WARNING! This review will contain spoilers for some stuff in the earlier Kate Daniels books because it’s pretty much impossible to write a review for the SEVENTH book in a series without revealing any of what’s gone before. If you’ve not read this series before, this book is not where you want to start (even though the authors kindly included a handy guide to all the major players in the book and a very concise and informative guide to the fictional universe this series is set in). The series has been building for a long time, and you will not get the emotional payoff to truly enjoy this book if this is your first foray into the Kate Daniels world. Go off and read Magic Bites and Magic Burns (as the first book is a bit rough, and it often takes two books to really hook people). This review will be here when you’ve caught up with the series.
Kate Daniels knows that despite her attempts to keep her true identity hidden, despite training rigorously since she was a child, honing herself into a deadly weapon, she, and those she loves, are in imminent danger and the encounter she has been dreading for most of her life is rapidly approaching. She still has nightmares about the events that took place at the end of Magic Rises, reliving her inability to prevent the death of a close friend. She hungers for vengeance but also knows that she needs to try to keep her friends and family in the Atlanta Shapeshifter Pack as safe and out of harm’s way when her legendary and probably immortal father comes for her. She’s struggling to keep her business running, dealing with a number of petty leadership squabbles among the various factions of the Pack, trying to figure out a way to plan her wedding to Curran, the Beast Lord and leader of the Pack without insulting anyone or ruffling anyone’s feathers, whilst all she really wants to do is run away to be alone with Curran. Wishing isn’t going to make it so, however.
Curran is called away to deal with a trade dispute and takes some of the strongest alphas among the shape shifters with him. Kate only has to hold the fort alone for a few days, which is of course why the enemies of the Pack wait until they are separated to strike. During what was supposed to be a fairly routine meeting, Kate is presented with a dead body and has twenty-four hours to round up the killer, or she will have a supernatural war on her hands. Her opponent is stronger, more experienced than her and utterly ruthless and will stop at nothing to gain the upper hand. Can Kate outsmart him and prevent everything she holds dear from being destroyed?
I love Ilona Andrews, the married couple who write the Kate Daniels books. I own most of their books in both paperback and e-book copies and would happily buy their shopping lists if they decided to publish them. Based on everything else they’d written, such a collection would still include action, humour and be vastly entertaining. This is the first of their books to be published in hardback, meaning that the e-book was also more expensive than before. It was worth every penny. If you’re a fan of the series, but can’t afford to buy the book, run to your nearest library and reserve yourself a copy. It starts out fairly slow, but by chapter three, the action really kicks off, seizes you by the throat and doesn’t really let go until you’ve finished the book.
Full, and rather long, review here.
I’m so excited! I’m in the library queue and it’s killing me.
Do you have an e-reader? I could totally send you an electronic copy, if you wanted, so you don’t have to wait. I wouldn’t even feel guilty about it, because I fully intend to buy the book in paperback as soon as it becomes available, and I pre-order all their books, and give them away as presents etc.
The book exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were pretty damn high this time around.
Your title is my favorite line in the book. I liked this book much better than the last one, which was problematic. I was not expecting things to go the way they did, and yet it all flows.
I hated Barabas’ journal entry. Hated it! I hope they don’t continue that.
I love that quote, and generally the whole conversation around Kate’s crazy family. I would have liked to use one about her new sword, because those were also all good, but figured it would be too spoilery.
I thought Barabas’ intro was fun, and can absolutely understand why they felt the need to vary the way they explain the world. It must get tedious to find the umpteenth way of explaining the magic shifts and vampires and the Pack, with subtle variations.
The last book was problematic in a lot of ways, and very much had a “we need to cram a number of elements into place before we get to book 7” feel. My husband ranks it last of all the books, because he feels that so many of the problematic things could have been fixed easily if their editor had just been a bit more on the ball. It’s probably second last for me, because Kate feels like an entirely different person in the first book, and the whole upir plot bored me. At least the last book had were-dolphins.
While reading this book, I came to the uncomfortable realisation that if Hugh was “played” by someone I found physically attractive, I would fancy the pants off him. He has exactly the sort of weirdly creepy dude I tend to fall for in fiction and films – ruthless, determined, efficient, charming, hellaciously violent, but so skilled that the violence becomes something beautiful. I don’t like that. I don’t want to fancy Hugh.
I’m with you on team Ilona Andrews. The last book was a little flat for me but this one came back in fighting form.
I’m also thrilled in the direction that the story goes in a the end of the book (no spoilers). I’ve often found that the cast of characters has gotten too large, and that the supporting cast has very little distinctive traits other than “loyal warrior shapehifter.” I can no longer keep them straight and my inability to do so has no impact on my enjoyment of the story. Mostly because they’re all pretty interchangeable. I feel that the way this book ends creates the possibility for a smaller cast who can have more distinct story arcs, harkening back to the early days when it was just Kate and her detective agency. And also that Curran will be present more, as I would love to see the two of them go off on some adventures as a duo.
I’m also with you – I could totally fancy Hugh. I get a slight “Spike from Buffy” vibe from him. This whole series seems tailor made for HBO so lets hope that it gets made into something incredible so we can fantasize about who would play Hugh. Because let’s face it, he’s a pretty awesome bad guy:)
One of the things I love about Kate is that she takes Hugh seriously, but she also knows she is better than he is. I like her confidence.
Kate has been trained to fight her entire life, but I think in a direct fight between her and Hugh, at this point in time, Hugh would win, and she knows it, which is exactly why she tries to avoid such a confrontation. Kate’s magic may be stronger, but she hasn’t got the same level of control as he, and he trained with Voron a lot longer than she did. In a book or two’s time, I suspect we’ll be looking at a different story, and I can’t wait to see Kate and Curran take him down.
Kate is absolutely a better person than Hugh is. He’s the monster Voron wanted her to turn into.
But there is a point in there where she says she’s a better sword fighter than Hugh, if they were going one on one and he couldn’t teleport.
Even being the better sword-fighter, I’m not sure Kate would take Hugh now. Or she’d die taking him out. Realistically, with him having been trained for longer and being bigger and stronger (since he’s a man) the odds are in his favour, even if Kate may be more skilled with a sword.
Yeah I think there’s a bit of bluster there in that “I’m totally going to kill him stuff.” In the last book it was pretty clear Hugh had the upper hand until Curran showed up. With the change that occurred in this book potentially it tips the scales in Kate’s direction in time. But my sense is that in a 1:1 between Hugh and Kate, Kate would win or it would be a draw (both mortally injured).
Wow I think I’ve just leveled up to a new plane of geekiness – debating what imaginary characters would do in a hypothetical situation :)