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A review by kit_alexander
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
3.0
3.5 stars.
Really neat worldbilding, likeable, if somewhat frustrating, main character. I will definitely read the next book in the series.
That said, man, this book took me like 2 weeks to get through. It was hard to read for more than an hour at a time and barely held my interest. Normally, they say you should show and not tell, and this book does that in spades. But so much of the scene writing, from conversation to action, is very ... declarative without any of the more inward-looking depth I like in fiction. Despite this book being written in the first person, I don't really feel like Kate did a whole lot of thinking. It was more, "I went to the place. The man I was looking for met me at the door. We spoke for a while and he laughed at me. I said something snarky and then we both drew our weapons and fought." There's more description than that, of course, but I never really felt myself transported or connected to the characters and events.
I did enjoy enough about this to continue on, and I hope my niggles get worked out as the series progresses and the writers have more time to practice and hone their craft.
Really neat worldbilding, likeable, if somewhat frustrating, main character. I will definitely read the next book in the series.
That said, man, this book took me like 2 weeks to get through. It was hard to read for more than an hour at a time and barely held my interest. Normally, they say you should show and not tell, and this book does that in spades. But so much of the scene writing, from conversation to action, is very ... declarative without any of the more inward-looking depth I like in fiction. Despite this book being written in the first person, I don't really feel like Kate did a whole lot of thinking. It was more, "I went to the place. The man I was looking for met me at the door. We spoke for a while and he laughed at me. I said something snarky and then we both drew our weapons and fought." There's more description than that, of course, but I never really felt myself transported or connected to the characters and events.
I did enjoy enough about this to continue on, and I hope my niggles get worked out as the series progresses and the writers have more time to practice and hone their craft.