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bree_h_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Animal death, and Body horror
Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Sexism
Minor: Self harm, Racism, Sexual assault, Infertility, Kidnapping, Rape, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Fatphobia
earlgaytea711's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ravenslanding's review against another edition
4.0
This is a grimdark urban fantasy. It's got graphic violence and brushes on sexual violence (though there is none on the page, and it is the villain being evil).
That said, it is still laced with dry humor that got better as the book went on. I laughed out loud a few times.
It took longer to like Kate than Nevada, but I do like Kate and want to keep reading.
The world is really interesting.
I knew some basic spoilers going in because I accidentally read a spin off that happens after Kate's main story, but I am enjoying the build up.
I took off a star because detailed description of entrails is rough on me. The fact that I am still reading is a testimony to how much I like everything else and trust in the author.
*second read through *
Kate's behavior in this story makes so much more sense having the context of later books, also it is really fun to see how much she has grown.
But I low key live for the moment when she sends a saucer of milk to Curren at the fancy restaurant. I also really love how Curren grows, and how his opinion of Kate changes. But even when they don't know or respect each other yet, you can see why the respect and regard start to grow.
That said, it is still laced with dry humor that got better as the book went on. I laughed out loud a few times.
It took longer to like Kate than Nevada, but I do like Kate and want to keep reading.
The world is really interesting.
I knew some basic spoilers going in because I accidentally read a spin off that happens after Kate's main story, but I am enjoying the build up.
I took off a star because detailed description of entrails is rough on me. The fact that I am still reading is a testimony to how much I like everything else and trust in the author.
*second read through *
Kate's behavior in this story makes so much more sense having the context of later books, also it is really fun to see how much she has grown.
But I low key live for the moment when she sends a saucer of milk to Curren at the fancy restaurant. I also really love how Curren grows, and how his opinion of Kate changes. But even when they don't know or respect each other yet, you can see why the respect and regard start to grow.
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
First in the Kate Daniels arcanepunk fantasy series that takes place in an alternate, apocalyptic Atlanta. Eeek!
My Take
I do love this series. And I see from my notes that this is the third time I've read it...and as soon as I finish this review, I intend to re-read it. Yet again. It's a fascinating world that Andrews has created with a world torn apart — literally — by a sudden onset of magic.
No, it's not a cabal or a secret black arts organization, but a natural phenomenon that has hit the world. A world we wouldn't recognize as it vacillates from tech to magic, disrupting any technology, crumbling hard infrastructure with power swinging between those who can't use magic and those who can. A world which has seen the rise of new organizations from legal to criminal to species in an attempt to survive.
An intriguing world intricately described and will appeal to those who enjoy reading dystopian-style stories with that human ingenuity for survival. But that's a subtheme.
The strength of Magic Bites is Kate. She's not rich or beautiful, but she does have a carefully hidden power with a strong sense of morality. She's fair, and no one is free of her skepticism. She trusts no one. She protects everyone. We're privy to Kate's thoughts, her silent acknowledgement of her weaknesses. And her brash refusal to lie down before them.
Oh, man, you have to love Kate's chutzpah when she's about to meet the Beast Lord for the first time. And he don't take no shit either, LOL.
Ooh, meow...Curran's got cheek telling Kate she's got "a bad case of spotlight deprivation". And he keeps going on about it...hasn't he spoken to Jim? Kate's occasional partner?
I wanna know why it took the Crusader two years to find the upir again.
Even amongst all the grimness, there's humor as when Kate tells Curran to send her a formal invitation next time...and he does, LOL.
I can't wait to read Magic Burns next.
The Story
The unexpected murder of Kate's remaining bit of family that sends her to the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid. With their help or without it, she'll find out who murdered the man she thought of as a father.
