Review- Magic Bites

How much am I in love with Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series?  It's taking every ounce of strength I have not to start on the next book right away and write this review instead.  Daniels and her cast of quirky characters have a new fan....ME!


Kate Daniels is an Order drop-out turned mercenary for hire.  After discovering her mentor and father-figure,Greg Feldman, was murdered she is determined to catch/kill the person responsible.  She is thrown into a world that consists of vampires who are not pretty, shapeshifters who are ruled by a merciless King, and Zombies hunting for their next victim.   

Imagery can be hard to accomplish for me, but that wasn't the case here.  Ilona Andrews has created a world so rich in imagination that it felt like I was watching a shiny, new Sci-Fi film.  Kate's Atlanta is an almost post apocalyptic world (although we're never told about this world's doomsday) where technology and magic are constantly battling for control.  I thought it was hilarious that one minute they're using futuristic methods to solve crime and the next they're riding horses around because cars wont work.


Kate Daniels is a rare narrator.  She's smart and funny, and shows confidence while being vulnerable, giving her such human characteristics I had to remind myself that she's not real.  

"I knew what he meant. He was describing that moment when you realize that you are lonely.  For a time you can be alone and doing fine and never give a thought to living any other way and then you meet someone and suddenly you become lonely.  It stabs at you, almost like a physical pain, and you feel both deprived and angry, deprived because you wish to be with that person and angry, because their absence brings you misery."

Throughout the story we're introduced to a slew of unique characters.  Often with me, the addition of too many characters can weigh down a story, but Andrews must have some magic spell that makes her immune to this problem, because each new character that popped up pushed the story further instead of holding it back.  


I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book.  It is visionary without being confusing.  It has unforgettable characters.   And my only complaint... it wasn't long enough.  


4.5 out of 5