CBR15 Book 39: "Magic Claims" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 240 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: In the Wild (partly set in a big, spooky wood AND featuring shifters)

This short novel, which originally was planned as a novella (but the authors just couldn't fit all of the story into such a short format, for which their fans are grateful) is the second of the Wilmington Years stories, which could clearly also be called Kate and Curran spectacularly fail at a quiet and uneventful retirement.

In the previous story, Magic Tides, Kate has to rescue a bunch of people from a magical threat (so nothing new there), and despite her wish for anonymity becomes more noticeable in her newly adopted neighbourhood. 

In this follow-up (popularly known among fans as Magic Clams, because of frequent mis-typings of the title) Kate and Curran are approached by Edward Calloway, the great-uncle of one of the people Kate recently saved. He explains that much of their family still lives in the village of Penderton, which seems to have been more or less swallowed up by the surrounding forest. The residents there can no longer leave even if they want to, without risking death. Sinister magic users come once a year to demand a human sacrifice, and this year, they've decided to demand a rather large number of people to allow the rest of the residents to stay safe. The residents of Penderton desperately need help and are willing to pay a lot for assistance from stronger, more powerful forces than the evil in the woods (those forces being Kate and Curran). Remaining quiet and unobtrusive would mean sending a lot of people to their deaths. Our heroic couple doesn't need a lot more motivation than that. 

In addition to this new threat nearby, Kate is also faced with the arrival of two powerful individuals who used to follow Roland, her father. Now that he is locked away in a separate realm, the men want to swear fealty to Kate, his powerful daughter, and very reluctant heir. To aid them, Kate and Curran also have a group of local shapeshifters, and of course their were-lion son, Conlan. 

I never fail to be amazed at how well Ilona Andrews manages to balance action, fairly serious violence, super creepy magical threats, humour, and more quiet character moments so excellently. Having now been married for several years, it's nice to see some of Kate and Curran's domestic life and how completely comfortable they are with one another (and how proud and entirely non-threatened Curran is of his wife, an absolute powerhouse of magical talent). Kate and Curran have both been trying to do what they feel is the right thing, laying low, staying unobtrusive, and hiding their powers. When danger really threatens and they are the only ones who can help, it's quite clear that they thrive a lot more when they get to flex their unparalleled magic abilities or incredible shapeshifter fighting skills. 

Since finishing all their existing publishing contracts, the husband and wife team who make up Ilona Andrews are now free to write whatever they want and publish it at their own leisure. They don't announce what they have been working on until they're getting close to publication. It's quite clear that after some years away from the world of Kate Daniels, they now have new ideas and find it creatively interesting to play in this figurative sandbox again. In various promo interviews they did via YouTube, the couple have made it clear that for the foreseeable future, they will be working on sequels or spin-offs in the Kate Daniels universe. There's going to be at least one more story about Kate and Curran and their family in the Wilmington Years, there will finally be a new book about Hugh D'Ambray (the first book, Iron and Magic, came out in 2018) and they will be writing a follow-up to Blood Heir (or the continuing adventures of Julie and Derek, as I like to think of it). They've dropped some serious hints of what will be coming, and I am very excited to see what they come up with next. 

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is perfectly fine. Sassy-looking lady with a sword, a big ghostly lion in the background. Misty, spooky-looking woods. It fits with the themes of the previous books and is not a complete eye-sore. I'll take it. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 4: "Magic Tides" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 163 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

While this book is the start of a new chapter in the lives of Kate Daniels and her family, I suspect this book will work a lot better if you've read at least some of the previous thirteen books and various novellas. As always, I would recommend strongly skipping the first book (as do the authors themselves). Start with book 2, Magic Burns. 

Set seven years after Magic Triumphs (and about two years before the events of Blood Heir), Kate, her former Beast-Lord husband, and their extremely powerful shapeshifter son have moved to Wilmington to start a new life, determined to keep a low profile. This doesn't exactly last very long. When it turns out the nephew of their contractor has been abducted by human traffickers, Kate straps on her sword and goes to kick some ass. The boy's father accompanies her, very doubtful about this woman's promises, but after Kate beats several goons unconscious, beheads the gang leader, rescues a handful of children, and torches the compound to the ground, he's shell-shocked but a lot more optimistic.

Kate's rescue mission takes her first to the Order of Merciful Aid, and then she has to pay a visit to the vampire training ground of the People (her megalomanic magical overlord father's former minions), praying that no one there recognises her for who she really is (their now deposed and exiled god-king's even more powerful daughter) and either challenges her or decides to swear their undying allegiance to her. While Kate is off on her rescue mission, Curran and Conlan are left making sure their contractor's whole family is safe behind the walls of their fortified estate, waiting for the rest of the enraged human traffickers to show up and demand payment in blood. 

This was a very unexpected surprise from my favourite author team, announced in mid-December, only a few weeks before the actual release date. After a five-year break from the main Kate Daniels series and about two years since the first book in the sequel series about Julie, Kate's adopted daughter (all grown up and a magical powerhouse of her own), it was a delightful treat to discover that there would be a series of novellas about Kate and her family in their new home. I have said before, and will no doubt say it again, I will pre-order and probably buy in multiple formats anything that Ilona Andrews publishes. In my eyes, they can do no wrong.

As with all their books, this has an excellent mix of quips, action, strange mythological enemies, and a great family dynamic and it was just so nice to revisit already familiar characters. My reason for withholding half a star is just that I'm petty, and I wanted more than a 163-page novella. Like the rest of the Book-Devouring Horde, I'm insatiable. 

Judging a book by its cover: This fits into the other books about Kate in that it features a skinny, dark-haired chick with a sword and there's a ghostly lion on the cover as well. I did like the treasure chest of gold in the lower right corner, but generally, this slots into the many many bad covers these authors have had over the years. I get that it's even harder to get good covers when you self-publish, but this seems pretty generic. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR13 Book 2: "Blood Heir" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 359 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Info to new readers - while this is the first book in a new series, and as such, should be perfectly accessible to readers completely unaware of Ilona Andrews' previous books, it references A LOT of stuff that happened in the ten-book Kate Daniels series, as well as in Iron and Magic, a spin-off book of that series. I would highly recommend that you start there. 

Aurelia Ryder arrives back in Atlanta after an eight-year absence, trying to keep her presence mostly under the radar. The last time she was in the city, her name was Julie Olsen Lennart, adopted daughter of magical powerhouse Kate Daniels and the former Beast Lord of the Atlanta pack, Curran Lennart. Now there's a sinister prophecy requiring her return, but she can't see her family or let them know she's there, or Kate is destined to die. Aurelia/Julie needs to look into the grisly death of a clergyman and stop a malevolent magical force from gaining a foothold in Atlanta. 

Of course, going back to her old home means stirring up a lot of old memories, and she runs into a lot of familiar faces along the way. Julie Olsen was known and loved by many, Aurelia Ryder is an unknown entity and there are a lot of people who are curious as to her origins and reasons for suddenly appearing in Atlanta, fighting monsters, and trying to right wrongs. Thankfully, after her eight years away, Julie doesn't just have a new name, she has a different face and is quite the magical force to be reckoned with herself. She doesn't intend any harm to come to her family, even if they can't know she's protecting them.

This novel started as free snippets posted on Ilona Andrews' website because a Covid nurse e-mailed them and asked for something to read to take her mind off her gruelling work schedule. A few years back, in 2018, having finished the Kate Daniels series, the husband and wife team who make up Ilona Andrews considered doing a spin-off about Julie, Kate's adopted daughter, but were a bit bored with the world and its characters and needed a break for a while. This nurse's request seems to have made them revisit their already established paranormal fantasy world, moving the action eight years after the end of their last book, and switching to a different protagonist. A lot of the characters Aurelia/Julie interacts with and encounters over the course of the book first appeared in the Kate Daniels books, and while there is a lot of information given about the world, the magic system, the complex politics that keep it running, I suspect a reader would be a lot more comfortable having read at least some of the previous series before starting this one.

After a few months of posting partial chapters every week, when it became clear that this could actually be fashioned into a whole book fit for publication, the authors removed the free snippets and retooled the stuff they'd already written into an exciting, action-packed novel. The work they started on the website needed some major rewrites to work properly as a full book and I, for one, am happy with the wait as it seems we may be getting a whole new series out of it.

