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hanz's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Definitely one of my fave installments of the series. Ghastek gets some legit facetime and we learn some of his history. Kate gets some revenge. Big stuff happens overall.
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Pregnancy, Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Vomit
librarymouse's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
This whole book is a big change to the series while fitting in quite comfortably with the rest of the books. Hugh being a giant fuck up is great. Kate is a slow study, but a good student, and taking advantage of her and Barabbas' knowledge of human and pack law to upend Hugh's plan was wonderful!
I'm deeply upset by characters I love being used as canon fodder, but I understand the need for their deaths to convey the weight of the situations our characters are in. I spent the entire book waiting for Robert to betray Kate, but I'm glad it was more of an opportunity for readers and Kate to become better acquainted with clan rat.
I'm very excited for Andrea's future kiddos and the possibility of Julie playing babysitter and Kate once again being an aunt. I look forward to seeing what Jim does with the pack. And I look forward to seeing how this changes the dynamics in future books.
Roland is definitely a wild card character. I'm excited for whatever lore about him and anything else we'll get in the next few books.
I'm deeply upset by characters I love being used as canon fodder, but I understand the need for their deaths to convey the weight of the situations our characters are in. I spent the entire book waiting for Robert to betray Kate, but I'm glad it was more of an opportunity for readers and Kate to become better acquainted with clan rat.
I'm very excited for Andrea's future kiddos and the possibility of Julie playing babysitter and Kate once again being an aunt. I look forward to seeing what Jim does with the pack. And I look forward to seeing how this changes the dynamics in future books.
Roland is definitely a wild card character. I'm excited for whatever lore about him and anything else we'll get in the next few books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, and Vomit
Minor: Abortion and Slavery
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this on its own and as a climactic entry in a long-running series. It marks the first appearance of Roland, at long last, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the series plays out. Kate has changed enormously since the beginning of the series, so much so that she feels like a different narrator from the early books. She's redirected her feelings towards caring for and about the people she loves, rather than being consumed by the need to hide from her father long enough to get strong and kill him.
Kate stops being able to keep a lot of things secret, losing a lot of the reasons which were encouraging her silence. Kate and Curran are a much more unified front in this book, it feels like the conversations they had in MAGIC RISES were very good for them as a couple. A little of that is made easier by Curran being in another location for most of the book, but it was a bittersweet absence. Robert and Thomas, the Rat alphas, get more of a spotlight than they've had all series. This includes a discussion of how they keep being out of the loop which is so meta that it feels like it's doing double duty as an explanation to the readers as well as the alphas.
The worldbuilding includes more specific information about Roland, including a truly terrifying prison which he had constructed a while ago. Ghastek gets a bit of spotlight when he and Kate are forced to spend time together, he's an interesting character and I enjoyed finding out some of his backstory.
MAGIC BREAKS wraps up a few major things that were left hanging, such as whether Roland's Warlord survived their last fight. Most of the big changes have been telegraphed for a while, but are finally coming to a head. The biggest thing it addresses which I didn't expect to get resolved is the status of Ted, the extremely bigoted head of the local Order chapter (and Kate's former sort-of boss). The scenes around that are some of the tensest and most climactic in the whole book, coming midway through and setting a high bar for the second half to meet. It meets and exceeds it, though the ending is more driven by power displays than sheer gore. There is technically a new storyline because Kate is made to solve a murder that was orchestrated specifically to place her and the Pack in a situation with no escape. This isn't the last book in the series, even though it feels very climactic. It changes the status quo in some very profound ways, uprooting things that have been settled since the first book. It could make sense to start here because there is a very thorough synopsis of the series so far as a kind of prologue told by one of the secondary characters. This changes enough things that if someone wanted to read that synopsis and take the current relationships as given, the book could make sense and be very enjoyable.
This main action launches when a meeting between the Pack and the People is interrupted by an accusation that a shapeshifter murdered a Master of the Dead. As the accusation is backed up by a dead body, Kate and a small team try and scope out the crime scene, knowing it's definitely a trap. By the end, things cannot stay as they were, and both Kate and Curran have to make some difficult decisions.
Kate stops being able to keep a lot of things secret, losing a lot of the reasons which were encouraging her silence. Kate and Curran are a much more unified front in this book, it feels like the conversations they had in MAGIC RISES were very good for them as a couple. A little of that is made easier by Curran being in another location for most of the book, but it was a bittersweet absence. Robert and Thomas, the Rat alphas, get more of a spotlight than they've had all series. This includes a discussion of how they keep being out of the loop which is so meta that it feels like it's doing double duty as an explanation to the readers as well as the alphas.
The worldbuilding includes more specific information about Roland, including a truly terrifying prison which he had constructed a while ago. Ghastek gets a bit of spotlight when he and Kate are forced to spend time together, he's an interesting character and I enjoyed finding out some of his backstory.
MAGIC BREAKS wraps up a few major things that were left hanging, such as whether Roland's Warlord survived their last fight. Most of the big changes have been telegraphed for a while, but are finally coming to a head. The biggest thing it addresses which I didn't expect to get resolved is the status of Ted, the extremely bigoted head of the local Order chapter (and Kate's former sort-of boss). The scenes around that are some of the tensest and most climactic in the whole book, coming midway through and setting a high bar for the second half to meet. It meets and exceeds it, though the ending is more driven by power displays than sheer gore. There is technically a new storyline because Kate is made to solve a murder that was orchestrated specifically to place her and the Pack in a situation with no escape. This isn't the last book in the series, even though it feels very climactic. It changes the status quo in some very profound ways, uprooting things that have been settled since the first book. It could make sense to start here because there is a very thorough synopsis of the series so far as a kind of prologue told by one of the secondary characters. This changes enough things that if someone wanted to read that synopsis and take the current relationships as given, the book could make sense and be very enjoyable.
This main action launches when a meeting between the Pack and the People is interrupted by an accusation that a shapeshifter murdered a Master of the Dead. As the accusation is backed up by a dead body, Kate and a small team try and scope out the crime scene, knowing it's definitely a trap. By the end, things cannot stay as they were, and both Kate and Curran have to make some difficult decisions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Torture, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Grief, Gore, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Self harm
Minor: Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, and Child death
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