The Characters
Kate Daniels is with the Mercenary Guild, and she's not much on following orders or hierarchy. The magical sword she carries is named Slayer, and it must be fed. The Karmelion is a beat-up truck that runs on water infused with magic; regular cars, like Betsi, don't run when the magic's up. Greg Feldman is a member of the Order, a knight-diviner, and the man who took Kate in when she needed help, her legal guardian. Anna is Greg's ex-wife, a clairvoyant.
Dr. Maximillian Crest volunteers reconstructive surgery on the dead. Saiman is a completely different kind of shapechanger with an eye for Kate. He deals in information (see "A Questionable Client" in either Dark and Stormy Knights or Magic Graves).
The Pack
Jim Black is Kate's sometimes partner on Guild jobs and a member of the Pack Council, a jaguar. Curran Lennart, a man with a sense of humor, is the Beast Lord, king of the Pack, and the type of man Kate's father and Greg had warned her to avoid. Not someone you greet with a "Here kitty, kitty…" Corwin is a lynxwere. Mahon is the Kodiak, a bear shifter, a.k.a., the Executioner. Derek is a beautiful boy whose actions have repercussions. Jennifer is the female alpha-wolf. Dr. Doolittle is the Pack doctor. Aunt B leads the bouda, the hyenas.
Order of Knights of Merciful Aid
The Knight-protector in charge in Atlanta is Ted Monahan, a man with a preference for cowboy boots, hat, and fringed shirts. Maxine is the telepathic receptionist. Nick is a Crusader of the Order, a type of independent detective/assassin.
The People
Nataraja is the local lord of the People in Atlanta; Rowena is his second-in-command. Ghastek is a Master of the Dead, a title that indicates he has mastery in navigating a vampire. No vampire can be allowed to roam on its own. Bono is a journeyman navigator with an eye for the ladies. Roland is a legendary head of all the People.
The Groups and Organizations in Atlanta
The Pack is all the shapechangers in the Atlanta area and a bit beyond. It includes the bouda, wolves, bears, cats, rats, buffalo, foxes, you name it. It's led by the strongest among them: the Beast Lord. A loner is a shapechanger who chooses not to join the Pack; a loup is a shapechanger who allows their body to control their actions. Their central headquarters is the Keep. The Lycos Virus, a.k.a., Lyc-V for short, changes a human into a shapechanger, leading to the individual's battle between mind and body. If the mind wins, they join the Pack.
The People are necromancers who navigate the vampires; the Casino is their headquarters. Yeah, there is absolutely nothing romantic about these vampires.
The Mercenary Guild is hired when it's magic that the police can't or won't handle. The three legal enforcement divisions are the Paranormal Activity Police Division, which is like a magic SWAT unit; the Military Supernatural Defense Units; and, the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, which is similar to the Mercenary Guild, but you don't have to have money to hire them — just a clear conscience. And if you're lucky, you won't get dead.
The upir is a corpse-eater with a strong need to mate, to have a child capable of carrying on. Arag is his eldest son, a baboon hybrid. Olathe was the favored concubine of Roland, and she's a Mistress of the Dead. Yeah, a navigator...
The Cover and Title
The cover is an interesting range of greens and oranges with a cat-eyed Kate wielding her sword, Slayer, and decked out in black leather while a pensive-looking Curran in his lion form stares out at an angle. I would have thought a snarling Curran would better suit this particular installment. In the background is a hazy skyline of a crumbling Atlanta.
The title sums it up, for in this new world, Magic Bites.
My Take
I do love this series. And I see from my notes that this is the third time I've read it...and as soon as I finish this review, I intend to re-read it. Yet again. It's a fascinating world that Andrews has created with a world torn apart — literally — by a sudden onset of magic.
No, it's not a cabal or a secret black arts organization, but a natural phenomenon that has hit the world. A world we wouldn't recognize as it vacillates from tech to magic, disrupting any technology, crumbling hard infrastructure with power swinging between those who can't use magic and those who can. A world which has seen the rise of new organizations from legal to criminal to species in an attempt to survive.