I know a lot of people found Julie a bit annoying as a supporting character in the Kate books. I never had a major problem with her, and teenagers are always difficult characters to write at the best of times. The protagonist of this book, Aurelia/Julie is a battle-hardened young woman who's been trained in both the magical and martial arts by true experts, and her involuntary physical changes have come about after long periods of pain and self-sacrifice. She loves her family and won't let any harm come to them, even if it pains her not to see her parents after a long absence. 

Aurelia/Julie has to solve a series of gruesome supernatural murders and prevent the demonic avatar of an ancient god from taking over Atlanta and claiming her in the bargain. She works with the Knights of the Order of Merciful Aid, and also has run-ins with old acquaintances from the Atlanta Pack of shapeshifters. Very unexpectedly, Julie also finds herself face to face with her old crush, Derek Gaunt, now also massively changed and back in Atlanta after years away. Now an actual honest to goodness princess and warrior in her own right, Julie believed herself to be over Derek, but every encounter they have proves to her that he's still someone who can make her far too flustered. She's sure he has no idea who Aurelia Ryder really is, though, and since the most expedient way to solve the murders seems to be working with him, she keeps finding herself in close contact with the wolf shifter, bantering and fighting.

There's a lot of set-up in this book, and it ends on a cliff hanger, so I certainly hope the authors are intending to continue this series for at least another book or two. I would obviously have liked more romance between Julie and Derek, but considering the authors dragged out Kate and Curran's courtship over two-three books, I guess it was overly optimistic that everything was going to be wrapped up with a neat little bow after just one book. 

If you're a fan of Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels books, you are sure to enjoy this book too. It felt very comforting to be back in a world I already knew well, seeing it through the eyes of a different character. It was obviously also nice to see how life had changed for a lot of the old fan favourites from the earlier series. I pre-ordered this, and it seems to be selling well. Fingers crossed that it's the start of a series, not a rather tantalising one-off. 

Judging a book by its cover: I feel like the only time ever that Ilona Andrews gets nice cover art is when they commission it themselves. To be fair (as well as the other picture of Julie as a Princess of Shinar that the very talented Luisa Preissler drew and which is also included in the book) may be one of my favourite cover images of any paranormal fantasy book I own. Which is funny, because White Hot is probably the most eye-gougingly bad book cover of any I own. Not many authors have such a breadth of cover art. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.  

#CBR10 Book 84: "Magic Triumphs" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 5 stars

#CBR10Bingo: This is the end

This is the tenth and final book in a long running series. As such, there may be spoilers for the contents of at least previous books, as well as mild spoilers for the plot of this one. More importantly, it is NOT the place to start. The proper place to begin is Magic Bites. The book is a bit rough, but stick with it, this series is among the best paranormal fantasy out there.

I've spent more than eleven hours on a train from Canada today, and then more than an hour getting back from Penn Station, so I'm going to just cut and paste the official blurb here, because my brain is too muddled to come up with a decent summary of my own:

Kate has come a long way from her origins as a loner taking care of paranormal problems in post-Shift Atlanta. She's made friends and enemies. She's found love and started a family with Curran Lennart, the former Beast Lord. But her magic is too strong for the power players of the world to let her be.

Kate and her father, Roland, currently have an uneasy truce, but when he starts testing her defenses again, she knows that sooner or later, a confrontation is inevitable. The Witch Oracle has begun seeing visions of blood, fire, and human bones. And when a mysterious box is delivered to Kate's doorstep, a threat of war from the ancient enemy who nearly destroyed her family, she knows their time is up.

Kate Daniels sees no other choice but to combine forces with the unlikeliest of allies. She knows betrayal is inevitable. She knows she may not survive the coming battle. But she has to try.

For her child.

For Atlanta.

For the world.

I've been reading these books for nearly a decade (started the series in 2009), so it's a rather bittersweet thing to finally get to the end. Nevertheless, it was time for Kate and Curran's adventures to reach an end point, but the authors leave the door open for further adventures in the universe they've created. Already promised - two more books about Hugh and Elara (intriguingly set BEFORE their appearance in this one. While there were some things I didn't think worked so well, and the pacing of the plot is uneven (the ending feels really rather rushed), but overall, I thought this was an incredibly satisfying final chapter to the series.

Things I thought could have been done better:
- While I really like that the authors subverted the readers' expectations by having our intrepid heroes facing off against a different big bad than we'd been led to believe, it might have been good to drop hints about the existence and possibility of said threat somewhat earlier in the series (and no, hinting at the ultimate villain's henchpeople and creatures in the first Hugh book is not enough, as not everyone will necessarily have read that one).
- The whole subplot with the realtors constantly calling Kate and Curran and them getting increasingly more annoyed was a cute gag that was taken too far. That whole story line could have been cut without any of the overall plot suffering.
- I also agree with my fellow Cannonballer Emmalita that questioning whether the Pack (now led by Jim) would even for a second consider allying with Roland is dumb, because the answer to that question was always going to be no.

Things I really liked:
- Conlan (while my husband and I agree that it's not a great name) was a delight. Ilona Andrews, in my opinion, excel at writing children without ever turning them into annoying plot moppets. A precocious toddler who's also a giant kitten was always going to appeal to me, but Kate as a frazzled mother was extra enjoyable now that I myself have a child (who thankfully can barely wiggle across the floor when put down, although he flops from back to belly like a champ).
- The resolution of Kate's whole Roland problem. The book was never going to end with Kate nobly sacrificing herself to kill her dad, and the way the authors found a solution to neutralise Roland for good was a creative one.
- Hugh and Elara's appearance. I've always liked Hugh, even when he was the villain. Now that he pretty much fulfils the role of Kate's older brother in her super dysfunctional family dynamic, I like him even more.
- The fact that even though there's not one, but two, really very serious threats facing Kate and her people, the book didn't feel too dark and there were enough light hearted and funny moments along the way.

While I'm sad that the series is at an end, I'm glad the final volume was a satisfying one, wrapping up most of the loose ends, while still leaving enough things open to write potential spin-offs further down the line. I'm also very glad that there are more Hugh books, as well as Hidden Legacy books from the authors in the near future.

Judging a book by its cover: As Kate Daniels covers go, this isn't bad, but really, this series is not blessed with decent cover art at any point, and I have genuinely lost count of how many different dark haired women with a sword who have portrayed Kate on these covers by now.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Books 66-78: "The Kate Daniels series books 1-9", "Magic Gifts", "Gunmetal Magic", "Magic Stars" and "Iron and Magic" by Ilona Andrews

Total page count: 3747 pages

#CBR10Bingo: Throwback Thursday

Spoiler warning! This is my re-read of the first nine books in the Kate Daniels series, in addition to the two books books set in the same universe, Gunmetal Magic and Iron and Magic, as well as two of the more essential novellas to complete my revisit of the complex and fascinating world that Ilona Andrews have created. If you read through this review, I will assume you are familiar with the series already.

If you haven't read the books yet, but are looking for a good introduction, check out Den of Geek's very cool article here.

Magic Bites - rating: 3.5 stars

This is the first novel that husband and wife duo Ilona Andrews ever published. They've said several times that it's rough, and this is certainly true. When recommending the series (which I've done to SO many people) I always insist that said person read books 1 and 2 before making up their mind about the series, as it really just isn't fair to judge the series on just this first effort from the writers.

The main problem with the book is that Kate, our protagonist, doesn't feel quite like herself yet. She's a bit too much of the stubborn loner and her absolute refusal to trust or work with anyone else is the reason it takes her much longer than necessary to solve the book's main mystery and figure out who the nasty kidnapper/murderer is.

Nevertheless, much of the Andrews' excellent world building is already in place. The post-apocalyptic Atlanta, where technology and magic constantly battle to be the driving force, where there are powerful shapeshifters and magic users in society, where you can encounter all sorts of scary beasties if you're not careful and anyone who wants to survive long term should be proficient with bladed weapons or know someone who is.

