liked her character, I'm not even mad that she came back from the dead. I like how she is equally as sarcastic and snarky as Kate and how she never sugarcoats anything, but also how she protects Kate and stands up for her. That is the one thing I get mad at so often in these books. Kate let's people offend her, talk shit about her and takes it so often. I get that she was trained and conditioned to do exactly that, to never show her true Power and status, but it gets infuriating when she doesn't seem to see that she has the right to defend herself, when people talk shit about her or directly to her face. There are several scenes in this book where Erra calls them out and it is glorious.

So, I know many people didn't like the book where Curran and Kate go to Europe, and I get why, but seriously, don't give up on this series just because of that one book, it gets better than ever before!

Ps: the only thing that really really bugd me: Dali was Kate's maid of honor? Did I read that right? DALI? How the f*** did Dali end up as Kate's maid of Honor and not Andrea? WTH?

[Chelsea]

Accidentally read this one before book 8 (oops) but still enjoyed it just the same. I’m disappointed I’ll have to go back a book before seeing how this series wraps up though. My only complaint was that the “battle” in this book was a little disappointing. It only lasted a few pages and There’s was nothing too dramatic about it. Hopefully the next book is a little more intense.

[Mercy]

3.5/5

It was going really well but that ending felt a bit off. Too rushed and the epilogue wasn't exciting to read. :(

[celinenyx]

There is just so much going on in these books. Action, mythology, character development... Reading a Kate Daniels novel is always a treat.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Like most urban fantasy it is essential to read the Kate Daniels series in order, or as I prefer - grab your earbuds and listen. The tales are filled with characters you will love and hate making each read engaging. I love the relationship between Curran and Kate. It is full of snark, bite and swoony-worthy moments.

Magic Binds was interesting in that we both learn about Kate's father Roland and watch as Kate tries to outwit the Oracle's prediction. To handle both her father and change her fate she enlists the help of others giving readers a fantastic treat. Kate and Roland's backstory and those of their ancestors are shared. It was brilliant and otherworldly! Andrews continues to impress me with how far reaching and developed their characters and world are.

It was hard seeing Kate struggle, just once I would love for her to enjoy a quiet afternoon. I cannot imagine she ever spends an afternoon reading in the sun. She is struggling with who she is, and we see developments as she struggles with her abilities. She is so fearful of becoming her father. Her struggles felt real, and I help my breath as she made choices. Some of the battle scenes were so incredible, I honestly rewound my player and listened again. I loathed the tension between Curran and Kate, but we all know how stubborn they both are. Grab a few truffles.

ARC developments will delight fans. We finally find out WHAT Christopher is and get happy news about Andrea and Raphae. We also get wonderful moments and humor between characters. Gads I love the humor from Kate's witty one-liners to the teasing. Characters made me grind my teeth, and others had me laughing so hard I had tears. Teasers have me chomping at the bit for my next Daniel's fix!

Audio provided by publisher, This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

If you know me, then you know this series usually ranks number one or two on my favorite series lists. I’ve been following it for many years. It is a series that I started off reading, but then as soon as I listened to the first book on audio (no idea which book it was. It even could’ve been starting over with book one for a revisit), I’ve been a diehard audio only for this series ever since. I’m as big of a Renee Raudman fan as I am of Ilona Andrews. They are the perfect pair (triangle?? LOL) of author and narrator. When I heard that the audiobook was going to be late because of a schedule conflict with Raudman, of course I was a bit disappointed, but then she is allowed to have a life outside of narrating Ilona Andrews books. I’m so glad that the writing pair agreed it was better to wait on Raudman than get a new narrator. That would’ve been such a HUGE bummer.

Anyway, if you haven’t read the Kate Daniels series, then here’s a bit of a background. In her world of a kinda dystopian Atlanta, magic and tech are fighting each other. Magic comes in waves and knocks out everything that it deems “man-made”. Skyscrapers have fallen. Gasoline engines don’t run when magic is up, so they have enchanted water engines. But if tech is up, these water engines won’t run, so some cars have both. Many people have also gone back to animal transportation. There are shifters of many kind, witches, monsters of all kinds and vampires. The vampires in this book are completely different than anything I’ve read before. They are completely mindless and hunger driven. However, there are navigators who can take over the vamps minds and send them out on tasks. These people are part of a group call The People. Okay, that is about as simplistic as I can make it, but it is way more complex that this.

