 Magic Bites
When I started Magic Bites, the first novel in Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series, I thought: Man, this has it all! Mystery, magic beasts, spikes of dark magic, great fight scenes, and a main character I can like and appreciate!
I wasn't wrong. Magic Bites delivered on all of those aspects, and kept me reading. I wasn't on the edge of my seat, but I wanted to see what would happen in the end.
Instead of picking up steam however, the closer I got to the end, the more the plot dragged. I became annoyed at never really seeing who the true culprit was. I always thought that would be the end of the book, but it never was. It just seemed to go on and on. I finally had to put it down about a chapter and a half before the end. After all of that. All the plot twists, characters and wild magic things had my head spinning, and at the end I just didn't care anymore.
So,
I was disappointed. Magic Bites started off so well, but became cumbersome and anti-climatic. —J.T.
Magic Bites
Magic Bites is an exciting urban fantasy with a unique premise and detailed world-building, somewhat marred by an unsatisfying twist in the story's central mystery.
I give Ilona Andrews a lot of points for creativity here. In Magic Bites' near-future setting, magic and technology come and go a bit like the weather; when magic is working, tech isn't, and vice versa. The shifts are unpredictable, but it can be assumed there will be several per day. Andrews does a great job of exploring all the aspects of this situation and the ways people find to cope with it (magic-powered light bulbs to back up electric ones, horseback travel, etc.). I loved the well-thought-out explanation for why telephones occasionally work during a magic phase. Especially haunting was the image of downtown Atlanta, its skyscrapers crumbling away with every onslaught of magic.
Also laudable is Andrews' use of mythological creatures. As a fan of urban fantasy, a trend that saddens me in many recent novels is the fixation on vampires and werewolves to the exclusion of everything else. World folklore gives us a lot of "things that go bump in the night" to play with. In Magic Bites, there are vampires and werewolves (of course) but also other beasties, and the central villain is a horrific creature that exists in folklore but that I've never seen used before in a novel.
The heroine, Kate, is part of the novel's uniqueness as well. At first, I didn't like her — she seemed to be yet another of those urban fantasy heroines who constantly make fools of themselves to prove they're tough, and somehow everyone loves them anyway. It turns out, though, that while Kate wisecracks constantly, there are consequences to her abrasive style. Andrews allows other characters to be offended by her heroine, and that's something that's all too rare.
Where Magic Bites lost me was in a brief series of scenes late in the story. There are two characters who might have done something awful; we'll call them A and B. For reasons I never quite understood, everyone becomes convinced that A did the deed. Beats me why they think this. There aren't really any clues pointing toward A. B, on the other hand, might as well have "Guilty" tattooed on his or her forehead. B has been telegraphing guilt throughout the book. Yet somehow no one thinks of him/her until A is exonerated. Then, to confuse me more, the character who was the ringleader in accusing A gets mad at Kate over the whole fiasco, even though it was his idea. I was lost, to say the least. If A was going to be a red herring, there should have been more clues leading in that direction, and B's guilt should have been more subtle.
It picks back up after that, though, and there's a suspenseful showdown with the baddie, and an ending that ties up the story nicely but leaves room for sequels, the first of which is already out.
I should mention that Magic Bites contains a lot of gory violence.
I would recommend Magic Bites to anyone who enjoyed early Laurell K. Hamilton; its blend of mystery, horror, and a tough heroine gives it some of the same "feel." —K.L.
 Magic Burns
After I finished the first book of Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series I was seriously worried that we were headed down the path to another of the too-powerful-to-be-believable heroines. The characters were interesting and Ms Andrews' idea for bringing magic and technology together was good, but I seriously wondered if our heroine was going to be another Anita Blake who develops new powers every other page.
But, Ilona Andrews gets a big thumb up for letting her heroine get her butt royally kicked several times in Magic Burns. She’s still a really bratty, smart-mouthed girl who happens to be really, really powerful in magic and other things. But, here’s the great part: there is a good explanation for a lot of it. She doesn’t just magically have powers — she has been to schools and she studies on her own to get better. What? A heroine who works at it?? Thank you, Ms. Andrews, for writing with your brain intact.
Magic Burns starts up pretty much were the first book left off. Kate, our heroine, is still struggling financially, has a hard time keeping a boyfriend, and doesn’t play nice with others. Her interactions with other paranormal groups continue and she keeps trying to do good while staying as sassy and likeable as before.
The storyline follows Kate through the advent of a major surge/spike in magic and the interactions of several different groups who are being affected. The Beastlord who she flirted/fought with during Magic Bites remains a strong supporting character, but Ilona Andrews doesn’t just throw them together for the almost mandatory sex scenes that these books too often include without reason. Again, nice job Ms. Andrews. —J.H.
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