While Kate doesn't feel quite right yet, a lot of the supporting characters are there pretty much from the get go. We get Kate's first meeting with Curran (who is oh so very alpha, and I can see why quite a few readers have a problem with him in the first few books), the Beast Lord who rules Atlanta's huge Pack of shapeshifters; Jim Shrapshire, Kate's sometime mercenary partner and were-jaguar. Derek, who becomes Kate's loyal sidekick as the series progresses. Saiman, the scientific expert who can twist his body into any shape, and seems determined to find one Kate finds pleasing.

This is the weakest book in the series, but it's also one of the shortest and should be read just to get a proper feel for the world Kate Daniels inhabits.

Magic Burns - 4 stars

In my mind, this is "the one with the magic flare and the legendary hunter". I suspect that if you don't like the series after finishing this book, it's just not going to be for you. So far, absolutely NO ONE I've introduced the books to (and we're talking double figures by now) has decided not to keep going after finishing book 2.

Every seven years or so, the world is overwhelmed by powerful magic flares, when magic is super strong for several days and even gods can manifest if given the right enticement. Kate is asked to help the Pack locate some stolen maps, that keep being snatched by a mysterious bowman who can appear and disappear into thin air.

Already, Kate is becoming less of an ornery loner, we are introduced to Andrea, who becomes Kate's best friend. Andrea is a petite blonde and the Order of Merciful Aid's Master at Arms. She's described as being able to shoot the eyes of a die at long distance. If you can fire it, be it a gun or a bow, Andrea is probably lethal with it.

Kate also picks up a stray. A girl, Julie, is placed in her care. Her mother has gone missing, along with her coven, and Julie needs Kate's help in locating her. As it turns out, Julie's mother has met a rather grisly end, and by the end of the book, cranky loner Kate is also "crazy aunt" Kate, with a magically adept young woman to look after.

In this book, we're also introduced to the Bouda clan for the first time, the were-hyenas who are led by the formidable Aunt B, and Dr. Doolittle, the Pack medic. Kate reveals more of her powers and the readers get more hints at her heritage and upbringing, which is one of the reasons she's lived much of her early life alone and without making lasting connections.

Magic Strikes - 4.5 stars

Or "the one with the underground tournament" - said tournament always looms very clear in my mind, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that the actual "fight to the death" tournament that Kate and a bunch of the other characters enter only takes place in the last quarter or so of the book. Before that, Derek, Kate's faithful "boy wonder" is badly beaten and injured. Kate, along with Jim, try to figure out who's behind it, all the while hiding information from Curran, who gets increasingly more paranoid and angry about the whole thing. We discover Saiman's background and how he can change his shape so comprehensively. We're introduced to the Red Guard. Hugh D'Ambray is mentioned for the first time, and the readers get conformation of Kate's mysterious biological dad, who she's been hiding from her entire life.

This is the first book where we meet Dali, the severely short-sighted white Indonesian were-tiger, who is vegetarian and obsessed with drag racing. Here she's mostly delightful comic relief, she becomes more important later in the series.

Magic Bleeds - 5 stars

After a rather antagonistic relationship in the first book, more overt flirting in the second book and some pretty serious foreplay in book 3, this is the book where (after a somewhat rocky start in he book) Kate and Curran finally embark on a relationship. Not all of the Pack are entirely happy about Curran's choice of partner, even less so once it becomes clear that the new big threat to Atlanta is a sinister and extremely powerful relative of Kate's. Over the course of the book, Kate leaves the Order of Merciful Aid because of ideological differences, has a falling out with Andrea and has to spend much of the end of the book proving her worth and tenacity to the shapeshifters of the Pack.

I like Erra, she's a very good villain. This book shows more than any before it that Kate is no longer a bitter loner with no support network. While mutual stubbornness and a lack of communication keep Kate and Curran apart at the start of the book, when they resolve their differences, it's pretty spectacular and it's made quite clear over the course of the book that this is it for both of them - no going back now. While the readers had their suspicions about Kate's parentage confirmed in the last book, she tells the man she loves about it here, even fearing that he might reject her. While Curran's adolescence was bad, Kate's whole family background is a whole other level of f*cked up.

Magic Slays - 4.5 stars

Kate has left the Order of Merciful Aid behind and is trying to make a living as a paranormal investigator on her own, but at least initially, no one is hiring her. Then it becomes clear that a missing inventor is responsible for a device that could pose a massive threat to anyone with magical abilities, meaning all the shapeshifters or even vaguely magically adept people in Atlanta could die. While trying to enlist help to locate the fanatics who have the device, Kate needs to talk to several of the magical factions, including the witches and the vholvs. She comes to discover that what she has believed her entire life about her mother and stepfather was a complete lie and when her ward, Julie, is in danger, she needs to come to terms with how far she's willing to go and use her formidable powers, even when it goes against good reason, to save her.

Despite having read this twice before, I remembered very little about the details of the story. I remembered that Julie was put in danger, but I had forgotten all about the major plot stuff, and Kate and her allies having to track down the anti-magic nuts. Hence it came as a happy surprise that this book was the introduction of Roman, handsome and sarcastic black vholv and high priest of Chernobog. Evdokia, who we first meet in book 2 also plays a more prominent role and her family relationship to Kate is revealed.

Magic Gifts - 4 stars

This novella is classified as 5.4 in the Kate Daniels series. Its action takes place at the same time as Gunmetal Magic and it was included at the end of said book, but was originally released as a newsletter present to the fans. Kate and Curran are going out for dinner, when they the death of a young woman after a necklace was gifted to her by her boyfriend. Said necklace ends up around the neck of her little brother, and it's clear that it's cursed in some way and will need to be removed soon or the boy will die too. In order to help the child, Kate and Curran need to confront some neo-vikings, negotiate with a very deadly creature and speak to a dwarven smith.

While you don't HAVE to read this story to get a full picture, it's inclusion as a bonus at the end of the Andrea book makes it obvious that the authors thought it might be good for the readers to have access to it. It mainly shows that Kate is perfectly willing to put her life on the line just to save one single child, it doesn't have to be the end of days or an upcoming massive threat.

Gunmetal Magic - 5 stars

Otherwise known as Andrea's book. Dumped by her Bouda boyfriend Raphael, rejected by the Order of the Merciful Aid (the only place she'd felt at home) and generally not in a good place, Andrea Nash is not having a good time of it. Having made up with her best friend Kate, all she can do is try to piece her life back together slowly and try to avoid thinking of Raphael. Which isn't easy when she's assigned to investigate four dead Pack members at one of Raphael's construction sites. To add insult to injury, it seems Raphael's rebound girlfriend is some sort of stuck up supermodel. While Kate's off with Curran dealing with who knows what, Andrea tries to track down the giant snake creatures that seem to have killed Raphael's work crew.

I love this book for many reasons. First of all, it's so much fun seeing Kate and Curran through the eyes of another character. The authors wisely have them only showing up in small doses, so as not to overshadow Andrea's achievements in her own right. Secondly, Roman the black vholv plays an important supporting role in the book (he wears Eyore pyjamas!). Third, the romance between Andrea and Raphael, while on the rocks at the start of the book, is pretty epic and the way Andrea finally gets her revenge for him parading a vacuous supermodel through her office made me laugh out loud when I first read the book and again on my re-read. As always, there are some truly spectacular fights with some really nasty beasties in the book (the Andrews have a terrific imagination for enemies and threats of all kinds). Ascanio, the teenage Bouda, is around as Andrea's hormonal and sometimes exasperating teenage sidekick. Andrea has to work through the abuse and horror of her childhood and make a decision about who she wants to be, and once she makes up her mind, she's not going to settle for being anything but the best at it.

Magic Rises - a grudging 4 stars, if I gave quarter ones, this would be a 3.75. It's the second weakest book in the series, after book 1.

The one where they go to Europe. Desperate for panacea, the herbal remedy that can massively reduce the risk of shapeshifter children going loup (basically their animal instincts taking over and them having to be put down), Kate and Curran agree to travel to the Black Sea to mediate in a shapeshifter conflict, even though it's obviously a trap of some sort. They can only take a support crew of about twelve other shapeshifters, which is unlikely to be enough if there's any kind of massive threat.

