Sunday, July 25, 2010

Review: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews


Title: Magic Bites
Author: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Kate Daniels #1







 
I think one word sums up this book: Curran. : dreamy sigh: Now I know why people love him so much-and I hear it only gets better with books 2, 3 and 4. I can't wait!

I have to admit, while I really started enjoying the book towards the middle half of the book, all the world building stuff confused me, and I realized that I have trouble with Urban Fantasy books that are more Fantasy based then romance based.

 Kate Daniels lives in Atlanta, in a world where magic freezes, and people off the grid can use magic whatever way they want...when the magic unfreezes and technology comes back, the magic goes away as quickly as it comes. Kate is a mercenary who goes after the people who use magic when the technology goes down. Her guardian is murdered and she is determined to find the person how kills him-which leads her into trouble with the different magic factions in town:  the order-who controls all things magic, the Vampires who are called "The People" and the Shifters.  When Kate digs a little deeper into who killed her guardian, she finds that all sides have had mysterious deaths that they can't explain, and Kate is the perfect person to help solve the cases because she's so neutral. She's in way over her head, but that's ok with her.

I really liked Kate as a heroine-she's tough, independent and snarky. Three things I love in an UF hero. The one problem I had though, was that all the magic stuff was really confusing to me until about midway through the book. Once Curran came along and stirred things up, everything fell into place. I just don't understand why, in Urban Fantasy books it takes so long sometimes for everything to be explained? Even though it took a long time for things to get moving, I still really liked the story, and can't wait to read the other books!

Crush Meter: High (loved Curran!)
Sigh Meter: Low
Ethan/Merit Sizzle Meter: Medium
Barrons Hero Hotness Meter: High
Action Meter: High