Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
by Ilona Andrews
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Book Reviews of Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
Book Review: The book bites, not magic bites, I bought it only because of Patricia Briggs' recommendation on the cover.
Summary: 1 Stars
This book violates all the basic rules of romance novels.
1. There is No romance in it. Lots of nausea-inducing sexual inuendoes/curses. The only character who was interested in Kate Daniels, a human male named for toothpaste, Crest, was finally turned off by her alien ways when he says, "Do I have to be a monster for you to want to f--- me?"
2. The central character, Kate Daniels has no redeeming qualities. She is mean, crude and stupid. She tells us that she deliberately eschews all feminine dress and adornment so she can be a warrior, but keeps a long braid. In her line of work, she acknowledges that a braid is handy for bad guys to grab her, but intentionally keeps her hair long. How dumb is that? There are a lot of ways to keep yourself feminine without providing the enemy with a convenient handle to grab you in a fight. Her sword, Slayer, is taller than she is. That is ridiculous for a warrior to have a weapon that is so unwieldy and difficult to hide. She drinks way too much and yet when danger hits, she is immediately sober. NOT! She acknowledges how dumb it is for her to insult and revile the person she needs answers from, but she does it anyway over and over again. How dumb is that? In the end, Kate finds out that the ultimate baddie had on page 37 of 260, himself given her the answer to the mystery which she and her "allies" were searching for. But she ignored it and took many trips down rabbits holes for nothing but more killing and mayhem. How dumb is that?
3. The gore and mayhem is way over the edge. I guess I am not a horror fan, and I put up with gore for a good paranormal romance read, but there are so many scenes in this book that are beyond the pale. An example, Kate takes the head of one of her vanquished out of her bag of dead parts, puts it on a platter, sprinkles necromancer herbs and speaks voo doo over it and it comes to ghastly life, oozing and decomposing in graphic ugliness while it answer's Kate's questions. YUCK.
4. The villains are so completely over the top that it is all shock, revulsion and repulsion. The ultimate baddie that Kate is after hunts, kills and feeds on the dead of any species. Fully engorged with such bloody gore, the baddie further kidnaps young women, rapes them and eats the raped victims, then the baddie mates with animals and they give birth to more clones of himself which start the cycle of evil all over again.
I think it is cheating to write a review when a reader did not finish the book. I finished it so I could write this short review to spare other readers to forgive Patricia Briggs' positive words on the cover and avoid the tedious, disgusting, dark and unjustifiably popular horror of a book Magic Bites. The Book is what bites.
I love books and the ones I don't love, I recycle for other readers who can't afford the price, I burned this one. I have never burned a book before in my life....until reading this.
Book Review: Now this is magic!
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine. Living in a time where magic surrounds a whole city, where paranormal activities are common part of life. Electric bulbs explode, phones don't work and fluorescent feylamps have been invented to cope with the hard fluctuation caused by magic. Imagine a time when a horse is a more reliable form of transportation as cars refuse to start due to... yes, magic. Welcome to futuristic Atlanta. And welcome to Kate Daniels' world.
Kate is a mercenary who gets dragged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse when her guardian is savagely murdered, thus severing the last link she has with her family. Now completely orphaned, she vows to fight the scum that killed him. However in order to do so, she must seek the help of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, in which her guardian was a divine knight. As if going back to the society that Kate once turned her back on weren't bad enough, she finds herself involved with the Pack dealing with the Master of the Beast when her investigation leads her to the possibility that the killer is a shapeshifter. The plot thickens as more of these otherworldly creatures are introduced. I believe that this is where the strength of the story shines. The characters are well thought of, fleshed out and provide a whole new dimension to this labyrinth of magic, gore and mayhem. They are not cardboard-like, seemingly miscast with no purpose.
Kate is a strong character who has her shares of vulnerabilities. One of them is her secret longing to be part of a family. But fear not as we don't see her wallowing in self-pity. She knows she has a job to do and does everything in her power to fight the monsters even if it means ruffling some feathers... or fur in the case of the Pack leader. Her interaction with Curran, the Master of the Beast, hints at a possible romance. Let us hope that the author doesn't take the same path that Hamilton did with Anita Blake.
Another fantastic aspect of the book is the concrete world-building. Ilona Andrews creates a believable futuristic Atlanta. She takes the reader in an adventurous, bumpy and terrifying ride as we see vampires and other monsters fight for supremacy in this magic-enfolded city, where people like Kate and the lycanthropes come together and battle it out with said monsters.
What a way for this author to start the series! The plot is well structured and filled with tension. The characters are well thought of and serve their purpose, adding to the magic and mystery which this book is brimming with. Magic leaps off every page and the reader actually feels transported to a whole new realm as you are sucked into this fantasy world of vampires, lycanthropes, witches and other fantastic creatures.
In summary, this was an impressive debut by Ilona Andrews and a real magical treat for dark urban fantasy readers albeit the slow start.
Book Review: This magic sucks
Summary: 1 Stars
Wow, one of the biggest disappointments I've had recently. This series has so much praise that I finally decided to give it a shot. I couldn't even finish this book. I'm on page 170 and I don't plan on reading anymore. There's so many problems here that I don't even know where to start.
Characters - where do I start? The main character carries a big sword and goes off to meet Big Powerful Men who can rip her to shreds and starts off each interaction with them by trying to pick a fight. The main cast is made up of childish alpha-males who turn into big animals (shapeshifters or "shapechangers" in this book) and vampires who are basically zombies with a capital "z," with masters who control them that have even less personality than the brainless vamps. Throw in a couple of boring office workers with titles like "knight-protector" and you have a lovely cast of characters. Or not. The only character that I found even mildly interesting was some guy who could change his physical appearance.