This book sees the proper introduction of Hugh D'Ambray, Warlord to Roland (Kate's ancient and incredibly powerful dad). While Hugh's handsome and charming and has his own European castle, he's also tremendously dangerous and, being trained by the same man as Kate since childhood, a ruthless and extremely efficient killer. Over the course of much of the book, Kate and Curran are at odds, as he's not telling her his real plans and making her crazy insecure and jealous by pretending to flirt with a young, beautiful werewolf. Hugh happily takes advantage of Kate's jealousy (although as is pointed out in Iron and Magic by his lovely wife, he takes entirely the wrong track in trying to seduce Kate away from Curran and the shapeshifters). There are also strange, scaled and flying shapeshifters trying to kill not only Desandra, the werewolf the Atlanta Pack are there to protect, but pretty much everyone in the American delegation.

I can sort of see what the authors were trying for here, but Curran's plan is no less frustrating for the reader on a second read. I knew what he was trying to do and why and I still wanted him dropped from a great height onto really spiky things. Hugh is a wonderful antagonist and really gets to shine here. As Kate observes, he is pretty much what she could have become and probably what Voron, her stepfather (and Roland's first Warlord) wanted her to be. He's her biological father's right hand and while Kate tries to be wary of him, she cannot help but be curious about Roland and the things Hugh can divulge about him. The situation is obviously not helped by Kate being unsettled and worried about the attacks and Curran's utterly moronic tactics. Thankfully, Curran grovels profusely towards the end of the book and completely and wholly admits to being wrong. That helps a little. There are also were-dolphin pirates at one point, which is a wonderfully creative idea. That this book also introduces Desandra, who is, to an extent, mad as a box of frogs, but so much fun as well.

Magic Breaks - 5 stars

Initially, the series was only ever supposed to be seven books, and as a result, a lot of the storylines established earlier in the series come to a head in this one. Curran is called away on Pack business, and while he's gone, Hugh D'Ambray shows up in Atlanta and tries to get the Pack implicated in the grisly murder of one of the top Masters of the Dead. He wants to stir up a lot of trouble, and when Kate cleverly manages to find a way through, he abducts her and nearly starves her to death in a water-filled pit. Accidentally teleported along with her is Ghastek, one of the other powerful Masters of the Dead - he and Kate have a lot of time to bond while trying not to die. Kate finally faces her father and the power struggle that ensues has unexpected results.

I love this book. I love Kate's crazy family. Much as I like Kate and Curran as a couple, I like that Curran is sidelined in the story for more than half of the book, so Kate needs to interact with and rely on other characters to solve her problems. I love the way the authors twist and subvert the reader's expectations when it comes to Roland and his expectations of Kate.

Magic Stars - 4 stars

Jullie and Derek work together to avenge the death of a local family and try to prevent a magical artifact from falling into the wrong hands. I reread this one because I couldn't remember if it was essential to the overall plot of the series or not. It's not, really, but again, I enjoy seeing our main cast through the eyes of other supporting characters

Magic Shifts - 4.5 stars

A book with rather lower stakes than book 7, following such a game changing story. Kate and Curran are separated from the Pack and living in suburbia. Kate is asked by Curran's adopted sister to find Eduardo, her boyfriend, while Curran, bored from no longer having fifteen hundred shapeshifters to boss around, decides to take over the Mercenary Guild.

Another interesting villain taken from a previously untapped source of mythology, some spectacular battles, a lot of cool character interactions and fun scenes of Kate and Curran getting used to their new neighbourhood.

Magic Binds - 4.5 stars

Kate and Curran are close to getting married, but Roman, who is going to officiate, discovers that she's done absolutely zero about the wedding planning and takes over that side of proceedings as well. Meanwhile, the witch oracle have dire visions of what Roland is planning next, and it doesn't look good for Curran or Kate's potential future child. In order to stop the dire prophecies from coming true, Kate decides to do something truly crazy, so her father can't possibly predict her actions.

Roman is one of my favourite supporting characters, so seeing him trying to be Kate's wedding planner is naturally a hoot. Andrea is massively pregnant at the start of the book, and it's lovely to see what she and Raphael end up naming their child. We get the unlikely return of Erra, Kate's unorthodox aunt - who turns out to be a very useful ally. I'm very glad I reread the book, as I had forgotten a LOT of the details, including most of the big battle towards the end of the book, before the long awaited wedding.

Iron and Magic - 4.5 stars
Audio book length: 12 hrs 51 mins

Obviously, it's not been all that long since I first read this. My original review can be found here. This time I listened to the book in audio, having discovered that Steve West (whose voice I really like) was narrating it. As is often the case when I'm excited by a new release, I go through it very quickly. It was good to revisit the book and have it read to me, so I had to take a bit more time out of it.

As I said in my original review, I very much appreciate that the authors didn't in any way go back on their previous work and try to soften just how bad a person Hugh was. The book reveals that in order to have an efficient Warlord, Roland manipulated Hugh's emotions, making it harder for him to question orders he may otherwise have hesitated to carry out. No excuses are really made for Hugh's past, but it's clear that now that he is his own man, having to figure out what to do next, he isn't necessarily quite the monster he has appeared to be. Also, his new wife is more than a match for him.

The only gripe I had with the narration was that it was obvious that no one had informed the narrator that Andrea, unlike Rafael and Ascanio (who both appear in the book) is not a Hispanic character and should not have been given the accent she is. Apart from that, I have no complaints and am considering getting the next two Iron Covenant books in audio as well.

Judging the books by their covers: Ilona Andrews famously have some dreadful covers for a lot of their paranormal fantasy books. I have lost count of how many different cover models there have been portraying Kate over the course of the series (especially since sometimes the foreign editions or e-books have a different dark-haired lady with a sword than the original paperbacks). The common theme on all the books is your dark-haired, tough looking young woman with a big sword (that would be Kate) and a lion (that would be Curran). I think my least favourite of the covers is Magic Slays (Kate's face looks weirdly skeletal on one side), whilst the one I dislike the least (can't really say I love any of them) is book 8, Magic Shifts.

I frequently think of the Kate Daniels series as Magic verbs, because each book in the main series begins with the word "Magic" followed by a verb in the present tense. Even the spin-off books, about Kate's BFF Andrea and one of her main adversaries, Hugh D'Ambray have the word in the title, so you can see that they're connected to the main story, even if they can be read independently.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Book 54: "Iron and Magic" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 396 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

While this is technically the first book in a new series, which can be read on its own, this book fits into the larger framework of the Kate Daniels universe (where this book is book 9.5 out of 10). So there's quite a bit of back story you're missing out on if you've not read the other books first. While the first book is rough, the series as a whole is my favourite paranormal/urban fantasy series, probably ever, so if you like the genre and haven't checked them out yet, do yourself a favour and get caught up before you read this book.

Plot summary stolen from Goodreads:
Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast. 

Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she's trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify. 

Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies? 

As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.” 

Hugh and Elara may do both.

This book was never meant to exist. Hugh D'Ambray, the male protagonist of this book (can't really bring myself to call him a hero yet, he's very much not one) started out as one of the main antagonists in Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. His forces killed off a beloved supporting character. He was the main henchman for the series' ultimate villain and did his job really very well indeed. On April 1st, 2015, the authors posted a fake cover and blurb, suggesting that they were writing a book about Hugh. It was meant to be a joke, but the response from their fans was overwhelming. As the authors explain here three years later (when the book was well and truly completed), they got enough requests for the book and thought about it long enough that they realised they could actually make the book a reality.

Hugh really is not a nice man, but Ilona Andrews are absolutely amazing writers and I had absolute faith that if they decided to publish a book about him, he would be worthy of their efforts (the authors, while they put their characters through a lot of pain and misery, are big believers in ultimate happy endings). They were never going to spend time and effort writing a book and waste money self-publishing it if it wasn't going to sell, and be an entertaining story. The fact that apparently Hugh will feature in not just ONE book of his own, but a trilogy, was a delightful surprise.

I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I've said before that if Ilona Andrews decide to publish their shopping lists, I am going to buy them (probably in multiple formats) - so whether they made it believable that any woman would actually marry Hugh (and most likely fall for him over the course of the story) was really rather secondary to me. What was refreshing is that they don't in any way retcon what has gone before in the Kate Daniels books. Hugh was a villain. He did really bad things, all on the orders of Roland, his master and the Godlike figure that gave him power and a reason to live. Of course, all those books are told from the POV of Kate Daniels - we only see one side of things. In this book, Hugh openly reflects on and tells his new allies about his past, and we get to see his side of things. He's still not a good guy, by any means, but a much more believable anti-hero. When we begin the book, Roland - the magical powerhouse that Hugh has spent pretty much his entire life serving, has cast him out and to him, it feels like his God forsook him and there is just a horrible gaping void where his purpose used to be. Hugh pretty much wants to drink himself to death, but what remains of his loyal lieutenants won't let him. They want him to save what is left of their forces and start fighting back.

