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jessica_thelen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
katieinca's review against another edition
4.0
Very like the 8 that came before it, with continued moving along of the uber-plot. Plenty of the witty banter, absurd situations, favorite characters, and tricky pickles, capped with a big fighty scene.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
There were a lot of things I really liked about this. The only reason I didn't rate it five stars is because I'm kind of tired with the whole thing with Kate and her father. It's just been stretching out way too long, for me.
severelyhopefulcloud's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bitchie's review against another edition
5.0
Fucking fantastic! Once I finally sat down and started reading, I couldn't put this down, reading well into the morning. The plot didn't always go the way I feared it would (with Kate doing something stupid for Curran and Julie's sake), thank goodness.
And now, I have to wait, until the end of August! At least there's Hugh's book to look forward to!
And now, I have to wait, until the end of August! At least there's Hugh's book to look forward to!
kzimm2024's review against another edition
5.0
Original read May 2018, 5 stars and no review
Re-read Feb 2024, 4.75 stars and I really like how Kate tries to change the future but dealing with dear old dad is getting tiresome...
Spoilers in the highlights, tried to keep them a minimum.
As always, its the characters we love. I love how this story starts with a visit to Roman who is NOT answering his phone:
“No sacrificial pit ringed with skulls?” I asked.
“Ha. Ha.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Never heard that one before. I keep the virgins chained up in the basement. Do you want some coffee?”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Black?”
“No, put cream in it.”
“Good man. Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit, sit.”
-----------
Roman appeared with two mugs, one pitch-black and the other clearly half-filled with cream. He gave the lighter mug to Curran.
“Drinking yours black, I see,” I told him.
He shrugged and sat on the couch. “Eh . . . goes with the job. So what can I do for you?”
“We’re getting married,” I said.
“I know. Congratulations. On Ivan Kupala night. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s brave.”
-----------
He plugged the phone into the outlet. It rang. Roman stared at it as if it were a viper. The phone rang again. He unplugged it. “There.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I told him.
“Oh, it’s bad.” Roman nodded. “My dad refused to help my second sister buy a house, because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. My mother called him and it went badly. She cursed him. Every time he urinates, the stream arches up and over.” LOLOLOL
Mahon:
“You’re looking thinner. Trimming down for the wedding? Or she not feeding you enough?”
“He eats what he kills,” I said. “I can’t help it that he’s a lousy hunter.”
Mahon chuckled.
“I’ve been busy,” Curran said. “The Guild takes a lot of work. Outside the Keep, it’s not all feasts and honey muffins. You should try it sometime. You’re getting a gut and winter isn’t coming for six months.”
Curran loves his Guild gig:
I leaned over to Curran and kissed him. His arms closed around me and he squeezed me to him for one bone-crunching second. “I’m off.”
“I’ll be right here,” he said.
“Have fun with your A-team. Sharpen some knives. Clean some guns. Don’t kill anybody while I’m gone.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
Andrea:
A Pack Jeep turned onto our street and slid to a stop in front of our house. The window rolled down and Andrea stuck her blond head out. “I’m free! Free!”
Oh boy. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Keep?” I could’ve sworn Raphael told me during the Conclave that Doolittle had confined her to the medward.
“Screw that. We’re going to lunch.”
“It’s almost dinnertime.”
“Then we’re going to dinch. Or lunner. Or whatever the hell early-dinner-late-lunch stupid combo we can come up with.”
“Now isn’t . . .”
Andrea’s eyes blazed. “Kate, I’m nine months pregnant and I’m hungry. Get in the damn car.”
--------------
“You’re letting him get to you. You’re like a walking mythological encyclopedia, Kate. You pull random mystical crap out of your head and figure out that a giant monster nobody has seen on the face of the planet for three thousand years is allergic to hedgehogs and then you find a cute hedgehog and stab the monster in the eye with it.”
“Where do you even get this shit?”
Kate has some serious things to decide, let Curran die or her child die or her dreams die. Thankfully Curran is a voice of reason throughout this whole book:
“Yes.”
“Then we get married. Fuck them.” He put his arm around me and squeezed me to him. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather die married to you. But more important, what makes you think I’ll roll over?”
“I didn’t say you would. I have no plans to roll over. I want to win, but I don’t know how.”