The Story - Kate's guardian gets killed and she wants to show off how tough she is by finding the killer. There is no emotional connection at all between the main character and her guardian that would make it believable that she would risk her life to find his killer. Except maybe that she's bored and just plain stupid. There was nothing at all interesting about this story. Imagine a bunch of zombies fighting a bunch of werewolves and the main character walking around with a glowing sword, and that's as fun as it gets here. When I found myself rolling my eyes and skimming when there was a Big Fight going on, I knew I had to stop reading this book.
Setting - Nothing at all interesting or unique about it. The "magic up, technology down" idea was interesting but nothing really interesting was done with it. It was just there, and the reader doesn't even know why. When I pick up an urban fantasy, I except there to be something cool about the world the character inhabits that would make me want to live there. This book had none of that. There was nothing fun about this alternative Atlanta. The magic was miniscule or just plain boring when it was there.
Overall, there is nothing about this world or these characters that would make me want to know more about them, or spend anymore time with them. And the sad part is that I was really excited about starting this series and loving it just as much as the people praising it. It just didn't happen for me I guess.
If you enjoy three-dimensional characters, a strong plot, and an interesting setting, or any one of these, you won't find it here. If you're really curious to read it like I was, I suggest checking it out of the local library, because I really regret spending my money on this book.
Book Review: Angieville: MAGIC BITES
Summary: 3 Stars
I tossed MAGIC BITES into my last Amazon order, mostly because of the Patricia Briggs quotes on both front and back covers as well as several positive blog reviews I'd read. One of the most fascinating things about this book is that the author's name, Ilona Andrews, is actually a combination of Ilona and Andrew Gordon's first names. They are the husband and wife team who create the Kate Daniels books. That is to say, together they come up with the characters and plot, then Ilona writes the book, and finally the two of them wrangle over editing/general clean-up. Awesome, no?
I have to say what I liked best about this first book is the crazy, psychedelic Atlanta it takes place in. This alternate city is saturated in daily waves of magic that doggedly eat away at any signs of civilization and/or technology. The city's skyscrapers are no more than dwindling piles of granite and steel. Magic and technology are basically anathema in this world and the inhabitants of Atlanta live a sort of refugee-type half life. Having adapted to the dark surges when the electricity and cars stop working and people take to horse-drawn carriages and camp stoves. During these times the supernatural rules and mere humans get by. It reminded me vaguely of the gritty, post apocalyptic world Robin McKinley created in Sunshine. The vampires share a few common characteristics as well, their extremely gruesome appearance being at the top of the list. It's nice to see someone else bucking the current beautiful and seductive trend. Not that I have anything against your run-of-the-mill sparkly vampire. It's just fun to see the ubercreepy version as well.
The reader is dropped into Kate Daniels' life without a by-your-leave. Being the somewhat cantankerous reader that I am, I like it when a book challenges me to keep up, grabs me by the throat, shakes me once, and says, "Immerse yourself or be left in the dust!" In this world where humans exist side by side with creatures straight out of mythology and nightmare, it was a treat to attempt to navigate it without having everything spoon fed to me. I like Kate. She does share some characteristics with Briggs' Mercy Thompson. She has a sense of humor and she ruthlessly guards her independence. Kate's a bit rougher around the edges than Mercy. She's had a rough past, undoubtedly, but one of the strokes of genius in this series is that the reader doesn't know what Kate is. We know she's something. But we don't know what. And Kate is determined not to tell anyone. Not even the reader. Oh, we'll find out eventually. But I'm all tingly with the mystery of Kate and her powers.
Book Review: Brilliant World Building
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. I'm speechless. I read this book in one sitting and let me say, that was some of the best world building I've read since Sabriel. And this is a debut novel. That, ladies and gentlemen, is some darn fine talent. Ilona Andrews is now on my must-buy list.
Future-day Atlanta, the world is a very different place. Magic has taken over, fluctuating in blackouts that cause technology to fail. Evil creatures walk the earth: necromancers, shapechangers, the Undead, and worse. Who you gonna call? Kate Daniels. As a mercenary-for-hire, Kate is a tough cookie, like all Urban Fantasy heroines are. Fortunately she leaves behind the leather and stilettos for more practical fighting gear, (which I loved. Sneakers all the way baby!). When Kate's guardian is murdered, the hunt for his killer leads her on a trail of dead shapechangers and vampires. She has always kept her head down and tried to keep out of sight, but now her search brings her into direct conflict with the Lord of the Shapechangers (who is of course arrogant, overbearing and sexy) and the local power-hungry necromancers. She is caught between two violent and powerful armies and frustrated by bureaucracy. She's got guts and bravado to spare, with a good helping of fighting skills and smarts too. It'll take everything she has and more to defeat the evil that is on a killing spree through the city.
As the main heroine reminds us, words are power; Ms. Andrews is powerful indeed, wielding her tools with the beauty and skill of a master artist.
"[The gloom] pooled in the corners and along the walls, lying in wait to clutch at the ankles of an unwary passerby, (p29)."
"He seemed to shrug off the sun's rays-not a man, but a rectangle of darkness cut in the shroud of sunlight, (p35)."
She sprinkles her descriptions with a dose of humor as well.
"He wore a dark gray shirt, black jeans, tucked in soft boots, and a black cloak that wanted very much to be a cape, (p35)."
I especially like the descriptions of how magic has acted on the once-mighty buildings of human civilization, eating them from the most powerful on down, until little is left but hulking ruins. I can't find the exact passage. You'll have to take my word for it, or better yet read it yourself. Her language and style are quite amazing. It's a violent, action-packed story, as much UF is. Expect horror, not romance. But the world building is really something else. Recommended for anyone who likes sci-fi/fantasy and especially for Urban Fantasy fans.