There aren't a lot of places where a small ragtag army of highly trained fighters and their disgraced commander can find shelter, and Hugh isn't exactly thrilled when he finds out he will have to marry a stranger with unknown magical powers to secure it. Of course, his potential bride, Elara Harper doesn't exactly think he's the catch of the century either. In this book, we don't find out a whole lot about Elara or the reason her people were driven away from the others they used to live with (or why they were willing to use some serious dark magic to summon some horrible beasties to wreak havoc on her wedding day), but she's clearly extremely powerful, and needs to fight to remain in control of her powers.

One of the reasons I didn't feel I could give this book a full five stars is because the authors wouldn't give a few more hints about Elara and her powers, but I guess all will be revealed in the books to come. As always, this book has a great cast of characters - with a diverse cast of supporting players as well as some pretty sinister threats facing our protagonists, not all of them sent by Roland. While making Hugh an main character in his own right and giving him a worthy foil in Elara, the authors set up a lot of stuff to be dealt with in the books to come.

I'm very glad that this April Fool's joke became a reality, and that when the main Kate Daniels series is wrapped up at the end of August, there will still be two more books about Hugh and Elara to look forward to. Thank the benevolent authorlords.

Judging a book by its cover: Ilona Andrews have had a LOT of really very ugly covers throughout their career. As this book is self-published, they financed the photo shoot and cover design of this book themselves. It's still pretty cheesy, but in all honesty, most paranormal/urban fantasy covers are. The guy portraying Hugh looks tough and broody, the lady portraying Elara looks mysterious and bad-ass, there's a castle in the background - it gives you a pretty good impression of what the contents of the book is going to be. I don't love the cover, but in the long history of Andrews' book covers, this is SO much better than most of them.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR8 Book 106: "Magic Binds" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book nine in the Kate Daniels series. The penultimate book in the series, in fact. I will not be able to review this book without there being spoilers for earlier books. Don't read this if you're not all the way caught up. Do pick up the series if you like good Urban/Paranormal fantasy, though, it's pretty much the best out there at the moment.

 Private detective and supernatural powerhouse Kate Daniels is finally getting married to Curran Lennart, former Beast Lord of Atlanta. They ask Ronan, Black Vohlv of the Death god Chernobog to perform the ceremony, and he is beyond delighted, even after (or possibly because) he realises that he'll also have to tak on the role of wedding planner (seriously, after this book, I'd love to get a look at Ronan's Pinterest boards). Kate doesn't really see why the wedding can't just amount to people they care about showing up at a set date, they have some cake and get the deed done? Who cares about invitations, a fancy dress, cake, flowers or the like? Even being told by a number of different people that no, the wedding night is for the bride and groom, the wedding itself is for everyone else. Everyone who is anyone in Atlanta is going to want an invitation to this event and Kate and Curran can't half-ass it.

Kate has more pressing matters than her impending wedding to worry about. Her best friend, Andrea, alpha of the Bouda clan, is extremely pregnant, restless and freaking out because the baby might go loup at birth. If that happens, someone's going to have to put the baby down, and no one wants that.
Roland, Kate's ancient demi-god father, keeps challenging Kate's authority over Atlanta in all sorts of little ways, all while building a giant fortress just outside the area she's claimed as her own. Despite the friction, they still somehow seem to end up in seafood restaurants, having family dinners.

Now Roland has abducted Saiman, Kate's former ally. This is an insult he knows she cannot overlook. Kate needs to make a decision and the future is not looking bright. The Witch Oracle informs her that a massive battle is imminent, where the city will burn and people will suffer. Kate will suffer a terrible loss, and in every possible future the witches have seen, someone she loves, is killed by Roland. If she marries Curran, he dies. If she doesn't, the battle won't happen immediately, but her son will die instead. Naturally, neither option is acceptable to Kate and she is the only one with even the faintest chance to change the future, by doing something wholly unexpected and drastic. She's running out of time, and doesn't feel she can confide in Curran, the man she loves above everything.

While she's struggling with the knowledge that loss, death and warfare are looming in her future, Kate is also having to come to terms with her own growing powers, ever more tempted by her own dark side. She's getting snappish and impatient with those close to her and sees clearly that with each badly handled decision, she's more likely to becoming like her father. Initially, she stops herself from tapping into her dark side because she knows Curran, Julie or Derek (her chosen family) would disapprove, but she knows that she cannot define her choices on what others would think. She needs to find her own limits and moral centre, and resist being what either of her fathers, Voron or Roland, wanted her to be.

The Kate of the first book was alone, bitter and had very little to actually live for. Now Kate has friends, allies and a family who will stand with her, even through the upcoming inevitable battle. Paradoxically, she needs to become more powerful to defeat Roland once and for all, but the power could so easily corrupt her in the process. She needs to gain control of her raising powers before it changes her into someone unacceptable.

There are a number of little "side quests" for Kate to go on, to gather the resources she needs to implement her highly dangerous and rather unhinged plan. Curran is remarkably trusting throughout, even though Kate refuses to actually tell him much of what is going on or what she's working to prevent. He agrees to take some Guild mercenaries to Roland's castle to get Saiman back, while Kate creates a diversion elsewhere, trying to think outside the box in terms of recruiting support against her megalomaniac dad.

As a result, Kate and Curran are working apart for much of the book, but a number of minor supporting characters from former books show up to lend her a hand. In between Kate's frantic attempts to alter the unacceptable future(s), there is Roman, being excellent comic relief, arranging the wedding invitations, ambushing Kate with wedding dress fittings and cake samplings, to her immense (and very amusing) frustration. Without this lightness occasionally, the book would be pretty grim, with Kate's identity crisis taking the story to some dark places.

Just as Kate refuses to be Roland's idea of a compliant child, Julie, Kate's adoptive daughter, keeps on making decisions that deeply concern her parents. Due to the spell linking them, Kate cannot outright forbid Julie from spending time with Roland, even though she's terrified that he is manipulating the girl and in the initial stages of turning the young woman into his next warlord. Julie's first mother was no fool, though and Julie's past experiences means she has excellent instincts. She knows Kate and Curran need intel on Roland and that he can help her hone her magic skills to unprecedented new levels. She intends to use all of this to help her adoptive parents prevail in the end.

A new Kate Daniels book is among the highlights of my year and I made sure to clear my schedule (even though I have so much to do at work now) so that I could read the whole book in a day. The structure of Kate going on a number of mini quests before facing off against the "big bad" at the end made the story feel a bit like a video game, and while I liked it a lot, it still doesn't live up to the breathtaking awesomeness of book 7, Magic Breaks. This is the penultimate book in the series, there is indeed a battle, but the final confrontation will be in the next book. As such, the ending felt a bit incomplete, but the epilogue more than made up for it.

So much of this series has been about Kate finding a support network and she now has a true family, both made and found. There were several moments throughout the book that made me tear up, because of the moving events that took place. I read the epilogue with both tears in my eyes and a big grin in place. While Curran's gotten the last line for the last few books, this time the honour goes to Kate. Her announcement is by no means unexpected, and promises big things to come in the final book.

Judging a book by its cover: There have been some truly awful covers in this series (and for Ilona Andrews' books in general). I think they're on their sixth cover model for Kate at this point. In the grand scheme of things, I think this might be my favourite of the bunch. I love that Ilona actually insisted on Kate having some sort of flower embroidery on Kate's peasant blouse to reflect the Slavic traditions being woven through Kate's wedding ceremony. The model portraying Kate looks suitably fierce and ready to fight. I think (based on descriptions in the book) that her hair is a tad too long, but if book 10 has a cover half this good, I'll be very happy.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read 

#CBR7 Books 144: "Magic Stars" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 64 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is a novella in the Kate Daniels universe. I would recommend that you read at least a few of the books in that series before reading this, although it would probably work relatively well on its own merits. This review may, however, contain spoilers for some of the later books in the series, so if you haven't read up to and including Magic Breaks and preferably Magic Shifts as well, proceed at your own risk. I must also add that I was granted an ARC of this novella, but did not have time to read it before it was on general release, when I also bought myself a copy. This review is in no way biased by having been given the ARC.