An intriguing world intricately described and will appeal to those who enjoy reading dystopian-style stories with that human ingenuity for survival. But that's a subtheme.
I love this sentence, with every adjective and noun, it creates another shield against the world:Within this Andrews alternate universe, the authors introduce the primary cast of characters beautifully, providing just enough information that we learn their personalities, their characteristics, and what drives them; all of it presented in a natural manner. Andrews ties it all together without dumping the information on us. Instead, Kate's power and weaknesses, the Packs' protocols, and the People's preoccupations come through in the action. Andrews also lets slip suggestive details that made me curious the first time I read Magic Bites. Now as I reread, after I've learned what's so critical about Kate's obsession, I find myself wondering what other clues Andrews dropped that I missed the first few times. If there were accompanying snippets that would have tipped me off sooner...hmmm…
"Thick metal grates secured small windows, blocked by pale venetian blinds behind dusty glass."
The strength of Magic Bites is Kate. She's not rich or beautiful, but she does have a carefully hidden power with a strong sense of morality. She's fair, and no one is free of her skepticism. She trusts no one. She protects everyone. We're privy to Kate's thoughts, her silent acknowledgement of her weaknesses. And her brash refusal to lie down before them.
It's a reflex. Hear a bell, get food. See an undead, throw a knife. Same thing, really.Andrews includes just about all the supernatural world: shapechangers, demons, gods, and vampires. And then gives them all a twist I've not read before.
Oh, man, you have to love Kate's chutzpah when she's about to meet the Beast Lord for the first time. And he don't take no shit either, LOL.
The first is that "Here kitty, kitty, kitty…"The second is when Kate asks a waiter to deliver a saucer of milk to Curran".
Ooh, meow...Curran's got cheek telling Kate she's got "a bad case of spotlight deprivation". And he keeps going on about it...hasn't he spoken to Jim? Kate's occasional partner?
Curran reached for the needle, pulled it out, and dropped it to the floor, never taking his eyes off me.Gotta give Crest points for trying — and Kate's usual activities take a LOT of trying; I certainly don't grasp the Pack's need to go after him. It didn't make sense on the evidence. And what's with blaming Kate for that "hunch". The Pack Council is the one that jumped all over this.
"It's okay," I told him. "I have more."
I wanna know why it took the Crusader two years to find the upir again.
Even amongst all the grimness, there's humor as when Kate tells Curran to send her a formal invitation next time...and he does, LOL.
I can't wait to read Magic Burns next.
The Story
The unexpected murder of Kate's remaining bit of family that sends her to the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid. With their help or without it, she'll find out who murdered the man she thought of as a father.
The Characters
Kate Daniels is with the Mercenary Guild, and she's not much on following orders or hierarchy. The magical sword she carries is named Slayer, and it must be fed. The Karmelion is a beat-up truck that runs on water infused with magic; regular cars, like Betsi, don't run when the magic's up. Greg Feldman is a member of the Order, a knight-diviner, and the man who took Kate in when she needed help, her legal guardian. Anna is Greg's ex-wife, a clairvoyant.
Dr. Maximillian Crest volunteers reconstructive surgery on the dead. Saiman is a completely different kind of shapechanger with an eye for Kate. He deals in information (see "A Questionable Client" in either Dark and Stormy Knights or Magic Graves).
The Pack
Jim Black is Kate's sometimes partner on Guild jobs and a member of the Pack Council, a jaguar. Curran Lennart, a man with a sense of humor, is the Beast Lord, king of the Pack, and the type of man Kate's father and Greg had warned her to avoid. Not someone you greet with a "Here kitty, kitty…" Corwin is a lynxwere. Mahon is the Kodiak, a bear shifter, a.k.a., the Executioner. Derek is a beautiful boy whose actions have repercussions. Jennifer is the female alpha-wolf. Dr. Doolittle is the Pack doctor. Aunt B leads the bouda, the hyenas.