Jim gives me whiplash- friend, not friend, concerned, not concerned- I don't like him at all.
Kate decides a show of power is needed:
I touched the surface of the ocean. It pulsed. Curran jumped backward a full fifteen feet.
Now that felt interesting. I touched it again. Another pulse.
“Every time I use my magic, everybody gets so concerned. I defend them, I bleed for them, and the moment the immediate danger passes, they let me know how much they disapprove. As if their fucking disapproval matters. As if I should ask their permission, like a servant, to do what is in my power.”
“Kate,” he said. “I know you’re in there. Stop.”
-----------
“You know that’s not me.”
“I know. You’re the least power-hungry person I’ve ever met. You’re also the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. Disrespectful. Mouthy.”
“You mean independent and proactive in taking initiative.”
“That, too. Also infuriating. And strong. You won’t let anyone take your freedom, Kate.”
And these are entirely relatable moments that make my heart happy:
I went to the larger filing cabinet and rifled through the files. “Where is the Weird Crap folder?”
“Derek has it.” Ascanio walked over to Derek’s desk, grabbed the folder, and handed it to me.
I looked at Ascanio. “Where’s the rest?” He shrugged his shoulders, his face a picture of perfect innocence. “Julie was the one who filed it. I just work here. I have no idea why the Blond Harpy does anything.”
Argh.
Kate and Julie finally talk and eventually Julie gets to see Roland as even worse. And this is why Kate is making these hard decisions- I would have no clue what to do:
“Decide,” Roman-Chernobog repeated.
I raised my head and looked the god in the eye. “No.”
Aspid hissed.
“You’re asking me for something not in my power to give. I guard the land. I do not own it and I do not own its people. They pray to their own gods.”
“Then you die,” Roman-Chernobog said.
LOVE this:
Aspid hissed and slithered to Roman, the serpent dragon’s huge head level with him. If he opened his mouth, he could swallow the volhv in one gulp.
Roman shook his head, clearing it. The dragon opened his mouth, his teeth like long curved sabers. Oh crap.
“Roman!” I started toward them and sank into the mud. Aspid’s long serpentine tongue flicked out and wound around the volhv. I sped up, splashing through the bog. There was no way I could make it through all this muck in time.
Roman blinked again and smacked Aspid’s nose with his hand. “What did I say about kisses? No kisses unless invited.” Aspid’s tongue contracted. He pulled Roman into his mouth. I sprinted.
“Yes, I love you, too,” Roman said from inside the forest of teeth. “I need to go now. Come on.” The dragon opened his mouth and put Roman back into the mud.
and Roman in a nutshell:
“Happens every time,” Roman said. “He misses his father. I’m a substitute until he sees Chernobog in the next flare.”
“You have a weird life.”
“Look who’s talking.” He shrugged. “It’s not that I’m that evil, really. I’m just beloved by evil things.”
Yay Christopher!
“What will you do now?” I asked.
He smiled, baring vampire fangs. “When you fight your father, I will soar above you. I want to be the last thing he sees before he dies.”
So far I had the god of evil and the god of terror on my side. My good-guy image was taking a serious beating.
Maybe I should recruit some unicorns or kittens with rainbow powers to even us out.
Her pegasi companion for the trip to Mishmar:
At least I had stopped worrying about Sugar flying off and leaving me to fend for myself. She seemed to find me amusing and stuck around.
I’d learned to sneak off before taking a bathroom break, however, because she decided that pawing at me with a hoof after I found a secluded spot to pee was the funniest thing ever.
Kate has a face to face with Roland at the Guild:
I’d done it again. Damn it. I’d let the magic drag me away from who I was.
“What the hell was all that about?” Juke asked. “All I heard was a weird hissing language with some ‘fucks’ in it.”
Ah- this explains Julie's connection with Derek!
My aunt, the downer.
“Binding a child of the Koorgahn. A dangerous game you’re playing, squirrel.”
“I was trying to save her. She was dying of loupism.”
“Yes, they are susceptible. Wolves, horses, and birds of prey, those are her things.
Wedding planning!~
“Can he select the cake?” I pointed at Curran. “This wedding involves two of us.”
“He already did,” Mary said. “These are the choices he narrowed down.”
I turned to Curran. “You narrowed it down to sixteen choices?”
“They were all very delicious,” he said.
