Day 314 - Magic Bites

Magic Bites

Illona Andrews

Series or Stand Alone: Kate Daniels series, Book One

Release Date: March 2007

Publisher: Ace

Pages: 272

Author Site: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/

My Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis [from ilona-andrews.com]:

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic…

One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…

Review:

I gotta say I like Kate. She's a very mellow, down-to-earth "I-can-kick-your-ass-even-if-you-are-bigger-than-me" type of heroine. And who doesn't love fierce women?? I know I do! Set in future Atlanta, this world is not only full of your normal paranormal creatures but is full of magic as well. A magic that plagues the world in waves and disables everything that involves technology including cars, planes, and even weapons. The magic feeds off technology and has even taken hearty bites out of the sturdiest man-made buildings all around the city. Kate is a Magic Guild mercenary who cleans up after magic goes wrong or someone misuses it. After discovering that her Guardian has been murdered she makes it her personal mission to find out who killed him and why. Hopefully she can get some revenge on the SOB who did it while she's at it.

While searching for the murderer, Kate unravels a whole mess of trouble as shapeshifters and vampires are being killed off. Seems a war might just break out between the Pack (weres) and the People (vampires) if Kate can't find out who the killer is.

Kate's world is an entirely different setup than most books I've read that leans more on the fantasty side, in my opinion. The concepts are highly original and detailed. Kate's power is mysterious and the reader is given hints throughout the story at how strong she may truly be. The book was wrapped up quite nicely but of course there are still questions at the end and I'm excited to get those answered in the next book. Which I'm sure will in turn give me more questions =) That's the way of the series book.

If the world building and unique magic vs. technology thing doesn't grab you than the characters will. Kate is a reluctant heroine that has trouble getting along with others, especially authority. The other charcters you meet will definitely intrigue you. I recommend anyone that is a fan of fantasy and paranormal books to definitely give this one a go if you haven't yet. There's even a smidge of romance between Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts... you know a title like that makes you curious...