kate daniels series – Michele Lee

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Click to buy Paperback: 9780441017027, $7.99 Magic Strikes is the third in the Kate Daniels series, books about a pseudo-post apocalypse Atlanta which has been ravaged and mutated by the war, literally, between science and magic. As magic gains in power, buildings, machines and the trappings of science are falling apart. Likewise, creatures of magic, such as shape shifters, fae and vampires, are taking control, edging out mere humans with every magic wave. Kate is an operative of the Knights of Merciful Aid, and a member of the Guild of Mercenaries. She’s also earned the friendship of The Pack, which means when something magical pops up and needs killing, twarting or rescuing she’s front and center. This time Kate, fresh off a shift, is called to rescue her werewolf friend Derek who was caught breaking into the home of one of her business associates. To get Derek out of trouble she agrees to go with Saimain, a true shape shifter, to The Midnight Games, an underground fight specializing in displays of paranormal brutality. She quickly discovers that Derek was trying to save a girl only to be caught, beaten nearly to death and left as a message for the rest of the pack. Kate’s bit to save him from Saimain turns into a battle to either save Derek’s life, or get revenge for his death. Now she has to face the games to save her friends in the Pack, which has been outlawed by both the Knights and the Pack, which means she has to defy Curran, the Beast Lord (ruler of the Pack) in order to stop him and the Pack from being destroyed. Not to mention fighting in the ring again (plus being attached to so many people) might just open her up and expose that deep, dark secret she’s been hiding for two books now. Andrews nails a combination of tough and vulnerable in her heroine with an extra dose of sheer funny. She keeps the book clipping, and manages a perfect balance between a challenging plot and overwhelming. And in this book readers finally learn part of what Kate is hiding, which, as any good dark secret should do, just sets up an exciting promise for the future of the characters. Put simply, these books are very, very good. If fights and funny and urban fantasy is something you enjoy this series should be tops on your buy list.

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Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

“It took a qualified wizard to detect a summoning in progress. It only took a half-literate idiot with a twitch of power and a dim idea of how to use it to attempt one. Before you knew it, a three-headed Slavonic god was wreaking havoc in downtown Atlanta, the skies were raining winged snakes, and SWAT was screaming for more ammo. These were unsafe times. But then, in safer times, I’d be a woman without a job.”

That paragraph, about a page in, sold me on Magic Bites. It stars Kate Daniels, a mercenary who handles odd jobs in a world where technology and magic are warring– and technology is losing. In a Magic-punk version of Atlanta, Kate is stunned to learn that the city’s knight-diviner (a prestigious member of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, the guardians of the city) has been murdered. A friend of her father’s Greg was also Kate’s guardian, and the closest thing to family she had.

Barely taking time to grieve, Kate launches herself into investigating Greg’s murder, more than willing to let the Order use her attempts to cover their own, quieter investigation. What she discovers puts her in the middle of the vampires and werecreatures, both of who have suffered loses similar to Greg’s murder, but neither is willing to admit to outsiders what they know and both want to blame each other, threatening to tear the city apart in a supernatural beastie war.

Andrew’s world threatens to leave the realm of urban fantasy altogether, building a city where magic and tech flip off and on in dominance, tearing at each other in constantly flexing waves. Andrew’s characters too, are the battered survivors of the decaying city, each urban fantasy breed–from vampires to shape shifters and beyond– have a made over, wilder representation in Kate Daniel’s world.

Magic Bites is a book that jumps headlong into mythology and magic, leaving the reader charmed and definitely wanting more. Similar in feel to Jim Butcher’s Dresden series this series is sure to be a stand out in the world of paranormal fiction.

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