Derek Gaunt is a lone wolf, literally. He no longer belongs to any pack and is loyal to only a very few people. Among those are the former Beast Lord of Atlanta, Curran Lennart. So when the entire family of a weapon's smith frequented often by Curran and his Consort, Kate Daniels, is found brutally murdered and their house searched, Derek is asked to track down the killers and discover why the dirty deed was done. He prefers to work alone, and he certainly doesn't want Julie, Curran and Kate's adopted daughter, to tag along on his mission.

Yet when the two discover that the family were killed because of a highly magical artifact in their possession, one of three in fact, that the individual who sent the killers wants enough to murder again, Derek realises that he cannot continue without Julie. Able to detect all kinds of magic with her bare eyes, Julie is the only one who will be able to track the other two parts of the artifact, and lead them to the mastermind who ordered the killings in the first place. What was supposed to be a fairly simple assignment turns very dangerous and deadly far too quick and both Derek and Julie will be lucky if they make it out alive. I was surprised at how violent this story was. Possibly the shorter length of the story compressed the action sequences and made it seem more violent than the regular books.

Derek and Julie have long been fan favourites among the supporting cast in the Kate Daniels books. Initially Kate's somewhat reluctant sidekick and quite the pretty boy, Derek was nearly killed and left badly scarred after having molten silver (highly dangerous to shapeshifters) poured over his face, when trying to rescue a girl he'd fallen for. Julie was a street kid who lost her mother and got tangled up in some nasty magical business. Taken in and later adopted by Kate, she is now irrevocably bound to her by blood, after Kate was forced to purify Julie's blood with her own to save her life. After Kate in a showdown with her father laid magical claim to Atlanta, Julie has now appointed herself Kate's Herald. She is taking magic lessons from the manipulative and cunning Roland, to the great dismay of Derek, who is sure that the ancient magical powerhouse is using Julie for his own ends. Julie, on the other hand, claims they're going to need all the weapons and intel they can get against Roland, and if she can gather intelligence and maybe learn something of his weak spots while improving her magical abilities, so much the better.

In early books in the series, there were hints of both hero worship and infatuation by Julie for Derek. Their relationship in later books is often closer to exasperated cousins or even siblings, and the were-hyena Ascanio, as well as a handsome dragon creature of some sort that Julie goes to school with are also competing for Julie's affection. It was a lot of fun to see them working together as a team in this novella, and I wouldn't mind seeing them team up to fight monsters and saving each other's lives again some time.

According to Amazon, this is the first in a series called Grey Wolf, and I hope the sales and popularity is such that Ilona Andrews chooses to continue writing these spin-offs, if only as occasional interludes. As the normal Kate books are seen entirely from Kate's POV, it's always fun when the writers give us insight into other characters like this, and lets us see Kate and Curran in particular through the eyes of other characters in the series. As well as this novella, there's a whole book from Kate's best friend Andrea's POV, at least one short story about Julie and some novellas about Jim and Dali, the current Beast Lord and Lady. I know they have a lot of writing commitments, with the new Kate book, the Innkeeper Chronicles and their Hidden Legacy series, but hope that as a palate cleanser now and then, they may choose to give us more Grey Wolf stories.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 81: "Magic Shifts" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 8 in the series, and some really big stuff happened in the last book. Seriously, if you haven't read Magic Breaks yet, there will be spoilers, so return once you're caught up. If you haven't read any Ilona Andrews books yet, you should do your very best to change that as soon as possible. They write among the best paranormal books out there, you won't be sorry.

After a period of adjustment after the confrontation in the previous book, mercenary and magical powerhouse Kate Daniels is trying to settle down and make an honest living, aided by her fiancee, former Beast Lord of Atlanta, Curran Lennart. Being hired for supernatural jobs can be a bit tricky when your partner's a giant werelion, though, and their money situation is starting to get tight. While neither of them miss the constant need for diplomacy and the complex infighting of running the Pack, it's clear that being a simple mercenary is also not challenging enough for a man who ruled over a thousand shapeshifters for more than a decade.

When Jim, the new Beast Lord offers Kate and Curran a controlling share in the Mercenary Guild, both of them initially refuse. The many chaotic events in Atlanta over the last few years have wreaked havoc with the formerly quite orderly Guild, making it a bad financial bet. Then they are approached by George, the closest thing Curran has to a sister, asking them to locate her fiancee, the were-buffalo Eduardo. All the trails lead to the Guild, suggesting that Eduardo disappeared while out on a mission. While re-tracing his last known missions, it's clear that something big and dangerous is rising in Atlanta, a city now under Kate's protection, and they need to hurry if they're going to find Eduardo alive.

Because the Andrews' were only initially contracted for seven books in the Kate Daniels series, so much of the overarching plot in the series built up towards the events of the last book, Magic Breaks. This book takes place in the aftermath, where there's been a lot of changes for our protagonists, but life still goes on, and Atlanta is still a dangerous place to be. Possibly more so after Kate finally revealed just how powerful she is, in accidentally claiming the city as her territory in order to prevent her father, the ancient Roland, from doing the same.

This is a low-key book compared to the previous one, with an almost mundane search and rescue mission at its heart. Of course, it wouldn't be a Kate book without horrible monsters to fight , interesting mythological adversaries and Kate throwing herself head-long into danger, without any care for her own safety or mortality. That's not to say that there isn't gradual setting up for the final confrontation that Kate will one day have with her father, but for now, there is dinner at Appleby's, new neighbours to placate and bills that need paying. The Andrews' excel both at world-building and at populating their books with an awesome supporting cast. There's amazing dialogue, several laugh-out-loud moments, clever plotting and nail-biting action.

If you've enjoyed the previous Kate books, you'll like this one too. The stakes are lower, the pace is somewhat quieter, there's more actual detective work, like in some of the earlier books. This book ends with a wedding, and the next book promises to have another one, which I'm not going to pretend I'm not ridiculously excited about. Just such a shame I'm going to have to wait a whole year.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 87: "Magic Breaks" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 5 stars

WARNING! This review will contain spoilers for some stuff in the earlier Kate Daniels books because it's pretty much impossible to write a review for the SEVENTH book in a series without revealing any of what's gone before. If you've not read this series before, this book is not where you want to start (even though the authors kindly included a handy guide to all the major players in the book and a very concise and informative guide to the fictional universe this series is set in). The series has been building for a long time, and you will not get the emotional payoff to truly enjoy this book if this is your first foray into the Kate Daniels world. Go off and read Magic Bites and Magic Burns (as the first book is a bit rough, and it often takes two books to really hook people). This review will be here when you've caught up with the series.

Kate Daniels knows that despite her attempts to keep her true identity hidden, despite training rigorously since she was a child, honing herself into a deadly weapon, she, and those she loves, are in imminent danger and the encounter she has been dreading for most of her life is rapidly approaching. She still has nightmares about the events that took place at the end of Magic Rises, reliving her inability to prevent the death of a close friend. She hungers for vengeance but also knows that she needs to try to keep her friends and family in the Atlanta Shapeshifter Pack as safe and out of harm's way when her legendary and probably immortal father comes for her. She's struggling to keep her business running, dealing with a number of petty leadership squabbles among the various factions of the Pack, trying to figure out a way to plan her wedding to Curran, the Beast Lord and leader of the Pack without insulting anyone or ruffling anyone's feathers, whilst all she really wants to do is run away to be alone with Curran. Wishing isn't going to make it so, however.

Curran is called away to deal with a trade dispute and takes some of the strongest alphas among the shape shifters with him. Kate only has to hold the fort alone for a few days, which is of course why the enemies of the Pack wait until they are separated to strike. During what was supposed to be a fairly routine meeting, Kate is presented with a dead body and has twenty-four hours to round up the killer, or she will have a supernatural war on her hands. Her opponent is stronger, more experienced than her and utterly ruthless and will stop at nothing to gain the upper hand. Can Kate outsmart him and prevent everything she holds dear from being destroyed?