This is a series that has been getting better with every book. No, really, each book is better than the previous book. Kate’s world is full of many different kinds of horror. But, her and her friends/family have learned to live within this world. And I will say, things are not easy for them. This version of Atlanta always seems to be in some kind of peril. Kate has a ton of magic that she’s hidden for years, but she continues to let more and more of it out in order to save her friends. She’s one of those characters who will walk through hell for you if she calls you a friend.

In this story, we learn a lot about Kate’s family history. Her father is more in the picture. Roland is not a good guy, but he can play one when he wants to. He does like to show is true colors when he wants to.

One of my favorite parts of this story is the fact that Kate and Curran are finally going to get married. They’ve asked a friend to officiate the wedding. Roman, the priest of Chernobog, the Russian dark god. Some think Roman is evil, and many even question Kate and Curran’s decision to have him officiate the wedding. Personally, I’ve always like Roman. I like him even more after this book.He takes it upon himself to not only officiate, but also plan the wedding. That leads to some great hilarity as Kate wants nothing to do with planning. She has more important things going on, like fighting with her father and preventing some visions from coming true.

So as not to spoil anything, I will just say that this is another really fun, action packed installment in the series. Kate has a lot of battles to fight, not just with the enemy, but also within herself. There is some news from Andrea and Raphael. There is a lot we learn about Christopher. There is stuff about the wedding (so much fun).

This is a series that I love because of the banter and the characters. Every time I start a new book in this series, I come to love some of the characters even more. Some really piss me off. And some don’t make it and others make it and you have no idea how they got themselves out of the mess they were in. I’m on pins and needles with every book, in a great way. I’m so excited to see where the story goes from here. Now to leave you with some great quotes from the book, because this is one of those books that always has way more quotes than I could put into a single review.

“Hypothetically speaking,” Robert said, “if the attack happens, and Roland retaliates, what will you do about it?”
“She is a princess of Shinar.” My aunt burst into existence in the middle of the kitchen. “It is by the grace of her mercy you are still breathing.”
Robert stumbled back. Raphael’s hands went to his knives. Andrea bared her teeth, cradling Baby B. You could hear a pin drop.
“I have family in town for the wedding,” I said into the silence. “My aunt, Eahrratim, the Rose of Tigris.”
Curran covered his face with his hand.

I hung up and opened the envelope. Inside on a crisp piece of paper embossed with roses and outrageously curvy cursive said, With great pleasure we invite you to the union of Kate Daniels and Curran Lennart. “What is this?”
“It’s a wedding invitation,” Julie said.
“I didn’t order any.”
Julie grinned at me. “Roman.”
“Oh, that’s right.” I waved the envelope at her. “It has flowers on it.”
“Did you want gore, swords and severed heads?” she asked.
Smartass.

Narration
Renee Raudman continues to nail this series. I love the many (and there are many characters in this series) voices that she uses for this series. Each person’s voice is unique. There are accents, there are growly alpha male shifters, there is the snark that goes on inside Kate’s head, not to mention what comes out of her mouth. Raudman narrates all of Ilona Andrews series, and I’m so happy about that. She really understands what Andrews is going with their stories. If you haven’t tried this series on audio, then you really must give it a shot.

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Magic Binds has action at break-neck speed, and still managed to be one of the most romantic and sweet installment in the series at the same time!



As always, Kate Daniels is epic! Magic Binds moves forward very nicely, and some loose ends are tied up, while new ones are being made. I loved that Kate was doubting things because of her connection with the land. Feeling the magic get stronger, and how it was sometimes difficult to stay human with all that power, and how Curran was able to anchor her when she could have gone completely mad with it.

Magic Binds includes Kate and other characters' trademark humor, some serious hotness, epic battles, a lot of deceit, secrets and over all, loyalty. It is such a pleasure to open a book in this series, because all my reading quirks are satisfied. Kate is strong, but not afraid to ask for help, or even lean on others. The romance is extremely well done, and very realistic, especially now that Curran and Kate have been together for a while. The side characters continue to grow at the same pace as the main characters do. I can't find a single thing I didn't love here!

Written in both third and firs person, past tense, and peppered with awesome dialogues, Magic Binds is pretty much perfect in my opinion. All the ingredients for an amazing paranormal read are present, plus a few surprises that I might not have expected, but that made me salivate and want more... always want more.



"I'll tell dear old Dad you're sorry you missed him."
Behind Curran, Eduardo snorted.
Curran bared his teeth. "Not as sorry as he'll be if I have to come back and see him."
"Hey, Daniels," Ella called out. "Bring us back some cookies."
"What makes you think there will be cookies?"
"When I go home to see my parents, there are always cookies."
If Roland did have cookies, they'd probably make me spit fire. "I'll see what I can do."


