I’ve reached the fifth of the Kate Daniels series, Magic Slays, where Kate finds herself in a bit of a limbo. Having quit the Order, Curran has set her up with her own business, Cutting Edge Investigations, where she’s been joined by her friend Andrea but where clients seem be to pretty thin on the ground. To top things off, her ward Julie has been expelled from her fancy school having run away again, and is currently en route to the Keep where she’s intent on staying, no matter how dangerous that may be.
Into this walks Rena, last seen being a highly paid security expert herself at the Midnight Games, and now offering Kate a large amount of money to clear up a mess for her. Someone or something has taken a man under highly trained armed guard, and finding him means also finding out why he was under guard, which may just have something to do with the something that is currently destroying magic wards around Atlanta.
Magic Slays raises the stakes for Kate once more – the threat she’s up against this time around is a genuine world-ender for those with any trace of magic within them, and that’s not all the universe has in store for her as on her arrival back home, Julie is infected with Lyc-V and guaranteed to go loup, leading Kate into risking both of their lives in order to try and save her.
While there was a lot going on in Magic Slays, I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the two preceding it. This was partly due to just how much was going on in this instalment, what with the new dynamics to be worked out due to the changes in employment, relationships, living arrangements etc as well as having a slightly more complicated plot, and I’m also struggling, despite enjoying them as a couple, to not want to punch Curran in the neck every time he gets jealous and possessive (which is all the damn time). That said, I really enjoyed how the magical world of Atlanta has expanded once again, bringing in new groups and more of Kate’s history into play, and I’m intrigued to see how her powers will grow as we ramp up towards an inevitable confrontation with Roland…
You should read Gunmetal Magic after this one, before starting Magic Rises (which may be my least favourite in the series after book 1).
Thanks Malin, I will :-)
I second Malin’s recommendation. Books 5 and 6 are the toughest as the Andrews figure out how to deal with Kate and Curran as a couple. They do figure it out though.
Yeah, I couldn’t help but notice that they’re all about the build-up. Even with the actual sex, they get that over with pretty quickly compared to what leads up to it. Not to complain too much, I’m still reading after all.