I love Ilona Andrews, the married couple who write the Kate Daniels books. I own most of their books in both paperback and e-book copies and would happily buy their shopping lists if they decided to publish them. Based on everything else they'd written, such a collection would still include action, humour and be vastly entertaining. This is the first of their books to be published in hardback, meaning that the e-book was also more expensive than before. It was worth every penny. If you're a fan of the series, but can't afford to buy the book, run to your nearest library and reserve yourself a copy. It starts out fairly slow, but by chapter three, the action really kicks off, seizes you by the throat and doesn't really let go until you've finished the book.

As I mentioned above, before the story even starts, there is a very helpful little guide to all the major characters, reminding you of who they are and what their significance is in the wider narrative. Probably bored with introducing the various important aspects of the world building in a slightly different way for the seventh time, the authors also let Barabas, the were-mongoose lawyer who acts as Kate's chief advisor and sometime babysitter explain all the pertinent things a reader needs to know about the fantasy universe in which these books are set. It's a very clever device, and helps long time readers who don't obsessively re-read the series in between each new book remember where the story so far has taken them.

This is the seventh book in the series, and under their original contract, it was supposed to have been the final book about Kate Daniels. It's the book that entire series has built towards, where Kate and Roland finally face off against each other and everything is in the balance. Even so, the focus is taken off a lot of the regular supporting cast in the books. Curran is away for more than half of the book, his second in command Jim is busy trying to root out the traitor in the Pack, Andrea is busy learning to be an alpha for the Bouda clan and Julie is sent far away for safety reasons. This allows the authors to feature and expand the roles of other, previously minor characters, such as Barabas and Robert (one of the alphas of Clan Rat). Desandra, the European werewolf who gave birth to twins in the previous book and who returned to the States with Kate and Curran is given an important part in the narrative and she's delightful. I'm not sure why, but she reminded me of a more socially adept Helena from Orphan Black. I can't wait to see where they take the character from here. Not all of the regular sidekicks are missing though, Derek and Ascanio are still right by Kate's side, and their friendly rivalry and quips made me laugh out loud repeatedly.

Kate has come such a long way from the beginning of the series, when she kept herself isolated from everyone and everything, only caring about her next paycheck and how she could improve her abilities until she faced Roland. Now she has a strong and devoted partner in Curran, an adopted daughter, a loyal best friend and a wealth of friends and supporters, all of whom she feels protective of and who can be used against her. Hugh d'Ambray, Roland's sociopathic right-hand man is in Atlanta and he doesn't care if he has to kill every shapeshifter there is to get to Kate. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with her and will use every underhanded trick in the book to get her to submit to him.

While I may not be happy with Curran's actions in the last book (which I still think were flimsily explained), his and Kate's relationship is stronger than ever and when Kate faces the biggest challenges of her life, she never doubts that he will come to her aid as soon as he can. Their devotion and love towards one another made me squee, and the genuine friendship and loyalty that Kate has managed to develop with so many people in Atlanta truly shows how much she has changed. No longer letting herself be dictated by the training and warnings of her long-dead mentor, Kate has forged a new path for herself, surrounded by friends and family, but as a result, also has so much more to lose.

This book really is a rollicking roller-coaster of a ride. I giggled, I gasped, I bit my knuckles in tense situations, I sighed wistfully, I grimaced (some stuff really is rather gory), I cheered, I swooned, I cried and I cackled with laughter. In many ways, this book reminded me of Changes, where Jim Butcher suddenly takes all the things he's established in his fantasy world and turns everything on its head for his main character and the readers. It was much the same here. A lot of what the story has been building towards comes to a conclusion, but it may not play out exactly as you'd expect. It is absolutely not the final book for Kate, Curran and the others, but the playing field is a very different one at the end of this book than when it began. If you've read and enjoyed the previous six books (seven if you count Andrea's book, which I do) in the series, I cannot imagine that you won't find this a satisfying and electrifying read. It's certainly my new favourite. Excellently done.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR5 Book 105. "Magic Rises" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 320 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is book 6 in a series. It's therefore not the best place to start reading, and I can guarantee that the review will contain spoilers for at least some of the other books that have come before. If you haven't read these books, run, don't walk to a bookstore or a library, and get started.

When several of the Pack's children threaten to turn Loup, and may have to be killed, mercenary bad-ass Kate Daniels and her mate Curran, the Beast Lord of the Pack realize that they need to get their hands on more panacea, a herbal concoction that ensures the survival of most of the young shapeshifters. It's obvious to both of them that the invitation they have received from a couple of European packs is a big ol' trap, but they're offered so much of the precious panacea (which they have absolutely no way of making themselves), that they simply cannot afford to refuse. So Kate and Curran ally with someone they normally wouldn't trust, gather up a band of their best fighters, and set off to Eastern Europe on an adventure.

Once they get there, they quickly discover that it was indeed a trap, but one of a completely different nature than expected (I may have cheered at this revelation). The Pack are far away from home, and the task they've been set, to guard a pregnant shapeshifter princess until she gives birth, is not an easy one. The biggest danger may be to Kate and Curran's relationship, however.

This is the road trip book, the one where the authors take the characters out of their established comfort zone (even if that is a zone frequently fraught with incredible danger, and near death experiences) and move them somewhere, with new and exciting challenges and threats to their lives and safety. During the journey, the Pack encounter pirates, and I may have been rather vocal in my appreciation of the type of shapeshifter they turn out to be. I love how creative this author team is with their world building.

Then they arrive in Eastern Europe, with rivalling shapeshifter clans, to do a job that seems nearly impossible to complete without sparking some sort of turf war. Kate, who's still getting used to not isolating herself and trusting no one, experiences jealousy for the first time, and starts questioning Curran's devotion to her, especially as she's dismissed by all the European shifters as the Beast Lord's human plaything. Why wouldn't he want a powerful shifter girl instead? I must admit, invested as I was in Kate and Curran's relationship and happiness, I was extremely unhappy with this part of the book, and I wanted to punch Curran in his pretty face for what he was doing to Kate. Of course it turns out to be a lot more complex than Kate knows, and Curran has very good reasons for what he's doing, but even after I found out what was going on, I was not happy with him. There is a great explanation for why both Kate and Curran acted the way they do on Ilona Andrews' blog, where the authors answer FAQ about the recent book - don't read it until AFTER you've finished the book, there are spoilers!

Because of the jealousy drama, this doesn't quite get included among my favourite Kate Daniels books, but it's a wonderful read. I laughed, I cheered, I cursed and bit my knuckles in suspenseful scenes. Reading an Ilona Andrews book tends to be quite an emotional rollercoaster, and while they always end on a happy note, there are very real dangers in each book, and casualties along the way. Don't be sure everyone's going to make it out unscarred, or even alive. I'm so glad this book got Ilona and Gordon to the top of the NYT Bestseller list, they deserve it.

CBR4 Book 75: "Gunmetal Magic" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 433 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: July 31st, 2012
Date finished: August 1st, 2012

While this is sort of a stand-alone book, it fits into the larger framework of the Kate Daniels series, and as such, this book will be best enjoyed if you've read the previous 5 books in that series. Also, this review may and probably does contain spoilers for some of the developments in those books.

Andrea Nash lives in a post-apocalyptic version of Atlanta, where technology frequently is disabled when waves of magic sweep through the world, and it keeps things interesting, to say the least. Previously a valued member of the Knights of the Order of Merciful Aid, Andrea was retired when it came out that she is beast-kin, half human, half hyena (lower in status than a were-hyena). Shortly before she was kicked out of the Order, her romantic relationship fell apart, as her boyfriend didn't take it kindly when she picked the Knights rather than the shapeshifters in a city-wide crisis. So she doesn't have a whole lot left to lose, to say the least.

Now Andrea works with her best friend Kate (Consort to the Beast Lord, Alpha of all the shapeshifters in Atlanta and the surrounding areas, and generally a pretty scary lady) at Cutting Edge Investigations, trying to put her life back in order. She tends to wake up in the morning curled in the cupboard clutching some sort of weapon, plagued by nightmares about her really shitty past. When the head of Pack security asks Andrea to investigate mysterious deaths at a Pack construction site, she agrees, both because Cutting Edge needs all the business they can get, and because she needs to keep herself busy. The construction company with the dead shapeshifters is owned by Raphael Medrano, though, her ex-lover, and he appears to have moved on in a spectacular way, with a leggy, chesty, air-headed version of Andrea.

