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onthesamepage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
“I will kill anything that tries to hurt you,” he said, his voice quiet.
“I know. I will kill anything that tries to hurt you,” I told him.
Curran looked at me. “I just can’t figure out what to do when you hurt yourself. Who am I mad at?”
This is one of my favourite installments in the series because I live for hurt/comfort, and this book has so, so much of that. There's not as much overarching plot development here, but there is a lot of quality Curran/Kate content. I have so much love for their relationship and for the people they are, and how they have managed to find a way to compromise without fundamentally changing who they are as people.
“Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land—it is as if he had slain mankind entirely,” Luther said quietly.
“Yes.” Bahir nodded. The Qur’an had many different verses, some pointing to war, some pointing to peace, but the fifth chapter of it was clear on the subject of murder. Human life was precious.
I was also surprised (in a good way) by the Muslim representation. There are mentions of specific verses from the Quran, as well as a specific prayer Muslims say, and it makes me think that the authors did some research into Islam, which is nice to see.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Minor: Ableism
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
I had forgotten about a particular scene in this book and so when I was getting close to it I kept thinking, wait.. is that in this book? Even knowing it was coming, even knowing the outcome, I still cried. It was gut wrenching all over again.
I dreaded it, and I loved it all the same. Definitely one of the reasons why I keep coming back and rereading the series.
I dreaded it, and I loved it all the same. Definitely one of the reasons why I keep coming back and rereading the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Classism, Gore, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Murder, Sexism, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Self harm, Stalking, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Blood, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
Kate and Curran have left the Pack, but their move has complications and a friend has gone missing.
Kate is trying to track down Eduardo while she and Curran settle into their new home outside the Keep. What seems like a series of very strange occurrences related to Eduardo's disappearance turn out to have an interesting and extremely dangerous cause in common. Curran has to financially disentangle from the Pack in a manner that doesn't leave them wrecked, and he ends up taking on fixing up the Mercenary Guild as a very necessary project. The worldbuilding is intertwined with the plot, since the main new things requiring explanation are all connected in some way. Partway through, Kate is grievously injured in a way that perhaps not even Doolittle can fix. Even if he can, it may be at the cost of parts of her that she won't even realize are gone until it's too late.
MAGIC SHIFTS follows up on several things left hanging from the previous book. Roland is lurking around, attempting to be a father figure for Kate. There's also more of a spotlight on George and Eduardo, whose first major roles were in MAGIC RISES. There's a new storyline involving the two of them, which is introduced and mostly resolved by the end of the book. As always, some things are left for later, they're a mix of relationship changes and what I'm pretty sure is Kate setting up a resource for the future. Kate is still the narrator and her voice is consistent with the previous book. As I noted for that one, she has continuity with her immediately previous self, but she has changed enormously from the beginning of the series. Due to an injury partway through, there's also a difference between her narration at the beginning and end of the book, and there may be more effects in the books to come.
Someone who tried to start with this book and hadn't read the previous ones could probably make sense of it and have a good time. This is about things changing as a result of the previous book, and that one would be a much better jumping-on point since it has a series recap at the start. However, if someone did start with MAGIC SHIFTS then they would be reading a procedural-adjacent mystery which is much closer in tone to the first books in the series than to MAGIC BREAKS. It acts as a kind of style reset under the new status quo, with Kate doggedly pursuing a case and trying to get the various agencies to cooperate (except this time she has Curran with her).
This is my favorite book in the series so far, partly but not completely because it deals with TBI in a way that resonates with me personally. Kate is placed in a position where she doesn't know what she doesn't know, and might not even realize that anything is wrong. It's a deeply scary situation, and it's a kind of danger she and Curran haven't dealt with before.
Kate is trying to track down Eduardo while she and Curran settle into their new home outside the Keep. What seems like a series of very strange occurrences related to Eduardo's disappearance turn out to have an interesting and extremely dangerous cause in common. Curran has to financially disentangle from the Pack in a manner that doesn't leave them wrecked, and he ends up taking on fixing up the Mercenary Guild as a very necessary project. The worldbuilding is intertwined with the plot, since the main new things requiring explanation are all connected in some way. Partway through, Kate is grievously injured in a way that perhaps not even Doolittle can fix. Even if he can, it may be at the cost of parts of her that she won't even realize are gone until it's too late.
MAGIC SHIFTS follows up on several things left hanging from the previous book. Roland is lurking around, attempting to be a father figure for Kate. There's also more of a spotlight on George and Eduardo, whose first major roles were in MAGIC RISES. There's a new storyline involving the two of them, which is introduced and mostly resolved by the end of the book. As always, some things are left for later, they're a mix of relationship changes and what I'm pretty sure is Kate setting up a resource for the future. Kate is still the narrator and her voice is consistent with the previous book. As I noted for that one, she has continuity with her immediately previous self, but she has changed enormously from the beginning of the series. Due to an injury partway through, there's also a difference between her narration at the beginning and end of the book, and there may be more effects in the books to come.
Someone who tried to start with this book and hadn't read the previous ones could probably make sense of it and have a good time. This is about things changing as a result of the previous book, and that one would be a much better jumping-on point since it has a series recap at the start. However, if someone did start with MAGIC SHIFTS then they would be reading a procedural-adjacent mystery which is much closer in tone to the first books in the series than to MAGIC BREAKS. It acts as a kind of style reset under the new status quo, with Kate doggedly pursuing a case and trying to get the various agencies to cooperate (except this time she has Curran with her).
This is my favorite book in the series so far, partly but not completely because it deals with TBI in a way that resonates with me personally. Kate is placed in a position where she doesn't know what she doesn't know, and might not even realize that anything is wrong. It's a deeply scary situation, and it's a kind of danger she and Curran haven't dealt with before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Self harm, Torture, and Suicide
Minor: Rape and Confinement
relin's review
adventurous
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Excrement, Gore, Medical trauma, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Gun violence, Ableism, and Cursing
Minor: Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Sexism
Self harm comes up in the use of blood magic, but isn't tied strongly to harming for other reasons.
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