Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1)

by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring the intriguing fantasy world of mercenary Kate Daniels…

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...

Reviewed by Angie on

2 of 5 stars

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Magic Bites is a book that I've wanted to read for a long time, but just never got to it until now. And now, I'm sadly disappointed. It jumps straight into the action, which normally isn't a bad thing, but in this case I needed some build up. Kate's guardian has just been murdered and she's dead set on discovering who did it and then killing them. But I don't know Kate. I don't know Greg. And I certainly don't know the nature of their relationship. How am I suppose to care about what happened to him?

I wanted to like Magic Bites, but I just never got into it. Kate is a down on her luck mercenary who takes care of magical problems. She's also not what she seems, even to herself. She's also no wilting flower and won't let anyone get in her way in solving this murder. But like I said, I didn't care. This was an emotional thing for Kate, but I had no attachment to her after five pages. I still didn't feel anything for her by the end either. I was just reading to be reading.

What I did like about Magic Bites, but didn't get enough of was the world building. I love this idea of magic surging and overtaking technology. However, I was quite confused about it for much of the book. All we really get about the situation is that "magic is up, tech is down." I kept imagining magic as a solar flare that just destroyed whatever tech got in its way. I wanted to know more about why it happens and how long its been going on. It's obviously a huge deal, since there's suddenly all kinds of magical beings roaming the earth. I didn't really understand anything until I read the bonus material, which should be supplementary, not the entire explanation.

I'm just disappointed in Magic Bites. I absolutely love the idea of the base of this world, but there's not enough world-building for me to make up for the boring plot. I do want to know more though, so that might be enough for me to at least pick up the second book.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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  • Started reading
  • 11 September, 2016: Finished reading
  • 11 September, 2016: Reviewed