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 Silvara on

3 of 5 stars

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"What kind of a woman greets the Beast Lord with 'here, kitty, kitty'?"



I love how sarcastic and funny Kate is. She knows how she should act around vampires and werewolves, but she doesn't always do so. Especially around the Beast Lord. She makes mistakes and owns up to them. She admits she is lonely, but she is also unafraid to call the men in her life on the stupid things they sometimes do. She has lines she will not cross, and she also has a strong sense of right and wrong. She has a magic sword that actually drools.

I also was amused by the fact she chose to sit on her porch and get drunk at one point. Daring the bad guys to appear by the very fact that she was drunk enough to have slower reflexes.

Curran, the Beast Lord was arrogant, dismissive and violent among other things. Part of it fit because he is THE Beast Lord. All other shapeshifters bow to him, no matter their species. But some of the power plays he did were fairly silly since Kate is not a shifter. He needs to tone it down a notch or three unless the secret is that Kate will end up the Beast Lady at some point? I don't know, I haven't read the synopsis of the other books. But even so. I did like him, and his sparring with Kate was some of the best funny moments in the book.

I didn't guess who the bad guy was. Partly because I was distracted by Kate and Curran. Partly because I wasn't trying to figure it out. The ride to get to the end of the book was too amusing, and the fact Kate was so bad (and supposed to be so bad) at figuring out the mystery helped suspend my curiosity about who was ultimately responsible.

If you like urban fantasy with smart-mouthed characters you need to try this book.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 September, 2015: Finished reading
  • 27 September, 2015: Reviewed