----------
Roman heaved a sigh and looked at Mary. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Roman, if I don’t do this, Atlanta will be destroyed.”
“Atlanta is always getting destroyed,” Mary said. “Eat some cake. It will make you feel better.”
“Before I forget,” Roman said. “Sienna said to tell you to beware . . .” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Crocuta crocuta spelaea. Apparently it’s going to try to murder you.
Don’t you want to eat some delicious cake before you die a horrible death?”
Erra is growing on me :) glad she is helping Kate:
My aunt peered at the drawings. We waited.
“Moron.” Erra rolled her head back and laughed. “Oh, that sentimental fool! This is what happens when a man is thinking with his dick.”
--------------
"Do you understand? You are bound together. He can’t kill you. If he does, he will die with you.”
My brain screeched to a halt. There was no way. Curran laughed. The two of us looked at him.
“It’s not funny,” I told him.
“It’s hilarious.”
-----------LOVE Curran---------
“Is that what you do?” Erra asked. “You keep track of the times she almost dies?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to find yourself some shapeshifter heifer and have a litter of kittens, rather than deal with all this?”
I thought we were over this.
“Well, if I’m banging a heifer, technically the kids would have an equal chance of being calves and kittens,” Curran said. “So it might be a litter or a small herd.”
YES!
“If you remove adversity, you remove ingenuity and creativity with it. There is no need to strive to make something beautiful or better if it already is.”
Barabas:
“Can I talk to Christopher?” I asked.
“He’s his own man.”
I lowered my voice. “How are things?”
“Horribly awkward. Also confusing. I used to have to keep track of when he bathed and ate. Now he’s patrolling the grounds. We discussed your father last night. Christopher may be the smartest man I’ve ever spoken to.”
“And that’s bad how?” Barabas heaved a sigh. “It’s complicated.”
“I thought you found intelligence attractive.”
“I do. As I said, complicated.”
They join forces with the People and the Pack and others (Guild, Order, witches, Roman) to rout Roland- temporary success!
And a wedding- finally!! Love the cliffhanger :)
Re-read Feb 2024, 4.75 stars and I really like how Kate tries to change the future but dealing with dear old dad is getting tiresome...
Spoilers in the highlights, tried to keep them a minimum.
As always, its the characters we love. I love how this story starts with a visit to Roman who is NOT answering his phone:
“No sacrificial pit ringed with skulls?” I asked.
“Ha. Ha.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Never heard that one before. I keep the virgins chained up in the basement. Do you want some coffee?”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Black?”
“No, put cream in it.”
“Good man. Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit, sit.”
-----------
Roman appeared with two mugs, one pitch-black and the other clearly half-filled with cream. He gave the lighter mug to Curran.
“Drinking yours black, I see,” I told him.
He shrugged and sat on the couch. “Eh . . . goes with the job. So what can I do for you?”
“We’re getting married,” I said.
“I know. Congratulations. On Ivan Kupala night. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s brave.”
-----------
He plugged the phone into the outlet. It rang. Roman stared at it as if it were a viper. The phone rang again. He unplugged it. “There.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I told him.
“Oh, it’s bad.” Roman nodded. “My dad refused to help my second sister buy a house, because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. My mother called him and it went badly. She cursed him. Every time he urinates, the stream arches up and over.” LOLOLOL
Mahon:
“You’re looking thinner. Trimming down for the wedding? Or she not feeding you enough?”
“He eats what he kills,” I said. “I can’t help it that he’s a lousy hunter.”
Mahon chuckled.
“I’ve been busy,” Curran said. “The Guild takes a lot of work. Outside the Keep, it’s not all feasts and honey muffins. You should try it sometime. You’re getting a gut and winter isn’t coming for six months.”
Curran loves his Guild gig:
I leaned over to Curran and kissed him. His arms closed around me and he squeezed me to him for one bone-crunching second. “I’m off.”
“I’ll be right here,” he said.
“Have fun with your A-team. Sharpen some knives. Clean some guns. Don’t kill anybody while I’m gone.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
Andrea:
A Pack Jeep turned onto our street and slid to a stop in front of our house. The window rolled down and Andrea stuck her blond head out. “I’m free! Free!”
Oh boy. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Keep?” I could’ve sworn Raphael told me during the Conclave that Doolittle had confined her to the medward.