"Again, this wedding is for me and Curran. You're not turning it into a three-ring circus."
"No." Roman got up off his chair. "The wedding night is for you and Curran. The wedding is for everyone else and it's the price you pay so you can get to the wedding night. Don't worry. I'll take care of everything. Anyway, we have bigger problems. The Witch Oracle wants to see you."

[MurderByDeath]

Well.  That was a pretty big bucket of awesome.  I don't even know where to begin.

Things I liked about this book:

Kate.  She's always great but this time she's forced to confront herself; to analyse what she's doing and own it without being able to snark her way out of it.  It was interesting.  It was also, at times, frightening.  I generally don't like team writing because it's so often obvious where one writer ends and another begins.  So not so here.  Kate's descents into her scary place were so subtle and seamless.  It was brilliant, really.  I'd be reading along thinking Kate is being normal, normal, normal, wtf did she just say??

Christopher.  Well, talk about two sides of the same coin.  Again, brilliant.  Also: yeee-ikes.

Erra.  God help me I like her.  She's vicious and I definitely wouldn't want her at my holiday dinners, but I enjoy her moral consistency.  Her wit, too, and when she slapped Kate upside the head, I laughed.

Roland.  God forgive me, but I find him fascinating.  His rationalisations remain almost flawlessly logical (he argued himself into a corner on that balcony though) and it's obvious the authors have put a lot of philosophical and theological thought and research into the writing.  Roland isn't justabout power and he's a beautifully cautionary tale of how morally corrupt good intentions can become.

Roman.  Didn't like him before, but I love him now and his family dynamic is hilarious.  So was that swamp scene with him and Aspid.

Curran, Julie and Derek were all themselves in this book, but they didn't have much of the spotlight this time around; this was truly about Kate.  Although the Andrews certainly left me hanging about with saber-toothed tiger...

What I didn't like.

Nothing.  I disliked nothing about this book.  I was disgusted by Jim and I'm not sure Adora was all that necessary but what do I know about the plotting of a fantastic UF series?  Nothing.

Bring on book 10...

[EBookObsessed]

You will remember at the end of Magic Shifts that Kate got a flash of what the witch oracle wasn’t telling her about Roland and his plan for Kate’s future. Think about it…okay!

As we head into Magic Binds, Curran is working to whip the new Guild into shape and even creating his own elite tactical team and Kate, Curran and Julie are settling into their new lives quite well. They have set a date for the wedding and have asked the volhv, Roman, to officiate. This brings a certain comic relief throughout the story since Roman is so excited to be a part of the wedding, he has taken over as wedding planner and shows up at the most inopportune times to discuss fittings, flowers, invites, etc. with Kate.

Comic relief is necessary since things between Roland and Kate are starting to become a problem. Roland is pushing at the borders of Atlanta as a test. He has also been talking to Julie behind Kate’s back with thoughts of making her his next warlord now that he has sent Hugh d’Ambray away. (You know we haven’t seen the last of Hugh. He doesn’t like being foiled and then pushed aside.) When Roland grabs Saimon, a citizen of Atlanta, Kate can no longer sit back. Roland has all but declared war against Kate. She and Saimon are no longer friends but if she let’s it go, he will continue his subtle attacks.

Kate has also found out that her father has created his own secret militia. Highly trained with weapons and magic, these zealots believe that a special place in heaven awaits them for killing or dying on behalf of Roland. When Kate comes across one of his warriors, Kate’s anger becomes so great, she breaks her father’s blood bond in an “in your face Roland” move, except the warrior is now bonded to Kate. Using her blood to bond someone to her is that line in the sand never to be crossed for Curran. Avoiding Curran only pushes off the inevitable confession, but they are both busy keeping the world from imploding and prepping for a wedding which might not happen now.

But Kate hasn’t forgotten the single biggest issue — Roland is centuries older and more powerful than Kate. She can’t win in a head to head battle against him. Worse, the witch oracle has seen one of two futures for Kate: she marries Curran and he will die in battle, or she doesn’t marry Curran and her loss is even greater.

A battle is inevitable and no matter what Kate will lose everything. Kate can’t win in the future being seen by the oracle so Kate needs to change the future to change the outcome, and she will get help from the most unlikely of allies.

Magic Bind brings back the excitement to the series as a battle between Roland and Kate seems inevitable. Changes come to not only Kate, Curran and Julie but several other characters. Like Magic Breaks, there will be series changing revelations, some friendships torn apart and an ultimate battle and an ending that will leave us screaming, “I can’t wait another year!”