Order of Knights of Merciful Aid
The Knight-protector in charge in Atlanta is Ted Monahan, a man with a preference for cowboy boots, hat, and fringed shirts. Maxine is the telepathic receptionist. Nick is a Crusader of the Order, a type of independent detective/assassin.
The People
Nataraja is the local lord of the People in Atlanta; Rowena is his second-in-command. Ghastek is a Master of the Dead, a title that indicates he has mastery in navigating a vampire. No vampire can be allowed to roam on its own. Bono is a journeyman navigator with an eye for the ladies. Roland is a legendary head of all the People.
The Groups and Organizations in Atlanta
The Pack is all the shapechangers in the Atlanta area and a bit beyond. It includes the bouda, wolves, bears, cats, rats, buffalo, foxes, you name it. It's led by the strongest among them: the Beast Lord. A loner is a shapechanger who chooses not to join the Pack; a loup is a shapechanger who allows their body to control their actions. Their central headquarters is the Keep. The Lycos Virus, a.k.a., Lyc-V for short, changes a human into a shapechanger, leading to the individual's battle between mind and body. If the mind wins, they join the Pack.
The People are necromancers who navigate the vampires; the Casino is their headquarters. Yeah, there is absolutely nothing romantic about these vampires.
The Mercenary Guild is hired when it's magic that the police can't or won't handle. The three legal enforcement divisions are the Paranormal Activity Police Division, which is like a magic SWAT unit; the Military Supernatural Defense Units; and, the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, which is similar to the Mercenary Guild, but you don't have to have money to hire them — just a clear conscience. And if you're lucky, you won't get dead.
The upir is a corpse-eater with a strong need to mate, to have a child capable of carrying on. Arag is his eldest son, a baboon hybrid. Olathe was the favored concubine of Roland, and she's a Mistress of the Dead. Yeah, a navigator...
The Cover and Title
The cover is an interesting range of greens and oranges with a cat-eyed Kate wielding her sword, Slayer, and decked out in black leather while a pensive-looking Curran in his lion form stares out at an angle. I would have thought a snarling Curran would better suit this particular installment. In the background is a hazy skyline of a crumbling Atlanta.
The title sums it up, for in this new world, Magic Bites.
libcolleen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
ingo_lembcke's review against another edition
3.0
Reads a bit like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, where I barely managed to finish the first 2 books and will not read more.
This should be right up my alley, what with the female MC, snarky etc., but somehow it is not. worldbuilding is ok, but spotty, with too much info in between the story which is slowing the pace too much. Enough is different from other books to set this apart from them, but again, somehow not for me, with Vampires being remote-mind-controlled like Zombies etc.
For a start of a series I can overlook some things, but for me is not worth while getting into the next books to see wether it gets better. So, solid 3 stars with that in mind, and I cannot recommend it, but that is just me, maybe this is enough for you, or maybe someone who read the next few books can recommend it, maybe I will look into it again, but whatever. Do not want to, do not care.
This should be right up my alley, what with the female MC, snarky etc., but somehow it is not. worldbuilding is ok, but spotty, with too much info in between the story which is slowing the pace too much. Enough is different from other books to set this apart from them, but again, somehow not for me, with Vampires being remote-mind-controlled like Zombies etc.
For a start of a series I can overlook some things, but for me is not worth while getting into the next books to see wether it gets better. So, solid 3 stars with that in mind, and I cannot recommend it, but that is just me, maybe this is enough for you, or maybe someone who read the next few books can recommend it, maybe I will look into it again, but whatever. Do not want to, do not care.
raili's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to the Dramatized version, it’s an easy and good read if you need something to listen to during s drive or a walk. The voice actors are perfection and the story keeps you wanting to know what’s gonna happen next.
lilliandm's review against another edition
4.0
Tbh don't know how Kate came to half of the conclusions she did but there a reasons she does the job she does and that I don't do it for her.
triciajohara's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0