Review: Magic Bites

Magic Bites

By:  Ilona Andrews

Publisher:  Ace

Publish Date:  March 2007

Format:  Paperback, UK trade, 260pgs

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  1st book in Kate Daniels series

Recommendation:  Yes, you got mystery mixed with a whole magic filled world.  What else screams Urban Fantasy?

Book Synopsis:
Atlanta would be a nice place to live if it wasn't for the magic...

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear while guns fail to fire and cars refuse to start.  But then technology returns and the magic fades 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 a living cleaning up those 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 shape-changers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings - and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery.  As Kate's pressured by both sides to find the killer, she realises she's way out of her league - but she wouldn't have it any other way.

First Sentence:
I sat at a table in my shadowy kitchen, staring down a bottle of Boone's Farm Hard Lemonade, when a magic fluctuation hit.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Kate works for the Mercenary Guild, when magic causes troubles and the cops can't or won't tend to it the Mercenary Guild is hired to do the work, and wants nothing to do with The Order a close friend, of her deceased father, has asked her to join.  Sitting in her kitchen drinking magic kicks in and Kate receives a visit from a vampire controlled by Ghastek who leaves Kate wondering about the dear friend of her family, Greg.  Making a quick call she finds he was murdered and the mystery starts.  Kate wants to investigate Greg's, the now late Knight-Diviner of The Order, death.  She finds it easy to sit in his seat as she is hired to investigate by The Order, maybe too easy.  It seems Greg thought to include Kate in his strong protection spells on his office and left clues in his notes on an investigation he was working on.  Kate now carrying the power in the name of The Order, now gets to meet supernatural people in high positions no one else meets.  To find Greg's killer and maybe finish the case he started, all to hear about other deaths...

First I have to name drop... Melissa of Mel's Random Reviews is so kind, she gifted this book to me for celebrating the blogoversery this past summer.  Then I got kicked in the arse to read this book... thank you... Bastard Books, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Dina James... seriously I did enjoy it and rushed to order Magic Burns.

Kate is a no nonsense kind of girl, my kind of character really.  I love the knife yielding and the "I can kick your arse" feel I get from her.  Oh yes, she has her moments she knows she is over her head, but what I love is she does NOT let it show.  And by the end of the book I learned she is much more than simple but the best part is she is not conceded and self-centered because of it... although maybe that is why she is all kick-arse.  Hmmm...  She knows she's not an investigator, but does a fine job at it.

I enjoyed meeting Curran, but for me I loved Derek.  Oh Curran really grew on me and I loved his Alpha ways.  He has such banter with Kate that they made me chuckle as they bickered like a couple little kids.  Such a head butting here over strength and power show.  All at full gusto when these two are in the room together.  But Derek is the poor sap that got stuck in the control struggle, but he is a strong "side kick" (in a way?).  Oh and I felt bad for Crest!  But I think Derek is right in his perception of Kate and Crest's relationship... I think there is one much better suited for her... ;)  Then there is the father figure Mahon, I just wanted to hug him, I loved the rule he played.  I do want to see all these characters again!

Now, we have magic here but we also have vampires and shapeshifters. The magic world building here was a little hard to follow at moments and with the on/off but nothing to slow me down in continuing the story.  I like that vampires are a puppet type in this book.  They are controlled and used to see without leaving home, through necromancer magic by a particular group of people in this world.  The shapeshifters are very neat to see as well, and I enjoyed the way their beliefs were brought out in the book with the help of Derek.  I look forward to seeing these different pieces of the same world again, soon. 

I enjoyed the storyline here.  The mystery kept going and the pieces falling together.  I never suspected the end.  I do look forward to reading Magic Burns, which is now on my shelf to read.


I read this book for my own enjoyment.