Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.
Kate Daniels is a favorite series of mine. It has been a long time since I revisited this series. I started off reading this series, but once I listened for the first time, I was hooked on the audiobooks. If you’ve never listened to Renée Raudman read this series (or anything really and she narrates all of Ilona Andrews books), I can’t recommend it enough. She really adds to an already amazing story.
So there is a magical flare coming to Atlanta. It has everyone on edge. The Knights of the Order are all out doing their thing to keep Atlanta safe. The People and The Pack are circling the wagons. So Kate is trying her best to do what she does.
We learn more about Kate and her past. We meet more characters that will become indispensable to the series going forward, namely Andrea and Julie, but others too. Derek, Jim, Curran and Ghastek all make appearance. We also get to meet the coven witches and the oracle.
This series is full of so many great snippets. I have to include a few, because how can I not?
The man spread his arms. I didn’t like the way he moved, either, light on his feet.
“What’s with the cute shoelace on your head?”
“What this?” He flicked the end of the cord with his finger.
“Yeah. Rambo called, he wants his bandana back.”
“This Rambo, he a friend of yours?”
“Who’s Rambo?” Julie asked.
If a cultural reference flies over a man’s head, does it make a sound if nobody else gets it? I had never managed to watch the whole movie—magic always interfered, but I had read the book. Maybe after the flare cut out and tech reasserted its dominance for a few weeks, I’d dig the minidisc out and watch the darn thing from start to finish.
Her face fell. “You’re not my mom. You can’t tell me what to do,” she said finally, but her tone signaled the end of the argument.
“I’m a substitute mom,” I told her.
“You’re more like a crazy aunt who only gets called when somebody needs bailing out of jail,” Derek said.
I pointed my finger at him. He grinned.
“Julie, until I find your real mom, I’m in charge of your safety. She loves you and she’s a good person. She deserves to be found and to have you be alright. If I found her, but something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.” And if I can’t find your mom, she would’ve wanted you to be safe.
“Derek couldn’t pick up Julie’s scent at the scene?” A slight growl of disapproval crept into his voice.
I shook my head. “The shaman used too much wolfsbane. I’ll find her. I just don’t know how yet.”
“If there is anything I can do, I’ll help. Don’t get excited. It’s not because of you. For the child. If it wasn’t for her and the flare, I’d throw your dumb ass out of this window.”
“What does the flare have to do with it?”
“I don’t want it to be attributed to a loss of control on my part. When I throw you out of the window, I want there to be no doubt the act was deliberate.”
Wow, he was pissed.