Review: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

This is my re-read review for January (late, unfortunately). Nath is hosting this challenge. (And I see she is giving those of us who are late a chance to post this weekend–thanks!) I read the book a couple weeks ago, but haven’t done much blogging. I’ve been procrastinating about everything lately. It has been a stressful January and lots of things fell through the cracks–which makes me more stressed! I’ve decided to tackle projects one at a time and try to catch up.

During December our pipes froze and one of them burst. Our kitchen has been torn up and the weather was below freezing most of January. Our pipes froze again at one point when the temperature dipped to 13 below zero. We didn’t have any additional damage, but we’ve had to keep the house extra warm and keep water dripping when the temps were zero or below. (I hate to think what the heat and water bills are going to be.) The repairs are mostly done and the kitchen is looking great–except for all the stuff we still need to put away. I’m trying to sort and get rid of things we don’t use plus reorganize the cupboards–even the ones we don’t have empty for repairs! I have to admit I don’t enjoy doing this. It’s great when it’s done–but the actual process isn’t fun. I’m lucky my husband is a big help.

Anyway, February is a new month and one of my favorite months. We are going to visit my family in Oregon at the end of the month and the first part of March our son comes home for spring break so we have lots of  things to look forward to. Plus February looks like a great month for new books!

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Title: Magic Bites

Author: Ilona Andrews

Copyright: 2007

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Ace

Setting: A future Atlanta with magic and technology vying for dominance–with interesting results.

Part of a series: Yes; first in the series–the third book will be published in April.

Grade: A-

Future Atlanta is an interesting place to live. One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…

I read this book when it first came out in 2007 and liked it a lot, but with a new book coming out in April I realized I was fuzzy on some of the plot and world building. I’m glad I re-read it (and will probably read book 2 again), because I think I’ll enjoy the new book more.

These books are written by a husband and wife team and they’ve done a great job of seamless writing. I can’t tell that two people wrote the book. They’ve built an interesting and unique world. I especially like the ways consequences of the world shifting between magic and tech are illustrated. When the magic is up electric lights don’t work, for example. Magic doesn’t like skyscrapers so most have toppled over the years. When tech takes over the defensive spells against monsters don’t work. Andrews has done a good job of figuring out what the consequences might be for this world. This makes the book interesting just as a fantasy view of a magical world.

Andrews has also created interesting characters. The main character–Kate Daniels–is a kick-ass protagonist trying to solve the murder of her guardian. Her background is a mystery and I’m sure will be a subject in future books. She works as a mercenary fixing magical problems. She’s careful never to leave any of her blood around, because someone else might use it against her or discover some of her secrets.

Magic Bites has to spend time world building, foreshadowing events for future books, creating interesting characters and magical species and bureaucratic organizations which deal with magic and its consequences. This slows the action down a little, but it is often done as part of the action and since it’s setting up the rest of the series I don’t object too much.

The world building and characters all present an excellent start to this series. The plot is also very good. Kate discovers both the shapechangers and the necromancers have had a number of their people killed. Each thinks the other group is responsible. A war between the two groups would cause lots of bloodshed. There are a number of red herrings. Kate follows some of these false trails to her chagrin and embarrassment. She and her allies believe they have finally found the solution to the murders and stop this enemy. Kate soon realizes the solution was a little too simple and didn’t answer all the questions. Sure enough she soon finds herself with bigger problems. At first she can’t convince anyone else that they didn’t solve the total mystery, but they all discover they have a bigger, stronger enemy to fight.

I enjoyed the second read of this book. I like the fact that Kate has problems, foibles and isn’t perfect. I look forward to learning more about her in future books. As well as Magic Strikes (released on March 31) a novella–”Magic Mourns”–in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology will be published this summer. So far seven novels are planned in this series. Several other books/series are also about to be published or in progress by this talented duo.