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idratherbereading542 's review for:
Magic Tides
by Ilona Andrews
- FMC: Kate Daniels
- MMC: Curran
- POVs Included: Multiple POVs (Kate, Curran, Conlan)
- Book Playlist (Kate Daniels Book Series Playlist)
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SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
Kate, Curran, and Conlan are settling into their new home in Wilmington. But the peaceful life they hoped for isn't exactly easy to come by. Conlan finds out that the family member of a friend of his was kidnapped and he enlists his mom for help.
While Kate is off trying to get Darin (the kidnapped teen) back, she finds herself knee deep back in the very world she tried to extricate her family from.
Meanwhile Curran and Conlan prepare their home (which is an old restored Fort) for the coming battle they know is coming once those who cross Kate's path come back to fight.
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REVIEW:
I have mixed feelings about this spinoff series. On the one hand, it's neat that the Andrews team decided to continue their story and let us dive back into Kate and Curran's lives. But I also think sometimes series' need to end at some point. I don't like how dramatically different the atmosphere is. None of our favorite side characters are apart of their lives anymore and that's kind of bittersweet for me. I really disliked Aurelia Ryder (Julie's book) which, while written before these books, seems to take place about a year or so after them (timeline-wise). But I disliked it for similar reasons -- there is no camaraderie anymore. The entire team of friends is disbanded and it makes everything just feel sad and lonely.
In this one they make new friends and encounter people who seem to be old friends (although I don't remember them). Keelan in particular is talked about as if he was there when they were the Consort and Beast Lord. He is obsessed with following them and they make it sound like it's been like that for a long time. But I don't know who he is. I don't remember him. And if he was so obsessed with following them, wouldn't he have broken away from the Pack when they and all their friends did?
Speaking of old friends, another sad revelation is that they've supposedly had a falling out with Jim. Curran even goes on to say that he "once considered him a friend". After everything they are no longer friends. That's really sad to me and I didn't like this at all. On top of those who are old friends but still back in Atlanta (no longer with them), we also have old friends who aren't friends anymore. Ugh. I hate that.
The story was okay. Fascinating at times but also a little boring and slow moving. The best part was the last chapter when she finally encounters the big threat. This part was interesting. But getting there was kind of sluggish.
I also didn't like that -- once again -- Kate and Curran weren't together for most of the story. C'mon! I mean, literally none of the old characters are in the story anymore. At the very least keep Kate and Curran together as a team. That would've made it so much better.
I enjoyed the couple of scenes where they were together. And I liked the scenes with Curran and Conlan -- Curran is such a good dad. But I would've much rather Kate and Curran be going out on a team together for this.
Some of the things about the story and gods and myths were lost to me. But that's typical Kate Daniels IMO. Sometimes they get so deep into various myths and lore that it becomes too technical sounding and loses me. Sometimes the connections they make are fascinating, but usually also very confusing to follow along unless you already know the lore or about whatever gods are featured in the story.
The ending was happy for everyone involved, but rather abrupt too. She didn't even reunite with Conlan or go back to the Fort. It just shows Curran meeting up with her at the beach and then it just sort of ends. Weird ending that seemed cut short.
At this point there is one more of these Wilmington books, and I don't know if they will be writing more. But honestly? I'm kind of done. This 150 page book took me so long to get through because I was kind of bored. I don't think I will read any more. The whole world is SO different and kind of bittersweet now without all my favorite side characters.
The only thing I really want to read now is more from Hugh's series, but at this point I kind of doubt they will ever get back to that because he has a cameo (a phone conversation) in this one (which I LOVED btw). And him and Elara have multiple children now, so clearly it's been years in the timeline since their first book. So they probably won't write more for them. Too bad. I really liked that first book in their series. :(
So overall it was...something. I suppose die hard Kate Daniels fans might like it. But as a fan of Kate Daniels I also found it a little surreal that their time and crew in Atlanta are a thing of the past. Kinda sad about the change...
P.S. Random side note: One thing I've never understood about the Kate Daniels world is how guns don't work during the magic waves when "tech" goes down. Guns are mechanical. They don't use anything "technological" (like electricity or batteries) to work so I don't understand the connection there. By that logic a bicycle also shouldn't work, or anything that simply uses gears and mechanics to function. This makes no sense!