“Screw that. We’re going to lunch.”
“It’s almost dinnertime.”
“Then we’re going to dinch. Or lunner. Or whatever the hell early-dinner-late-lunch stupid combo we can come up with.”
“Now isn’t . . .”
Andrea’s eyes blazed. “Kate, I’m nine months pregnant and I’m hungry. Get in the damn car.”
--------------
“You’re letting him get to you. You’re like a walking mythological encyclopedia, Kate. You pull random mystical crap out of your head and figure out that a giant monster nobody has seen on the face of the planet for three thousand years is allergic to hedgehogs and then you find a cute hedgehog and stab the monster in the eye with it.”
“Where do you even get this shit?”
Kate has some serious things to decide, let Curran die or her child die or her dreams die. Thankfully Curran is a voice of reason throughout this whole book:
“Yes.”
“Then we get married. Fuck them.” He put his arm around me and squeezed me to him. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather die married to you. But more important, what makes you think I’ll roll over?”
“I didn’t say you would. I have no plans to roll over. I want to win, but I don’t know how.”
Jim gives me whiplash- friend, not friend, concerned, not concerned- I don't like him at all.
Kate decides a show of power is needed:
I touched the surface of the ocean. It pulsed. Curran jumped backward a full fifteen feet.
Now that felt interesting. I touched it again. Another pulse.
“Every time I use my magic, everybody gets so concerned. I defend them, I bleed for them, and the moment the immediate danger passes, they let me know how much they disapprove. As if their fucking disapproval matters. As if I should ask their permission, like a servant, to do what is in my power.”
“Kate,” he said. “I know you’re in there. Stop.”
-----------
“You know that’s not me.”
“I know. You’re the least power-hungry person I’ve ever met. You’re also the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. Disrespectful. Mouthy.”
“You mean independent and proactive in taking initiative.”
“That, too. Also infuriating. And strong. You won’t let anyone take your freedom, Kate.”
And these are entirely relatable moments that make my heart happy:
I went to the larger filing cabinet and rifled through the files. “Where is the Weird Crap folder?”
“Derek has it.” Ascanio walked over to Derek’s desk, grabbed the folder, and handed it to me.
I looked at Ascanio. “Where’s the rest?” He shrugged his shoulders, his face a picture of perfect innocence. “Julie was the one who filed it. I just work here. I have no idea why the Blond Harpy does anything.”
Argh.
Kate and Julie finally talk and eventually Julie gets to see Roland as even worse. And this is why Kate is making these hard decisions- I would have no clue what to do:
“Decide,” Roman-Chernobog repeated.
I raised my head and looked the god in the eye. “No.”
Aspid hissed.
“You’re asking me for something not in my power to give. I guard the land. I do not own it and I do not own its people. They pray to their own gods.”
“Then you die,” Roman-Chernobog said.
LOVE this:
Aspid hissed and slithered to Roman, the serpent dragon’s huge head level with him. If he opened his mouth, he could swallow the volhv in one gulp.
Roman shook his head, clearing it. The dragon opened his mouth, his teeth like long curved sabers. Oh crap.
“Roman!” I started toward them and sank into the mud. Aspid’s long serpentine tongue flicked out and wound around the volhv. I sped up, splashing through the bog. There was no way I could make it through all this muck in time.
Roman blinked again and smacked Aspid’s nose with his hand. “What did I say about kisses? No kisses unless invited.” Aspid’s tongue contracted. He pulled Roman into his mouth. I sprinted.
“Yes, I love you, too,” Roman said from inside the forest of teeth. “I need to go now. Come on.” The dragon opened his mouth and put Roman back into the mud.
and Roman in a nutshell:
“Happens every time,” Roman said. “He misses his father. I’m a substitute until he sees Chernobog in the next flare.”
“You have a weird life.”
“Look who’s talking.” He shrugged. “It’s not that I’m that evil, really. I’m just beloved by evil things.”
Yay Christopher!
“What will you do now?” I asked.
He smiled, baring vampire fangs. “When you fight your father, I will soar above you. I want to be the last thing he sees before he dies.”
So far I had the god of evil and the god of terror on my side. My good-guy image was taking a serious beating.
Maybe I should recruit some unicorns or kittens with rainbow powers to even us out.
