Browsing Tag

urban fantasy

reviews

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels 2) by Ilona Andrews

Down in Atlanta, tempers – and temperatures – are about to flare…

As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest – and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive… (Goodreads)

Someone stole maps from the pack and Kate promised as a favour to retrieve them. Some mysterious guy just keeps getting into her way and tries to stop her. Kate meets young girl and helps Julie to find her missing mother. And sparks continue to fly between Kate and Curran.

I really like Kate and she’s a great heroine. She can seriously kick ass and she stands up to Curran, the Best Lord of Shapeshifters. They annoy the crap out of each other but you can see there’s something between them. I love that it’s not love/lust at first sight-kind of thing between them.

I can see myself becoming total Curran fangirl but I can’t help myself! I wish there was more Curran and I love the interaction between him and Kate.

“Not only will you sleep with me, but you will say ‘please.’”
I stared at him, shocked.
The smile widened. “You will say ‘please’ before and ‘thank you’ after.”
Pg. 184

More Curran for me, please!

I was happy to see Derek again. It will be interesting to see how far he will climb because he showed power growing.

And I hope we learn more about Kate and her powers. Things are hinted but never explained and I hope we get some answers at some point.

I liked the book and can’t wait to see what way the books will go. I’ve heard the books get only better so can’t wait!

3,5/5
Published: Gollanz (2010)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 260
Source: my own

reviews

Control Point by Myke Cole

 Control Point (Shadow Ops 1) by Myke Cole

Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer.

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military’s Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

The SOC knows how to handle this kind of situation: hunt him down–and take him out. Driven into an underground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he’s ever known, and that his life isn’t the only thing he’s fighting for. (Goodreads)

All over the world people are getting magical powers. Oscar Britton, military officer, and his unit are told to take part of an operation to take down two Selfers (who use magic unsupervised) at a local school. Britton is not happy when he discovers that they are hunting two teenagers and to his horror the girl is executed in front of his eyes. So when he manifested magical ability after the operation, he’s convinced that they will kill him on the spot and decides the best action is to run.

The book is very action packed from the start but it still moved little slow when Britton was on the run. It did pick up pace when he was in training and learned to control his powers.
At first I was bit overwhelmed with all the military terms and acronyms but I soon gave up trying to memorize them. It’s a very good thing there’s a glossary at the end of the book and I would have been totally lost without it. I just wish I had noticed it from the start because I was about half way through when I saw it.

I’m in two minds how I feel about Oscar Britton. At times I couldn’t follow he’s reasoning and he couldn’t make his mind if the SOC are bad guys or not going from one opinion to another. He seemed to make huge amount of collateral damage and seemed indifferent to it. But I did like seeing how he grew and changed when he tried to adapt to his new life and trying to learn to use the magic.

This was out of my comfort zone with all the army stuff but it’s still great debut from the author. My struggle with the terms and acronyms lessened my enjoyment little bit but I’m happy I got a chance to read this. It was definitely different from what I’ve ever read.

3/5
Published: Ace (2012)
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 389
Source: publisher

reviews

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels 1) by Ilona Andrews

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way… (Goodreads)

Kate works as a mercenary instead of working for the Order. When her guardian is killed she finds herself working on their behalf for finding the killer. And she must work with shapechangers and vampires to do so, and with the Beast Lord.

I liked the book and I thought it was great one to start a new serie. There’s magic, shifters and vampires so what’s not to like? I would have liked to learn more about the world and how everything came to pass, like how the magic came back and shifters and vampires too.

I liked Kate who knew how to stand up to herself and was no damsel in distress. She’s not afraid of Curran the Beast Lord of the city, and I’m not sure if she should be. You can see there’s something between them but there’s no romance yet but I hope there will be! We don’t really learn much about Curran yet but I’m sure he’ll be more in the next books.

It was good first book, maybe not the best, but I’ve heard those get better. Can’t wait to read more!

3,5/5
Published: Ace (2007)
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 260
Source: my own