- MMC: Curran
- POVs Included: Multiple POVs (Kate, Curran, Conlan)
- Book Playlist (Kate Daniels Book Series Playlist)
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
Kate, Curran, and Conlan are settling into their new home in Wilmington. But the peaceful life they hoped for isn't exactly easy to come by. Conlan finds out that the family member of a friend of his was kidnapped and he enlists his mom for help.
While Kate is off trying to get Darin (the kidnapped teen) back, she finds herself knee deep back in the very world she tried to extricate her family from.
Meanwhile Curran and Conlan prepare their home (which is an old restored Fort) for the coming battle they know is coming once those who cross Kate's path come back to fight.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
REVIEW:
I have mixed feelings about this spinoff series. On the one hand, it's neat that the Andrews team decided to continue their story and let us dive back into Kate and Curran's lives. But I also think sometimes series' need to end at some point. I don't like how dramatically different the atmosphere is. None of our favorite side characters are apart of their lives anymore and that's kind of bittersweet for me. I really disliked Aurelia Ryder (Julie's book) which, while written before these books, seems to take place about a year or so after them (timeline-wise). But I disliked it for similar reasons -- there is no camaraderie anymore. The entire team of friends is disbanded and it makes everything just feel sad and lonely.
In this one they make new friends and encounter people who seem to be old friends (although I don't remember them). Keelan in particular is talked about as if he was there when they were the Consort and Beast Lord. He is obsessed with following them and they make it sound like it's been like that for a long time. But I don't know who he is. I don't remember him. And if he was so obsessed with following them, wouldn't he have broken away from the Pack when they and all their friends did?
Speaking of old friends, another sad revelation is that they've supposedly had a falling out with Jim. Curran even goes on to say that he "once considered him a friend". After everything they are no longer friends. That's really sad to me and I didn't like this at all. On top of those who are old friends but still back in Atlanta (no longer with them), we also have old friends who aren't friends anymore. Ugh. I hate that.
The story was okay. Fascinating at times but also a little boring and slow moving. The best part was the last chapter when she finally encounters the big threat. This part was interesting. But getting there was kind of sluggish.
I also didn't like that -- once again -- Kate and Curran weren't together for most of the story. C'mon! I mean, literally none of the old characters are in the story anymore. At the very least keep Kate and Curran together as a team. That would've made it so much better.
I enjoyed the couple of scenes where they were together. And I liked the scenes with Curran and Conlan -- Curran is such a good dad. But I would've much rather Kate and Curran be going out on a team together for this.
Some of the things about the story and gods and myths were lost to me. But that's typical Kate Daniels IMO. Sometimes they get so deep into various myths and lore that it becomes too technical sounding and loses me. Sometimes the connections they make are fascinating, but usually also very confusing to follow along unless you already know the lore or about whatever gods are featured in the story.
The ending was happy for everyone involved, but rather abrupt too. She didn't even reunite with Conlan or go back to the Fort. It just shows Curran meeting up with her at the beach and then it just sort of ends. Weird ending that seemed cut short.
At this point there is one more of these Wilmington books, and I don't know if they will be writing more. But honestly? I'm kind of done. This 150 page book took me so long to get through because I was kind of bored. I don't think I will read any more. The whole world is SO different and kind of bittersweet now without all my favorite side characters.
The only thing I really want to read now is more from Hugh's series, but at this point I kind of doubt they will ever get back to that because he has a cameo (a phone conversation) in this one (which I LOVED btw). And him and Elara have multiple children now, so clearly it's been years in the timeline since their first book. So they probably won't write more for them. Too bad. I really liked that first book in their series. :(
So overall it was...something. I suppose die hard Kate Daniels fans might like it. But as a fan of Kate Daniels I also found it a little surreal that their time and crew in Atlanta are a thing of the past. Kinda sad about the change...
P.S. Random side note: One thing I've never understood about the Kate Daniels world is how guns don't work during the magic waves when "tech" goes down. Guns are mechanical. They don't use anything "technological" (like electricity or batteries) to work so I don't understand the connection there. By that logic a bicycle also shouldn't work, or anything that simply uses gears and mechanics to function. This makes no sense!