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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
I like Andrea as a character, but perhaps not as a main character. This story had some good parts, but it didn't hold my interest well.
One of my favorites, the world of post Shift Atlanta is so rich and the supporting characters are so multi dimensional that they all flow naturally into the spotlight in these novellas.
This rating is probably unfair. If this weren't a Kate Daniels World novel, I might give it five stars. But since it is, I missed Kate and Curran a lot. It's hard for me to give a book five stars when it felt like something was missing. Kate and Curran made some appearances, once or twice as a couple, and then Kate was involved in an action scene at one point. I wanted more!
I adored the mating game between Andrea and Raphael. Back in the earlier books, when Curran was courting Kate, we got to see how shapeshifters handle dating--basically, pranks and invasion of personal space mean "I love you." Now, with Andrea and Raphael, I got to see more of that. These were hilarious and fun moments.
The plot was excellent and well-executed, as I've come to expect of a Kate Daniels World novel. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into that. But I'll say only that I had no complaints about plot.
Outside of not seeing Kate and Curran as much as I'd like, my only other complaint came up toward the beginning of the book. In the first two action scenes, Andrea fought some kind of giant insects and then a giant blue beast. If you read the prior Andrea-Raphael novel, you'll recall that Andrea fought a giant dog in that one. So toward the beginning of this book, I was thinking: Is Andrea only going to fight giant creatures? I mean, the occasional giant creature is exciting. But after three (including the novella), it begins to look like a series of video game bosses. There are merits in fights between beings of similar size; for instance, the technique can be more refined. However, after the first third of the novel, the bad guys were more normal-sized (and hard-core in their own ways). So my concerns went away.
I adored the mating game between Andrea and Raphael. Back in the earlier books, when Curran was courting Kate, we got to see how shapeshifters handle dating--basically, pranks and invasion of personal space mean "I love you." Now, with Andrea and Raphael, I got to see more of that. These were hilarious and fun moments.
The plot was excellent and well-executed, as I've come to expect of a Kate Daniels World novel. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into that. But I'll say only that I had no complaints about plot.
Outside of not seeing Kate and Curran as much as I'd like, my only other complaint came up toward the beginning of the book. In the first two action scenes, Andrea fought some kind of giant insects and then a giant blue beast. If you read the prior Andrea-Raphael novel, you'll recall that Andrea fought a giant dog in that one. So toward the beginning of this book, I was thinking: Is Andrea only going to fight giant creatures? I mean, the occasional giant creature is exciting. But after three (including the novella), it begins to look like a series of video game bosses. There are merits in fights between beings of similar size; for instance, the technique can be more refined. However, after the first third of the novel, the bad guys were more normal-sized (and hard-core in their own ways). So my concerns went away.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. It was just not as good as later Kate books. It was more like the earlier ones and therefore it gets a grade like those.
Andrea was kick-ass, she has always been kick-ass. She has a horrible past, she is also something not that liked, beastkin. Yup her dad was actually an animal first. But she is just so Andrea, she fights, she wants to belong and I like her.
Raphael, oh what to say about him. Sleek, sexy, the favorite of the pack. Some of the things he did here just made me go all awwww, alpha ;) and other thing made me grind me teeth. They have issues to work through. But it was always been a dance between them.
The plot is that Pack members have been killed and it's up to her to find out who. I will say no more as it delivers a lot of different things into the mix.
I liked it. It gave me what I wanted. And I am a sucker for the mate frenzy shifters go through, all the mine mine mine.
Andrea was kick-ass, she has always been kick-ass. She has a horrible past, she is also something not that liked, beastkin. Yup her dad was actually an animal first. But she is just so Andrea, she fights, she wants to belong and I like her.
Raphael, oh what to say about him. Sleek, sexy, the favorite of the pack. Some of the things he did here just made me go all awwww, alpha ;) and other thing made me grind me teeth. They have issues to work through. But it was always been a dance between them.
The plot is that Pack members have been killed and it's up to her to find out who. I will say no more as it delivers a lot of different things into the mix.
I liked it. It gave me what I wanted. And I am a sucker for the mate frenzy shifters go through, all the mine mine mine.
Easily read and entertaining. I enjoy the Kate Daniel books more, but it was rather fun to get a different perspective.
Amazing from beginning to end. Andrea held her own, and I loved seeing how she embraced her beastly side. Ilona Andrews had been on my automatic buy list since I picked up the first Kate book, and my love for this writing duo was reinforced once again with this one. I never thought I associate purple shag carpet with sexy, but I'll never see it the same way again! Congrats, authors, on another exceptional example of storytelling!
Loved it.
My problem with the first Andrea short story is that she felt like a mini-KD. I still got a little of that in this one, but I thought it was handled a lot better. She might be an asskicker just like KD but this book added a different flavor to her asskickery. I like that her investigation is a bit more organized and focused than KD uses since she has a stronger Order background. The relationship drama was maybe a tad too much/overused in places but I like Andrea and Raphael together.
Also Roman. Where is the Roman book?! And Ascanio. Great side characters.