Her pegasi companion for the trip to Mishmar:
At least I had stopped worrying about Sugar flying off and leaving me to fend for myself. She seemed to find me amusing and stuck around.
I’d learned to sneak off before taking a bathroom break, however, because she decided that pawing at me with a hoof after I found a secluded spot to pee was the funniest thing ever.
Kate has a face to face with Roland at the Guild:
I’d done it again. Damn it. I’d let the magic drag me away from who I was.
“What the hell was all that about?” Juke asked. “All I heard was a weird hissing language with some ‘fucks’ in it.”
Ah- this explains Julie's connection with Derek!
My aunt, the downer.
“Binding a child of the Koorgahn. A dangerous game you’re playing, squirrel.”
“I was trying to save her. She was dying of loupism.”
“Yes, they are susceptible. Wolves, horses, and birds of prey, those are her things.
Wedding planning!~
“Can he select the cake?” I pointed at Curran. “This wedding involves two of us.”
“He already did,” Mary said. “These are the choices he narrowed down.”
I turned to Curran. “You narrowed it down to sixteen choices?”
“They were all very delicious,” he said.
----------
Roman heaved a sigh and looked at Mary. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Roman, if I don’t do this, Atlanta will be destroyed.”
“Atlanta is always getting destroyed,” Mary said. “Eat some cake. It will make you feel better.”
“Before I forget,” Roman said. “Sienna said to tell you to beware . . .” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Crocuta crocuta spelaea. Apparently it’s going to try to murder you.
Don’t you want to eat some delicious cake before you die a horrible death?”
Erra is growing on me :) glad she is helping Kate:
My aunt peered at the drawings. We waited.
“Moron.” Erra rolled her head back and laughed. “Oh, that sentimental fool! This is what happens when a man is thinking with his dick.”
--------------
"Do you understand? You are bound together. He can’t kill you. If he does, he will die with you.”
My brain screeched to a halt. There was no way. Curran laughed. The two of us looked at him.
“It’s not funny,” I told him.
“It’s hilarious.”
-----------LOVE Curran---------
“Is that what you do?” Erra asked. “You keep track of the times she almost dies?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to find yourself some shapeshifter heifer and have a litter of kittens, rather than deal with all this?”
I thought we were over this.
“Well, if I’m banging a heifer, technically the kids would have an equal chance of being calves and kittens,” Curran said. “So it might be a litter or a small herd.”
YES!
“If you remove adversity, you remove ingenuity and creativity with it. There is no need to strive to make something beautiful or better if it already is.”
Barabas:
“Can I talk to Christopher?” I asked.
“He’s his own man.”
I lowered my voice. “How are things?”
“Horribly awkward. Also confusing. I used to have to keep track of when he bathed and ate. Now he’s patrolling the grounds. We discussed your father last night. Christopher may be the smartest man I’ve ever spoken to.”
“And that’s bad how?” Barabas heaved a sigh. “It’s complicated.”
“I thought you found intelligence attractive.”
“I do. As I said, complicated.”
They join forces with the People and the Pack and others (Guild, Order, witches, Roman) to rout Roland- temporary success!
And a wedding- finally!! Love the cliffhanger :)
astrodish's review against another edition
5.0
5 fantasy stars ✨
This series is wonderful. I don't even know where to start but this checked all my magic loving boxes.
Auto buy author(s) for all time.
This series is wonderful. I don't even know where to start but this checked all my magic loving boxes.
Auto buy author(s) for all time.
bhookjunkhie's review against another edition
5.0
Holy crap! That was awesome❤️❤️....I could read a few hundred more pages!! Can't wait for more!
caitybell's review against another edition
5.0
I AM PANICKING BECAUSE AFTER FINISHING THIS BOOK I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE KATE DANIELS NOVEL AND I AM NOT READY!
This book finally leveled out the change in pace and character development that began a couple books back with the big bad finally showing up. It was a different speed and it has taken me a little getting used to it, but this book really helped me get back to what I love most about the series.
I can not (but also kinda want to because omg it can’t be over yet!) wait to read the next book!
This book finally leveled out the change in pace and character development that began a couple books back with the big bad finally showing up. It was a different speed and it has taken me a little getting used to it, but this book really helped me get back to what I love most about the series.
I can not (but also kinda want to because omg it can’t be over yet!) wait to read the next book!