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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
fast-paced
The Kate Daniels series was highly recommended to me by a friend with whom I share very similar reading tastes, so I expected to really like this book. However, I have pretty mixed feeling about Magic Bites.
My biggest complaint is that the magic system is vague and confusing. How is magic used? We're introduced to "words of power" at the beginning, but people are also able to perform magic outside of these words. Maybe it gets fleshed out more in the future books in the series, but it seems a flaw in the first book to not have at least a cohesive outline of a system that the reader can understand.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the protagonist, Kate. It's not that I didn't like her character, and more that I was just completely unable to connect with her. It's hard to pinpoint what the problem is, as she seems to tick all the boxes for the fierce and independent female characters I love, but something in her mannerisms just put me off.
That being said, I still found this to be a fast-paced and engaging read. I think the premise of a world that swings between magic and technology is an interesting concept, and I may still continue reading this series to see if it grows on me.
My biggest complaint is that the magic system is vague and confusing. How is magic used? We're introduced to "words of power" at the beginning, but people are also able to perform magic outside of these words. Maybe it gets fleshed out more in the future books in the series, but it seems a flaw in the first book to not have at least a cohesive outline of a system that the reader can understand.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the protagonist, Kate. It's not that I didn't like her character, and more that I was just completely unable to connect with her. It's hard to pinpoint what the problem is, as she seems to tick all the boxes for the fierce and independent female characters I love, but something in her mannerisms just put me off.
That being said, I still found this to be a fast-paced and engaging read. I think the premise of a world that swings between magic and technology is an interesting concept, and I may still continue reading this series to see if it grows on me.
Great start to the series! Yes, I'm an idiot and started with Aurelia Ryder and am now back-tracking to Kate Daniels. I think I actually liked this story a bit better than Blood Heir, but that might just be because the world and magic system are explained better, and because I wasn't missing 10+ books of context.
I really love how dark and gory the world is. The magic/tech shift is a cool magic system and I'm always down for paranormal urban fantasy where tons of different mythologies collide. It did drag a bit at the beginning, but I knew from the first paragraph that I would love Kate and post-shift Atlanta. I think there's room for the series and writing to grow and I'm excited to dive in to the rest.
I really love how dark and gory the world is. The magic/tech shift is a cool magic system and I'm always down for paranormal urban fantasy where tons of different mythologies collide. It did drag a bit at the beginning, but I knew from the first paragraph that I would love Kate and post-shift Atlanta. I think there's room for the series and writing to grow and I'm excited to dive in to the rest.
Re-read Sept 2023 (Graphic Audio edition)
Originally a 4-star, but I'm bumping this up to a 5 just because I enjoyed the GA production so much.
This was such a fun book to return to! I'm not technically done with the Kate Daniels series yet, but I really needed a familiar and light distraction this week. These early KD books have a charm that I've been missing in some of the later books, and I think it's due to the fact that the plots are more contained. There are brief mentions to the big-picture arc but we don't have to deal with it yet.
Magic Bites has so many iconic Kate Daniels moments and GA did a great job bringing those scenes to life. I liked this story even better the second time now that I'm familiar with the series world building and what's to come.
Graphic Audio (the brand) has been hit or miss for me. I love the idea of full-cast + sound effects productions similar to a radio drama, but GA tends to be overly-theatrical for my tastes. However they did an absolutely phenomenal job with this one! Loved all of the voice actors, the sound design, and even the near-constant-but-subtle background music.
This story flew by. I'm unclear how much they edited / rearranged / abridged in this version, but the story flowed nicely and I didn't have the same issues with pacing and world building descriptions that I did the first time around. I'm also happy that the Small Magics short stories and POVs are included in the GA edition. I very much enjoyed this and will probably end up listening to it again in the future.
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Original Review - Jan 2022
Great start to the series! Yes, I'm an idiot and started with Aurelia Ryder and am now back-tracking to Kate Daniels. I think I actually liked this story a bit better than Blood Heir, but that might just be because the world and magic system are explained better, and because I wasn't missing 10+ books of context.
I really love how dark and gory the world is. The magic/tech shift is a cool magic system and I'm always down for paranormal urban fantasy where tons of different mythologies collide. It did drag a bit at the beginning, but I knew from the first paragraph that I would love Kate and post-shift Atlanta. I think there's room for the series and writing to grow and I'm excited to dive in to the rest.
Originally a 4-star, but I'm bumping this up to a 5 just because I enjoyed the GA production so much.
This was such a fun book to return to! I'm not technically done with the Kate Daniels series yet, but I really needed a familiar and light distraction this week. These early KD books have a charm that I've been missing in some of the later books, and I think it's due to the fact that the plots are more contained. There are brief mentions to the big-picture arc but we don't have to deal with it yet.
Magic Bites has so many iconic Kate Daniels moments and GA did a great job bringing those scenes to life. I liked this story even better the second time now that I'm familiar with the series world building and what's to come.
Graphic Audio (the brand) has been hit or miss for me. I love the idea of full-cast + sound effects productions similar to a radio drama, but GA tends to be overly-theatrical for my tastes. However they did an absolutely phenomenal job with this one! Loved all of the voice actors, the sound design, and even the near-constant-but-subtle background music.
This story flew by. I'm unclear how much they edited / rearranged / abridged in this version, but the story flowed nicely and I didn't have the same issues with pacing and world building descriptions that I did the first time around. I'm also happy that the Small Magics short stories and POVs are included in the GA edition. I very much enjoyed this and will probably end up listening to it again in the future.
---------------------
Original Review - Jan 2022
Great start to the series! Yes, I'm an idiot and started with Aurelia Ryder and am now back-tracking to Kate Daniels. I think I actually liked this story a bit better than Blood Heir, but that might just be because the world and magic system are explained better, and because I wasn't missing 10+ books of context.
I really love how dark and gory the world is. The magic/tech shift is a cool magic system and I'm always down for paranormal urban fantasy where tons of different mythologies collide. It did drag a bit at the beginning, but I knew from the first paragraph that I would love Kate and post-shift Atlanta. I think there's room for the series and writing to grow and I'm excited to dive in to the rest.
Got almost to the end and had to quit. Graphic description of SA of a teenager. :(
Kate Daniels is kick ass. I'm very happy to dig into this series. A high 3 really almost 4 stars.
This series has been on my TBR for absolutely ages!
Anyways really good start to a series...hoping to read the rest of them soon.
Anyways really good start to a series...hoping to read the rest of them soon.
I adore this first installment in the series. It has such instantly iconic moments, and I liked the main characters.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No