Reviews

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

krismgray1's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

mellhay's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Kate works for the Mercenary Guild, when magic causes troubles and the cops can't or won't tend to it the Mercenary Guild is hired to do the work, and wants nothing to do with The Order a close friend, of her deceased father, has asked her to join. Sitting in her kitchen drinking magic kicks in and Kate receives a visit from a vampire controlled by Ghastek who leaves Kate wondering about the dear friend of her family, Greg. Making a quick call she finds he was murdered and the mystery starts. Kate wants to investigate Greg's, the now late Knight-Diviner of The Order, death. She finds it easy to sit in his seat as she is hired to investigate by The Order, maybe too easy. It seems Greg thought to include Kate in his strong protection spells on his office and left clues in his notes on an investigation he was working on. Kate now carrying the power in the name of The Order, now gets to meet supernatural people in high positions no one else meets. To find Greg's killer and maybe finish the case he started, all to hear about other deaths...

First I have to name drop... Melissa of Mel's Random Reviews is so kind, she gifted this book to me for celebrating the blogoversery this past summer. Then I got kicked in the arse to read this book... thank you... Bastard Books, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Dina James... seriously I did enjoy it and rushed to order Magic Burns.

Kate is a no nonsense kind of girl, my kind of character really. I love the knife yielding and the "I can kick your arse" feel I get from her. Oh yes, she has her moments she knows she is over her head, but what I love is she does NOT let it show. And by the end of the book I learned she is much more than simple but the best part is she is not conceded and self-centered because of it... although maybe that is why she is all kick-arse. Hmmm... She knows she's not an investigator, but does a fine job at it.

I enjoyed meeting Curran, but for me I loved Derek. Oh Curran really grew on me and I loved his Alpha ways. He has such banter with Kate that they made me chuckle as they bickered like a couple little kids. Such a head butting here over strength and power show. All at full gusto when these two are in the room together. But Derek is the poor sap that got stuck in the control struggle, but he is a strong "side kick" (in a way?). Oh and I felt bad for Crest! But I think Derek is right in his perception of Kate and Crest's relationship... I think there is one much better suited for her... ;) Then there is the father figure Mahon, I just wanted to hug him, I loved the rule he played. I do want to see all these characters again!

Now, we have magic here but we also have vampires and shapeshifters. The magic world building here was a little hard to follow at moments and with the on/off but nothing to slow me down in continuing the story. I like that vampires are a puppet type in this book. They are controlled and used to see without leaving home, through necromancer magic by a particular group of people in this world. The shapeshifters are very neat to see as well, and I enjoyed the way their beliefs were brought out in the book with the help of Derek. I look forward to seeing these different pieces of the same world again, soon.

I enjoyed the storyline here. The mystery kept going and the pieces falling together. I never suspected the end. I do look forward to reading Magic Burns, which is now on my shelf to read.

simrooon's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Demn this was gooood, am I already in love with Kate! YASSSSS

hiscere's review against another edition

Go to review page

tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book was so strange. I had high expectations because I loved the Burn for Me series but I can’t get behind this one unfortunately 

4saradouglas's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.25

Interesting. Not sure it's my thing?

cloudedbyte's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Poor knockoff of Drezden Files. Rather flat and humorless

swalkerc's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Took me a little while to get into it, but by the end I enjoyed it and will probably read the next one eventually.

bhavyamarya's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

This had the best meeting I've ever read between the main characters. It was hilarious. The whole book had several LOL moments that I loved.

I'm not gonna lie, the first three chapters tooks me two days to get through mainly because there was a lot of information thrown my way but after that it was smooth sailing. I started to enjoy the characters and story much more. The action scenes were pretty great too. Also, I loved the banter between Kate and Curran. I can't wait to read more of it.

I thought I knew who the villain was gonna be by the end and then the story totally turned around and surprised the fuck out of me. This was the furthest thing from predictable.



And since I'm in the middle of the second book, my binge of the series is going quite successfully and happily. ;)

sukeyrh's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

 The premise of this series is good, but I could not get into the Kate Daniels character. Although I liked some of her sarcastic responses, other times she is just rude. I enjoyed the Curran character more, but not enough to want to continue the series. 

cloudsinthecupboard's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25