Shapeshifters are fiercely territorial and get crazy jealous, but Andrea has spent a lifetime trying to suppress her animal instincts and desperately trying to pass as a normal human. When she's forced to work closely with Raphael to solve the mysterious murders, however, it may be that she has no choice but to tap into her inner beast - both to solve the case, and win her lover back.

I love Ilona Andrews' books, pretty much without reservation. I was thrilled when I was actually in the US on release day for this book, and able to pick it up myself in a bookstore. While the book probably works fine for a new reader, to me, who's seen Andrea's development through the Kate Daniels books, I suspect that it's even more rewarding to get Andrea's full backstory and fight for her own HEA after getting to know her as a secondary character first.

There's been some talk on the internets of late about Strong Female Characters. The husband and wife team who are Ilona Andrews write PROPER strong female protagonists. They are capable, independent, fiercely protective and loyal to those they care about, not afraid to go out there and kick ass, but just as happy to stay at home and do girly things. Andrea has an exhaustive knowledge about weapons and firearms, and due to her incredibly awful time growing up, has taught herself to use said weapons expertly, so no one will ever mess with her again, and if they do, they're probably not going to live long enough to regret it.  But she also loves dressing up, doing her hair and reading romance novels.

As I said, this book gives us a back story to Andrea that it would have been strange to include in the main series. As the books are first person narrated, it was fun to see the world in the Kate Daniels books through someone else's eyes. I especially got a kick out of Andrea's description of her best friend Kate (who obviously doesn't spend a lot of time describing herself in the main series) and her mate Curran, the Beast Lord of Atlanta (who Kate obviously has different views about than Andrea).

Like all Andrews books, this novel is action-packed, sometimes terrifically violent, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, has an amazing cast of supporting characters, as well as main characters you'd love to hang out with (and have on your side in a fight). I think it may be my second favourite book set in the Kate universe, which is very high praise indeed. If you like other books by Ilona Andrews, don't miss this one.

CBR3 Book 45: "Magic Slays" by Ilona Andrews

Publisher: Ace
Page count: 320 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Date begun: May 31st, 2011
Date finished: May 31st, 2011

This is the fifth book in the Kate Daniels series. This review will contain minor spoilers for previous books in the series, because at this point it's actually impossible to avoid them. If you want to avoid them, skip this review, and go start reading the books instead. They're awesome, I promise. Overlook the dreadful covers. Start with Magic Bites. Go on, you won't regret it.

Kate Daniels has quit her job with the Knight of Merciful Aid, and set up her own business as an independent agent. She has her own office, but business has been decidedly lacking, possibly because her former employer hasn't exactly been glowing in their recommendations. So when Ghastek, the foremost Master of the Dead calls her to capture an escaped vampire, she jumps at the chance. Shortly after, a former acquaintance, an elite bodyguard, shows up at her office, needing help to track down the inventor of a mysterious device who's gone missing. As Kate gets deeper into the case, it turns out that the escaped vampire and the missing inventor are connected cases.

Kate is also trying to get to grips with her new status as female alpha to the Pack of Atlanta. As Curran's mate and consort, she has to have the welfare of the huge shapeshifter community in mind, something that is very alien to a woman raised to avoid personal connections and close relationships. Her ward, Julie, has run away from school, again, and she needs to figure out what to do with the girl. In the course of her investigation, she goes to visit the witch coven, and learns more about her mother, and Voron, the man who raised her, which forces her to reevaluate a lot of what she thought she knew about herself and her life.

I eagerly await each new book written by Ilona and Gordon Andrews, and clear my entire schedule when I get one of their books, so I can do nothing but immerse myself in the book and truly savour it. Of all the books in the Kate Daniels series, Magic Slays is the best so far, which is no mean feat. It can probably be read independently of the others in the series, but would then completely lack the emotional impact the reader gets from seeing just how much Kate has developed and grown since the first book. Starting out hard and ruthless loner, Kate now has a mate, a family, friends, and a number of people who rely on her, and who can also come to her aid in times of need. She is forced to take a close look at her life as she's know it, and realize that things are not necessarily as she was raised to believe they were.

Kate is a strong and fascinating character, and the supporting cast of the novels are just as good. The dialogue is often laugh out loud funny, and the continuing development of Kate's relationship with Curran is wonderful. Both are such stubborn and demanding personalities, forced to learn to adapt and compromise because of the person they love. This is by far my favourite book in the series so far, it had me in turns laughing out loud and gasping in suspense, and the last pages promises that the next novel may be even better.

CBR2 Book 53: "Magic Bleeds" by Ilona Andrews

Publisher: Ace
Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: May 25th, 2010
Date finished: May 25th, 2010

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Kate Daniels is an ex-mercenary, living in an alternate version of Atlanta where many of the buildings are crumbling, and technology cannot always be relied on, as fairly frequently, waves of magic sweep in and take everything over. When magic is high, technology doesn't work, so things like firearms, cars, phones and other useful things are useless. You have to have weapons like swords and daggers, and ride a horse or walk. Kate deals with supernatural problems that tend to be to tricky for other people to handle, and generally tries to avoid emotional involvement or close ties to anyone or anything. This is necessitated by her upbringing, and the knowledge that once her father finds her, he will do everything in his power to kill her and anyone she ever cared about.

In the course of the last three books, her resolve to stay hard and unattached has been broken several times. She now works with her best friend, is considered a close friend to several members of the Pack (Atlanta's huge shape-shifting community - not just werewolves here, but pretty much any flavour of shape-shifter you can imagine), has an adopted niece, and in this book she even acquires a dog. There is also Curran, her sometime nemesis, who she has amazing romantic tension with. Curran is the Beast Lord of Atlanta, the leader of the Pack, and as such has heavy responsibilities and strong protective instincts, that clash rather a lot with Kate's independence.

In Magic Bleeds, Kate's relationship to Curran is rather frosty, due to a monumental misunderstanding on both sides. There is a powerful supernatural menace in the city, infecting powerful humans or supernaturals with infectious plagues and taking over their bodies which she has to stop. This turns out to be much more difficult than expected, partially because the being causing the havoc is related to her by blood. Having spent her entire life hiding her powers and abilities, she is now closer to bringing notice to herself than ever before.

As readers of my blog have no doubt noticed, I read a lot of paranormal fantasy. A whole lot of it. Almost all of it first-person narrated by women who to a larger or lesser extent are strong-willed, independent, smart, funny, and kick ass. Of all these heroines, Kate Daniels is my favourite. Hers is not the series I've been reading the longest (that honour is probably held by Sookie Stackhouse - heroine of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire/True Blood novels). As a matter of fact, it's only a year and a bit since I first discovered Ilona Andrews (who are actually a husband and wife team writing under her name) and Magic Bites, the first Kate Daniels novel. I have been waiting with bated breath for the fourth novel in the series, however, since I finished reading book 3, Magic Strikes, in early April 2009.

A lot more about Kate's past and parentage is revealed in this book. Once again, there are mythological beings, not just taken from well-known Western mythology. More of both Kate and Curran's personalities are revealed, and the reason why they act the way they do. This is probably the funniest Kate Daniels novel so far, and I laughed out loud several times while reading it. While books 2 and 3 were quite dark and gritty, this one had moments of pure joy and playfulness, nicely balanced with impressive action scenes or emotional exposition.

So to say that my expectations for this novel were high is an understatement. Book 3 ended on a cliffhanger. As an avid follower of Ilona and Gordon Andrews' blog, I knew that quite a lot of important things were going to happen in this novel, and according to their website, Kate would be losing a lot and dealing with some difficult things. So I was naturally anxious, because my emotional investment in this series is bordering on the unhealthy. To my great relief, the book was just as satisfying as I'd hoped. I would also say that the website lied a bit, because I think Kate gained far more than she lost, and is in a much stronger and better position to deal with any future threats. Magic Bleeds gave me a comforting sense of closure, and means that I can patiently wait for the release of Bayou Moon, the second book in the On the Edge series, and Kate 5 sometime next year.