Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kelsium1 's review for:
Magic Bites
by Ilona Andrews
This book is what I had hoped the Anita Blake series would be like, although it feels like a sin to compare Kate Daniels to Anita Blake because this book and character are leagues better! Like, miles ahead better. Better isn't even the right word because that still makes it a comparison. Kate Daniels is just wonderfully refreshing.
We have a character who's a bad ass but not the one dimensional "snarky bad ass girl" female protagonists can sometimes fall into. Kate has her strengths and weaknesses and reads and thinks like a real person.
We have a world where monsters of myth and horror blend with the modern world with some tweaks of course because magic has an effect on things. The magic so far in the series is explained concisely and follows its own rules (no "suddenly X is way more POWERFUL" or "suddenly Y has the opposite effect because feelings" plot devices).
Action scenes are to the point and flow really nicely.
Dialogue is believably real. Lots of "yeahs" and sounds of acknowledgement, which stood out to me a bit at first, but that's how people talk in reality. It's different but works and I like it. There were definitely a handful of laugh out loud moments for me and I rarely experience strong reactions that make me put down the book so I can finish laughing, crying, feeling emotions, etc and recompose myself.
All in all I really liked this first entry to the Kate Daniels series. If you are into modern fantasies (I think that's what this is categorized as) with differing takes on traditional monsters and introduction to more obscure creatures of myth and legend coupled with, again, a good lead character I'd give Magic Bites a go. It's on the shorter side at just under 350 pages, but is to the point and entertaining all the way through.
The last third of the book hints to some mystery surrounding Kate's character and I'm hoping to learn more after reading the second book in the series :)
We have a character who's a bad ass but not the one dimensional "snarky bad ass girl" female protagonists can sometimes fall into. Kate has her strengths and weaknesses and reads and thinks like a real person.
We have a world where monsters of myth and horror blend with the modern world with some tweaks of course because magic has an effect on things. The magic so far in the series is explained concisely and follows its own rules (no "suddenly X is way more POWERFUL" or "suddenly Y has the opposite effect because feelings" plot devices).
Action scenes are to the point and flow really nicely.
Dialogue is believably real. Lots of "yeahs" and sounds of acknowledgement, which stood out to me a bit at first, but that's how people talk in reality. It's different but works and I like it. There were definitely a handful of laugh out loud moments for me and I rarely experience strong reactions that make me put down the book so I can finish laughing, crying, feeling emotions, etc and recompose myself.
All in all I really liked this first entry to the Kate Daniels series. If you are into modern fantasies (I think that's what this is categorized as) with differing takes on traditional monsters and introduction to more obscure creatures of myth and legend coupled with, again, a good lead character I'd give Magic Bites a go. It's on the shorter side at just under 350 pages, but is to the point and entertaining all the way through.
The last third of the book hints to some mystery surrounding Kate's character and I'm hoping to learn more after reading the second book in the series :)