Review: Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews

Title: Magic Bites

Author: Ilona Andrews

Published: March 2007

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal

Stand Alone/Series: Book 1, Kate Daniels

From the Author Site: Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for magic...

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while the guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic receeds as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizzare killings - and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league - but she wouldn't have it any other way...

Review: This book grabbed you from the very beginning and didn't let go until the end. A definite page-turner with non-stop action and suspense throughout the story. It is told all in the first person and masterfully done.

The story starts with Kate relaxing at home when a vampire comes to visit and asks her when she saw her guardian last. This compels Kate to check on her guardian, Greg, only to find out that he has be murdered. So Kate leave her safe, comfortable home and heads to Atlanta to investigate the death of her guardian who also happens to be the knight-diviner for the Knights of the Order of Merciful Aid of the Atlanta Chapter. The knight-protector for the Atlanta Chapter of the Order allows Kate to investigate of Greg's murder. From there everything goes wild. She get drawn into a mystery dealing with the deaths of shapeshifters (the Pack) and vampires (controlled by the Masters of the Dead or the People) and their respective leaders in the Atlanta area (Beast Lord aka Curran and Master of the Dead Nataraja).

Kate Daniels is a completely kick ass heroine, quite literally. No nonsense, action inclines and smart mouthed, that gets her into a lot of trouble. With her trusty sword, Slayer, she takes each problem and challenge head on. I love that she is straight forward, do what needs to be done kind of heroine. Also there is a mystery of her origins and the mystery of her blood is quite interesting and I hope that the author will enlighten us on it in future book.

The world was fascinating. Apparently technology ruled the world at one point, like ours, but suddenly magic started strongly flux into the world the throwing the world into chaos. It was interesting to see the struggle between technological equipments (cars, building, lights, etc.) and the magically equipment (cars that run on magic, leylines, feylanterns, etc.). I also liked the concept of vampires as puppets and are controlled by necromancers. It was very colorful and mostly believable. The history is somewhat sparse but adequate for the intent of the story. I would have like to see more of how magic re-entered the world and the founding of all the different organizations, but that just me and it was not really required for the storyline.

Keeper?: Yes

Recommendation: Anyone who enjoys a good story will enjoy this book. Lots of action and adventure and sticky situations. Not for someone looking for a romance. Though there is some, it is not the center piece of the story. (I do hope that she ends up with Curran in the long run though).

Rating: 4.5 of 5