My problem with the first Andrea short story is that she felt like a mini-KD. I still got a little of that in this one, but I thought it was handled a lot better. She might be an asskicker just like KD but this book added a different flavor to her asskickery. I like that her investigation is a bit more organized and focused than KD uses since she has a stronger Order background. The relationship drama was maybe a tad too much/overused in places but I like Andrea and Raphael together.
Also Roman. Where is the Roman book?! And Ascanio. Great side characters.
Not sure why I didn't like this one as much as the series it grew from. By the end I was almost skimming, because I just wanted it to be finished. I don't dislike Andrea, she's just no Kate!
Definitely not a stand alone read, either.
Definitely not a stand alone read, either.
I wish Goodreads let us give half stars to books because this is a 2.5.
This wasn't a good reading experience at all, this was a chore, this was suffering and frustration while living inside the head of a person that was really childish, ungrateful, and arrogant. I know trauma can do a number on people but the journey is not consistent with the character itself from past books, all the prerogatives set in book one regarding pack and shifters are thrown out of the window because of the protagonist, so much so that she alludes to that fact herself but doesn't repent.
Andrea went from the best novella until now to my least favorite character in this universe, when she was one of my favorites.
This wasn't a good reading experience at all, this was a chore, this was suffering and frustration while living inside the head of a person that was really childish, ungrateful, and arrogant. I know trauma can do a number on people but the journey is not consistent with the character itself from past books, all the prerogatives set in book one regarding pack and shifters are thrown out of the window because of the protagonist, so much so that she alludes to that fact herself but doesn't repent.
Andrea went from the best novella until now to my least favorite character in this universe, when she was one of my favorites.
In Gunmetal Magic, the reader is taken away from Kate Daniel's point-of-view, and thrust upon Andrea Nash, ex-Knight of the Order and dangerous shapeshifter. We've previously seen Andrea in the other books in this series, as Kate's best friend and now business partner when they start their business "Cutting Edge Investigations". This is the first time we see life from Andrea's view. She got kicked out of the order because she was discovered to be a shapeshifter. Having suffering physical abuse as a child because she was "beastkin" she doesn't want to become part of a pack - even if one has such a attractive bouda called Raphael, who Andrea not only has a history with but she can't resist either. When four of Raphael's employees are killed, Andrea knows she will have to put her reservations aside and help the pack to find a killer.
I don't read a lot of urban fantasy, but I do love Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series. I'm heavily addicted to this series and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. I'm unfortunately a few books behind on both series, and so I decided to catch up by listening to the audiobook version of Gunmetal Magic.
For those fans of Kate and Curran, don't worry there is also Kate and Curran in Gunmetal Magic. But more importantly there is Andrea and Raphael! While I love Kate and Curran together, I was thrilled to discover more about Andrea and Raphael and hang onto every word to see if they would get together. As part of the courtship of boudas they like to pull pranks on each other, and the pranks were absolutely legendary and well worth a read for that alone!!
There was also a really interesting story involving gods, deities, cults and a whole lot of snakes. I loved riding alongside Andrea as she fought for her life and tried to save the pack from losing anymore people.
I really liked Andrea. She is tough as nails and I liked that she didn't just submit to the pack, because they told her too. She does everything her way in Gunmetal Magic and I have even more respect for Ilona Andrews for writing Andrea like this.
Gunmetal Magic was a fantastic book, and it was my first time listening to Renée Raudman narrate. She has a great voice and carried off the changes between human and shapeshifter warrior form extremely well. I plan to listen to all future Kate Daniels books as audiobooks for both her narration and the top-notch story.
I can't highly recommend this series enough for urban fantasy fans. Start at the beginning and settle in for a highly entertaining fantasy series.
I don't read a lot of urban fantasy, but I do love Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series. I'm heavily addicted to this series and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. I'm unfortunately a few books behind on both series, and so I decided to catch up by listening to the audiobook version of Gunmetal Magic.
For those fans of Kate and Curran, don't worry there is also Kate and Curran in Gunmetal Magic. But more importantly there is Andrea and Raphael! While I love Kate and Curran together, I was thrilled to discover more about Andrea and Raphael and hang onto every word to see if they would get together. As part of the courtship of boudas they like to pull pranks on each other, and the pranks were absolutely legendary and well worth a read for that alone!!
There was also a really interesting story involving gods, deities, cults and a whole lot of snakes. I loved riding alongside Andrea as she fought for her life and tried to save the pack from losing anymore people.
I really liked Andrea. She is tough as nails and I liked that she didn't just submit to the pack, because they told her too. She does everything her way in Gunmetal Magic and I have even more respect for Ilona Andrews for writing Andrea like this.
Gunmetal Magic was a fantastic book, and it was my first time listening to Renée Raudman narrate. She has a great voice and carried off the changes between human and shapeshifter warrior form extremely well. I plan to listen to all future Kate Daniels books as audiobooks for both her narration and the top-notch story.
I can't highly recommend this series enough for urban fantasy fans. Start at the beginning and settle in for a highly entertaining fantasy series.